Utilizing Rasch Model to Analyze A Gender Gap in Students’ Cognitive Ability on Simple Harmonic Motion

Abstract

Previous research provided evidence that cognitive ability is one of the learning outcomes that students need to achieve. The purpose of this study was to analyze gender gap in cognitive abilities between male students and female students in learning of simple harmonic motion. The number of students involved in this research consisted of 14 male students and 22 female students with an age range of 15-17. The instrument employed in this study was a cognitive ability test with ten questions compiled based on Bloom’s taxonomy and was analyzed with the Rasch model. Cognitive ability which was measured included the ability to remember, understand, apply, and analyze. The data obtained were analyzed using person reliability, item reliability, Wright map, person measure, DIF and t-test. The results showed that there was no significant difference between male and female students’ cognitive ability. Therefore, the study indicated that there was no gender gap in students’ cognitive ability after attending physics class. However, students had poor cognitive ability, so educators need to design a simple harmonic motion learning process that is able to improve students’ cognitive ability.