Gains in drawing the sub-microscopic level of changing states of matter after a courseware unit did not differ significantly between male and female students¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2018 · checked against its sources 2026-11-03 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In a one-group pretest–posttest study with no control group, the visual-aspect sub-microscopic N-gain (drawing particles in changing states of matter) did not differ significantly by gender (0.55 male vs 0.65 female, Mann–Whitney p = 0.144). The authors read this as the courseware narrowing a visual-spatial ability gap, but spatial ability was not measured and a non-significant difference does not show the gains were equal. → Sopandi 2018

Evidence¶

Sopandi 2018¶

Sopandi, W., Kadarohman, A., Rosbiono, M., Latip, A., & Sukardi, R. R. (2018). The Courseware of Discontinuous Nature of Matter in Teaching the States of Matter and Their Changes. International Journal of Instruction, 11(1), 61-76. https://doi.org/10.12973/iji.2018.1115a

q2 · i? · causal · r1

One-group pretest–posttest quasi-experiment in seventh-grade classes at two schools, with no control group. A Mann Whitney test on visual-aspect sub-microscopic N-gains (students' drawings of the particles in changing states of matter) by gender (67 males, 64 females) gave p = 0.144; the article reports "no significant difference in the increase of the mastery of the visual aspects" between genders, and no effect size is printed. Visual-spatial ability itself was not measured: the authors' statement that the courseware "can reduce the gap of visual-spatial abilities" is their interpretation, resting on earlier studies, not a tested finding.

"The test on the average difference resulted in the average significance score of 0.144, which shows that there is no significant difference in the increase of the mastery of the visual aspects of sub-microscopic level concepts between male and female group."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Gender — moderator: gains did not differ significantly by group
• Spatial Ability — not measured: the authors interpret equal gains as a narrowed visual-spatial gap, which the study did not test

Related Claims¶

• Courseware on the discontinuous nature of matter increases junior high students' understanding of the particle concept for both male and female students — related
• No significant gender difference in particle-concept gains from the courseware (male N-gain 0.45 vs female 0.65, p = 0.265) — related
• Descriptively, male students outperformed female students at all three levels of Light waves overall — reports the opposite
• Only female students made significant gains on the Geometric Spatial Assessment, and no male group gained on any GSA domain — related