Once undergraduate-level mathematics and physics preparation is controlled, gender no longer significantly predicts performance in advanced STEM courses¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr2·q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
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q3 i? In a mixed-effects model, the main effect of gender was not statistically significant after covariates were included, while undergraduate math and physics averages were robust positive predictors. → Ilana Ram 2025
Evidence¶
Ilana Ram 2025¶
Ilana Ram, Adam Shwartz, Ido Roll. (2025). Minding the gender gap in advanced STEM courses: effects of student preparedness and activity level. Instructional Science (2025) 53:1457–1478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-025-09748-1
q3 · i? · associational · r2
Mixed-effects model on 10 multiple-imputation datasets (1575 observations, 315 students), with gender and assessment type as fixed factors and preparation as covariates. The study reports the gender main effect was "not statistically significant" and that "undergraduate mathematics and physics averages were robust positive predictors of performance".
"The main effect for gender was not statistically significant, indicating no persistent gender difference in Course I performance once covariates were included."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- A gender gap of ~9 points appears even on a low-stakes diagnostic assessment, contradicting prior findings that the gap disappears in low-stakes assessments
- High school girls and boys take largely similar math and science coursework, with girls more likely to complete biology and chemistry and boys more likely to complete physics and calculus
- Women score lower than men in high-stakes final exams across advanced undergraduate STEM courses, with mean differences of 2.5 to ~7 points on a 100-point scale — related
- High-school grades do not capture the preparation gap: controlling for high-school scores did not eliminate the gap, possibly due to a ceiling effect — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
preparedness-eliminates-gender-effect |
title |
Once undergraduate-level mathematics and physics preparation is controlled, gender no longer significantly predicts performance in advanced STEM courses |
description |
Once undergraduate-level mathematics and physics preparation is controlled, gender no longer significantly predicts performance in advanced STEM courses |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2025 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-18 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — ilana-ram-2025 |
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