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Impact of Gender on STEAM Education in Elementary School: From Individuals to Group Compositions

Gender differences are essential factors influencing collaborative learning at both individual and group levels. However, few studies have systematically investigated their impact on student performance in the innovative context of STEAM education, particularly in the elementary school setting. To a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ma, Lin, Luo, Heng, Liao, Xiaofang, Li, Jie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9495347/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36135112
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs12090308
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author Ma, Lin
Luo, Heng
Liao, Xiaofang
Li, Jie
author_facet Ma, Lin
Luo, Heng
Liao, Xiaofang
Li, Jie
author_sort Ma, Lin
collection PubMed
description Gender differences are essential factors influencing collaborative learning at both individual and group levels. However, few studies have systematically investigated their impact on student performance in the innovative context of STEAM education, particularly in the elementary school setting. To address this research need, this study examined the learning behaviors of 91 sixth graders in a STEAM program, who were classified into three gender groupings, namely, boy-only, girl-only, and mixed-gender groups, and further compared their performance in terms of cognition, interaction, and emotion by both gender and gender group type. The results show that, compared to individual gender differences, the gender group type had a greater impact on students’ behavioral performance during STEAM education. While all gender groupings had specific advantages, mixed-gender groups proved to be the most preferable, with benefits such as enhanced higher-order thinking, interaction, and emotional expression. Moreover, the study revealed that both boys and girls acted differently when working with the opposite gender in mixed-gender groups. These research findings have several implications for facilitating STEAM learning in co-ed elementary schools.
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spelling pubmed-94953472022-09-23 Impact of Gender on STEAM Education in Elementary School: From Individuals to Group Compositions Ma, Lin Luo, Heng Liao, Xiaofang Li, Jie Behav Sci (Basel) Article Gender differences are essential factors influencing collaborative learning at both individual and group levels. However, few studies have systematically investigated their impact on student performance in the innovative context of STEAM education, particularly in the elementary school setting. To address this research need, this study examined the learning behaviors of 91 sixth graders in a STEAM program, who were classified into three gender groupings, namely, boy-only, girl-only, and mixed-gender groups, and further compared their performance in terms of cognition, interaction, and emotion by both gender and gender group type. The results show that, compared to individual gender differences, the gender group type had a greater impact on students’ behavioral performance during STEAM education. While all gender groupings had specific advantages, mixed-gender groups proved to be the most preferable, with benefits such as enhanced higher-order thinking, interaction, and emotional expression. Moreover, the study revealed that both boys and girls acted differently when working with the opposite gender in mixed-gender groups. These research findings have several implications for facilitating STEAM learning in co-ed elementary schools. MDPI 2022-08-26 /pmc/articles/PMC9495347/ /pubmed/36135112 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs12090308 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Ma, Lin
Luo, Heng
Liao, Xiaofang
Li, Jie
Impact of Gender on STEAM Education in Elementary School: From Individuals to Group Compositions
title Impact of Gender on STEAM Education in Elementary School: From Individuals to Group Compositions
title_full Impact of Gender on STEAM Education in Elementary School: From Individuals to Group Compositions
title_fullStr Impact of Gender on STEAM Education in Elementary School: From Individuals to Group Compositions
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Gender on STEAM Education in Elementary School: From Individuals to Group Compositions
title_short Impact of Gender on STEAM Education in Elementary School: From Individuals to Group Compositions
title_sort impact of gender on steam education in elementary school: from individuals to group compositions
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9495347/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36135112
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs12090308
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