PhyLab - a virtual reality laboratory for experiments in physics: a pilot study on intervention effectiveness and gender differences

Introduction

New technologies have great potential to facilitate students' understanding and appreciation of one of the most abstract and challenging school subjects - physics. This study aimed to examine the effects of a game-based virtual reality teaching method on secondary school students' self-beliefs, interest, and performance in physics through a quasi-experimental design using pre- and post-test data. The evaluation is based on the systemic actiotope model that explains a person's goal-oriented actions by an interplay of their environment, action repertoire (i.e., students' performance and interest in physics), and subjective action space (i.e., students' self-efficacy, self-concept, and implicit theories regarding physics).

Method

A game-based virtual reality App to be used with Google cardboards was developed containing 10 teaching units from the secondary school physics class curriculum. Participants in the control group were taught using traditional teaching methods, while students in the experimental group went through the VR with the teacher and conducted the prepared VR experiments in addition to the traditionally presented content. Three tests measured students' physics performance during the semester. In addition, students answered questionnaires assessing their interest, self-efficacy, self-concept, and entity implicit theories regarding physics before and after the intervention, resulting in a Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design.

Results

There were no significant differences between the control and experimental group in test scores on the first and second tests but compared to the control group, the experimental group achieved higher scores on the third test. In addition, the results indicate differential effects of the game-based virtual reality teaching method on students' interest and self-efficacy regarding physics to the advantage of students identifying as male, but no effects on students' self-concept, and entity implicit theories regarding physics.

Discussion

The results of our pilot study suggest that incorporating innovative didactic methods into secondary school physics classes could potentially contribute to higher performance in and motivation for physics during this crucial period of adolescence when students develop educational and career aspirations. However, game-based virtual reality teaching methods seem to favor students identifying as male, which should be considered in their development and presentation. Other practical implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.

How to make a difference: the impact of gender-fair language on text comprehensibility amongst adults with and without an academic background

Introduction

The proliferation of gender-fair language as a medium of communication that represents all genders can be considered as an exciting development in today's rapidly changing world. In this context, the use of the gender asterisk has become especially prominent in German, it being a grammatical gender language. However, critics often argue that gender-fair language makes texts less comprehensible and decreases its aesthetic appeal. The present study tests this assumption for the German language and is the first one to test the influence of an academic background on the comprehensibility of gender-fair language.

Method

A text, either written in gender-fair language using the gender star in its singular and plural form or a version using only masculine-only forms, was randomly assigned to 81 adults without an academic background and 82 adults with an academic background (77% women in both groups). Participants were asked to fill out a web-based questionnaire answering questions on text comprehensibility and on their attitudes toward gender-fair language.

Results

The results show no statistically significant difference in comprehensibility ratings between participants who read a text in gender-fair language and those who read a text in masculine-only language. In addition, attitudes toward gender-fair language did not affect comprehensibility ratings in participants who read the text written in gender-fair language using the gender star. Further, the academic background had no effect on the assessment of gender-fair language.

Discussion

To conclude, the present study suggests that there is no evidence that gender-fair language reduces the comprehensibility of texts.

Basic Psychological Needs and Agency and Communion During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract. Despite the conceptual proximity between the basic needs and agency and communion and their similar function for psychological functioning, studies investigating their interplay are scarce. This study aims to investigate their joint role in hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-reports were collected from 13,313 adolescents (Sample 1) and 1,707 young adults (Sample 2) from Austria. The results show the importance of both agency and communion for the fulfillment of different basic needs and their role in well-being, with a universal interaction effect between communion and perceived competence on intrinsic motivation (eudaimonic aspect) in both gender groups in adolescence, as well as on positive emotions (hedonic aspect) among young women. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Benefits of Psychological Androgyny in Adolescence: The Role of Gender Role Self-Concept in School-Related Well-Being

It has been repeatedly shown that the extent to which individuals adopt stereotypically masculine and feminine traits in their self-concept impacts their health and well-being. This is especially important in adolescence, when developmental changes and social pressures to conform to stereotypical gender roles can affect psychological functioning. However, previous studies investigating relationship between gender role self-concept and well-being in adolescents focused mostly on general well-being rather than well-being in specific contexts. Given that school is one of the most important contexts for adolescents’ development and well-being, the aim of this study was to investigate differences between adolescents with different gender role self-concepts (masculine, feminine, androgynous and undifferentiated) in school-related well-being. In line with the new conceptualization of well-being uniting hedonic (pleasure attainment and pain avoidance) and eudemonic (self-actualization and having meaningful purpose in one’s life) approaches, the present study used a measure of school-related well-being encompassing five domains suggested in the EPOCH (Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness and Happiness) model as well as a superordinate well-being factor. A total of 999 Austrian adolescents (52.2% girls, M_age = 13.79, SD_age = 1.53) answered inventories assessing adolescents’ gender role self-concept (GRI-JUG) and school-related well-being (EPOCH-G-S). The results supported the androgyny model of well-being, showing clear advantages of having both positive masculine and feminine qualities in one’s self-concept for optimal levels of school-related well-being. In addition, our results indicated the strong importance of femininity in adolescence and the school context. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Gender Typicality and Prestige of Occupational Aspirations in Adolescents: The Relevance of Agency and Communion

Occupational gender segregation is still a persistent problem in the labor market. This study investigates gender differences in gender typicality and prestige of occupational aspirations in early adolescence, as well as the role of agency and communion in these differences. In total, 2779 adolescents (age 11–15) reported their occupational aspirations, later coded for gender typicality and prestige. Participants also described themselves spontaneously with three attributes, then coded in terms of agency and communion. The results showed significant gender differences in a stereotypical direction for 40% of the occupations named, with boys expressing a clear preference for male-dominated and girls for female-dominated occupations. Conversely, the results revealed higher aspirations among girls regarding occupational prestige. Communion was found to be a significant mediator between gender and aspirations to typically feminine occupations, while agency mediated the relationship between gender and the prestige of aspirations. The findings’ implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Gender Differences in Digital Learning During COVID-19: Competence Beliefs, Intrinsic Value, Learning Engagement, and Perceived Teacher Support

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic quickly necessitated digital learning, which bore challenges for all pupils but especially for groups disadvantaged in a virtual classroom. As some studies indicate persistent differences between boys and girls in use of technologies and related skills, the aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the digital learning environment students faced in spring 2020. Previous studies investigating gender differences in digital learning largely used biological sex as the only indicator of gender. This study includes both biological sex and gender role self-concept in order to investigate the role of gender in different components of this stereotyped domain in a more differentiated way. A total of 19,190 Austrian secondary school students (61.9% girls, M_age = 14.55, SD_age = 2.49, age range 10–21) participated in an online study in April 2020 and answered questions regarding their competence beliefs, intrinsic value, engagement, and perceived teacher support in digital learning during the pandemic-induced school closures. Results showed higher perceived teacher support, intrinsic value, and learning engagement among girls than boys, while no significant sex differences were found in competence beliefs regarding digital learning. Furthermore, our results indicated clear benefits of an androgynous gender role self-concept for all studied components of digital learning. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Impostors Dare to Compare: Associations Between the Impostor Phenomenon, Gender Typing, and Social Comparison Orientation in University Students

Entering university is often associated with new surroundings and challenges, which can cause distress and might result in poor mental health. A phenomenon that was shown to be linked to low self-esteem, higher stress levels, anxiety, and depression in university students is the impostor phenomenon. Impostorism is defined as a conviction to be unintelligent despite one’s academic success and was found to be closely associated with psychological femininity in previous studies. Research has also shown that people who experience higher stress levels, self-doubts, and a low self-esteem tend to engage in social comparison processes more often. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the relationship between gender typing and impostor feelings and to investigate a possible influence of social comparison orientation on the aforementioned association. For this purpose, 278 university students (73.7% women) completed an online questionnaire. Gender typing was measured using an instrument assessing positive and negative aspects of masculinity and femininity to overcome conceptual limitations of previous studies. For social comparison processes, the general tendency to engage in social comparisons was measured. Of the participants, 8.6% experienced few, 40.3% moderate, 38.5% frequent, and 12.6% intense impostor feelings, which indicates that the impostor phenomenon is highly prevalent in university students. One of the key findings of this study concerns the association between gender typing and the impostor phenomenon. We found a moderate negative relationship between the impostor phenomenon and positive masculinity but no association with negative masculinity. In contrast, impostorism was strongly correlated with negative aspects of femininity but not at all with positive aspects of femininity. The relationship between negative femininity and impostorism was further found to be partially mediated by social comparison orientation. Social comparison orientation, however, was not found to mediate the association between positive masculinity and impostorism. This result indicates that individuals who identify with negative aspects of femininity tend to compare themselves to others more often, which is associated with stronger impostor feelings. Based on the results, we discuss possible interventions to reduce psychological distress among university students.

REFLECT – ein Interventionsprogramm zum Aufbau von Lehrkräftekompetenzen für Reflexive Koedukation

Zusammenfassung. Studien zeigen, dass geschlechterstereotype Annahmen und Erwartungen von Lehrkräften die Bildungskarrieren ihrer Schüler_innen beeinflussen. Systematisch evaluierte Interventionen, die Lehrkräfte dabei unterstützen, eigene Geschlechterstereotype zu reflektieren und Mädchen und Jungen gleichermaßen zu fördern, existieren jedoch kaum. Das Interventionsprogramm REFLECT zielt darauf ab, bei Lehrkräften die Kompetenzen für Reflexive Koedukation aufzubauen. Dazu setzt es an deren objektivem Handlungsrepertoire (Wissen, Unterrichtsgestaltung) und subjektivem Handlungsraum (Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung, Implizite Theorien über Geschlechtsunterschiede) an. In einer Pilotstudie wurde die Wirksamkeit von REFLECT anhand eines Zwei-Gruppen-Prä-Post-Designs evaluiert. Die 38 Lehrkräfte der Interventionsgruppe zeigten einen stärkeren Zuwachs im Wissen über Geschlechtsunterschiede und in der auf Autonomieförderung abzielenden Unterrichtsgestaltung als die 76 Lehrkräfte der Kontrollgruppe. Zudem war in der Interventionsgruppe ein stärkerer Zuwachs in der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung bzgl. Motivationsförderung und eine stärkere Abnahme der Überzeugung, dass Geschlechtsunterschiede unveränderbar sind, zu beobachten. Insgesamt ist REFLECT ein vielversprechender Ansatz, um Lehrkräfte zu Reflexiver Koedukation zu befähigen und die Genderfairness der Schule zu erhöhen.

Attitudes toward evaluation: An exploratory study of students' and stakeholders' social representations

Positive attitudes toward evaluation among stakeholders are an important precondition for successful evaluation processes. However, empirical studies focusing on stakeholders' attitudes toward evaluation are scarce. The present paper explores the approach of assessing social representations as indicators of people's attitudes toward evaluation. In an exploratory study, two groups were surveyed: University students (n = 60) with rather theoretical knowledge of evaluation and stakeholders (n = 61) who had shortly before taken part in participatory evaluation studies. Both groups were asked to name their free associations with the term "evaluation", which were subsequently analyzed lexicographically. The results indicate different social representations of evaluation in the two groups. The student group primarily saw evaluation as an "appraisal", whereas the stakeholders emphasized the "improvement" resulting from evaluation. Implications for further evaluation research and practice are discussed.

Breaking Away From the Male Stereotype of a Specialist: Gendered Language Affects Performance in a Thinking Task

This experimental online-survey study investigated if different written language forms in German have an effect on male bias in thinking. We used answers to the specialist riddle as an indicator for male bias in mental representations of expertise. The difficulty of this thinking task lies in the fact that a gender-unspecified specialist is often automatically assumed to be a man due to gender stereotypes. We expected that reading a text in gender-fair language before processing the specialist riddle helps readers achieve control over automatically activated gender stereotypes and thus facilitates the restructuring and reinterpretation of the problem, which is necessary to reach the conclusion that the specialist is a woman. We randomly assigned 517 native German speakers (68% women) to reading a text on expertise written either in gender-fair language or in masculine generics. Subsequently, participants were asked to solve the specialist riddle. The results show that reading a text in gender-fair language before processing the riddle led to higher rates of answers indicating that the specialist is a women compared to reading a text in masculine generics (44% vs. 33%) in women and men regardless of their self-stereotyping concerning agency and communion. The findings indicate that reading even a very short text in gender-fair language can help people break their gender-stereotype habit and thus reduce male bias in thinking. Our research emphasizes the importance of using gender-fair language in German-language texts for reducing gender stereotypes.

Parents' Judgments about the Desirability of Toys for Their Children: Associations with Gender Role Attitudes, Gender-typing of Toys, and Demographics

Parental toy selection and responses to toy play are important factors in children's gender socialization. Reinforcing play with same-gender-typed toys guides children's activities and limits their action repertoires in accordance with gender stereotypes. A survey of 324 Austrian parents of three- to six-year-old children was conducted to investigate parents' judgments about the desirability of different types of toys for their children and how these judgements relate to parents' gender-typing of toys, gender role attitudes, and demographics (age, education, gender). Results show that parents rated same-gender-typed and gender-neutral toys as more desirable for their children than cross-gender-typed toys. The traditionalism of parents' gender role attitudes was not associated with their desirability judgments of same-gender-typed toys, but was negatively related to their desirability judgments of cross-gender-typed toys. This indicates that egalitarian parents permit a greater range of interests and behaviors in their children than traditional parents do. Younger parents, parents with lower educational levels, and fathers reported more traditional gender role attitudes than did older parents, parents with higher educational levels, and mothers. However, no differences based on age, educational level or gender were found in parents' judgments of toy desirability. The present study demonstrates that parents' judgments about the desirability of toys for their children do not accurately reflect their gender role attitudes. This finding highlights the importance of simultaneously investigating different aspects of parents' gender-related attitudes in order to gain a better understanding of parental transmission of gender stereotypes.

Buffering Impostor Feelings with Kindness: The Mediating Role of Self-compassion between Gender-Role Orientation and the Impostor Phenomenon

The impostor phenomenon (IP) refers to high-achievers who underestimate their abilities and thus fear being unmasked as impostors. IP sufferers attribute their success to factors other than their abilities, entailing negative emotions, unfavorable motivations, and reduced well-being. The IP was originally conceptualized as a predominantly female experience, and is thus seen as an important psychological barrier for female academic careers. Empirical findings of gender differences in the IP are equivocal, but sparse research on associations between gender-role orientation and the IP indicates that feminine students suffer more intensely from the IP than masculine students. Femininity and masculinity are also related to self-compassion, a rather young construct that enhances emotional resilience, well-being, and academic achievement. Self-compassion involves being kind to oneself when failing, perceiving one’s inadequacies as part of the human condition, and being mindful about negative aspects of oneself. It reduces fear of failure, denial of competences, and self-doubts which are central components of the IP. However, relations between self-compassion and the IP have not been investigated to date. In this study, we examine self-compassion as a potential resilience factor against the IP, taking gender and gender-role orientation into account. In a cross-sectional online survey, we investigated 459 (315 female) high-achieving first-year undergraduate students. Results include: Female, feminine, and undifferentiated students score higher on measures of the IP and lower on measures of self-compassion than male, masculine, or androgynous students. Higher levels of the IP are associated with lower levels of self-compassion across all students tested. Self-compassion further mediates the relationship between gender-role orientation and the IP. Interventions to enhance self-compassion might thus be an effective way to overcome impostor feelings. Female, feminine, and undifferentiated students might benefit most from facilitation of self-compassion in education.