Males Under-Estimate Academic Performance of Their Female Peers in Undergraduate Biology Classrooms.

ABSTRACT: Women who start college in one of the natural or physical sciences leave in greater proportions than their male peers. The reasons for this difference are complex, and one possible contributing factor is the social environment women experience in the classroom. Using social network analysis, we explore how gender influences the confidence that college-level biology students have in each other's mastery of biology. Results reveal that males are more likely than females to be named by peers as being knowledgeable about the course content. This effect increases as the term progresses, and persists even after controlling for class performance and outspokenness. The bias in nominations is specifically due to males over-nominating their male peers relative to their performance. The over-nominati

SUBMITTER: Grunspan DZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4749286 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature