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Abstract
Numerous studies show that, in general, female students achieve lower results in mathematics compared to male students with similar abilities. One of the explanations for this is a phenomenon called "stereotype threat", which refers to the pressure felt by individuals belonging to a group that has negative stereotypes when performing a task in which members of their group are considered weak. According to research, stereotype threat has a negative impact on the performance of individuals from the same group. Female students experience stereotype threat in mathematics and science exams, subjects in which there is a stereotype suggesting that girls have lower abilities than boys (Aronson et al., 1998).
This study examines whether the use of a computerized assessment environment affects the stereotype threat experienced by female students and, as a result, influences their achievements in mathematics. The research was conducted among 120 students in the ninth grade. Half of them performed assessment tasks in a digital assessment environment, while the other half used pen and paper. The assessment tasks for all students in each environment were identical. All students in each group took two exams, one without stereotype threat and the second with stereotype threat.
The finding reveal that the activation of stereotype threat had greater impact on girls who were tested using pen and paper compared to those tested in the digital assessment environment. In contrast, for boys, the results were the opposite. After activating stereotype threat, the gains in achievements of boys tested in the digital assessment environment were lower, on average, than those tested using pen and paper.
Based on the experimental findings, this work will examine whether there is a need to change assessment policies in mathematics and encourage the transition to online assessment environments to improve female students' achievements in mathematics.
