GENDER-RELATED DIFFICULTY OF GENERAL PHYSICS: ITS RELATIONSHIP IN ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG GRADE 12 STEM STUDENTS

Abstract

Many people believe that physics is a challenging and complex subject that requires a high degree of technical and mathematical expertise. This study aims to determine the degree of sex-related difficulty of General Physics 1 and 2 for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students in grade 12 at the College of Maasin. Employing complete enumeration, the researchers surveyed the students using their developed questionnaire subjected to validity and reliability tests. As a result of the study, both males and females perceive physics as an “easy” subject. However, it can be observed that female students marked more competencies as “exceptional” than male students. Thus, even though both sexes demonstrate exceptional academic achievement in physics, it was determined that female students face greater challenges than their male counterparts. Additionally, it was found that there is no statistical correlation on how difficult they believe Physics to be and their academic performance. This indicates that even while students perceive physics as relatively easier, their academic performance does not consistently align with this perception. The findings emphasize on fortifying the fundamentals of physics concepts to mitigate such differences among students of different sexes.