Instructor vs. Student Gender and Lecture Content Effects on Learning

Indianapolis, IN

Research has indicated that mixed gender effects may be found when a subject is taught by either a female or male professor (You, 2010). Therefore, all students may learn better if taught by a professor of a matched gender and topic. We hypothesized that topic type would interact with instructor and student gender. 193 participants (Nfemale=150, Nmale=43) were shown either an art or science video lecture voiced by either a male or female, who was also pictured. Participants then answered free-recall, probed-recall, and recognition questions. Free-recall memory was scored from 0-3. There was an interrater reliability of 96.75% across conditions. A 2 (instructor gender) by 2(student gender) by 2(material types: science or art) ANOVA was conducted. Free-recall data showed a significant interaction for instructor gender by lecture type, F(1,153)=5.163, p=.0245. Participants performed best when taught science by a male (Mmale=.75, SD=.28; Mfemale=.67, SD=.28) and art by a female (Mmale=.68, SD=.28; Mfemale=.71, SD=.31). There was a significant 3-way interaction for lecture type by instructor gender by participant gender, F(1,153)= 4.28, p=.0403. The interaction occurred in the male student condition. Male participants performed best when taught by a male in science (Mmale=.81, SD=.26) and worst when taught science by a female (Mmale=.48, SD=.29). For art material males learned more from a female (Mmale=.68, SD=.33). For probed-recall date, there was a significant effect of subject gender, F(1,153)=4.684, p=.032. Male participants performed better overall (M=.435, SD=.106) than female participants (M=.380, SD=.012). Results are possibly due to role model theory and stereotype threat.