Looking Beyond Academic Performance: The Influence of Instructor Gender on Student Motivation in STEM Fields

2018/03/13 by Sabrina Solanki, Sabrina M. Solanki, Di Xu · 91 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Academic achievement #Computer science #Demographic economics #Evaluation of Teaching Practices #Gender Diversity and Inequality #Gender gap #Higher education #Innovations in Educational Methods #Mathematics education #Political science #Psychology #Set (abstract data type) #Student engagement

paper · doi:10.3102/0002831218759034

published in American Educational Research Journal 55(4), 801-835 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2018/03/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

Recruiting more female faculty has been suggested as a policy option for addressing gender disparities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields given its ability to engage female students through a role model effect. While a small but growing body of literature has examined the role of instructor gender at the higher education level, it typically focuses only on academic outcomes. This paper utilizes a unique data set that includes not only information about student course performance in STEM but also a number of motivation-related measures. We find that having a female instructor narrows the gender gap in terms of engagement and interest; further, both female and male students tend to respond to instructor gender. We conclude by discussing the policy implications of these findings.

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