Speed and Studying: Gendered Pathways to Success

In an introductory Python programming course intended for non-majors with little prior CS experience, with 85 male and 108 female students, we were able to capture electronic traces of students' studying and problem-solving. There was no significant difference in final exam scores by gender but we found that female students spent 12.1 more hours studying over the semester while male students on average earned 2.7 more points per hour of solving problem set questions over the first half of the semester. We were able to capture their learning behavior because students studied using the Runestone interactive textbook and completed weekly problem sets in the same platform for the first half of the semester. We analyzed these logs to determine three quantities for each student. One is study time, as measured by total use of Runestone outside of weekly assignments. The second is speed, as measured by the number of points students earned per hour working on problem sets. The third is earliness, as measured by how far before the deadlines they worked on weekly assignments. We conclude that male students were faster at completing problem sets early in the semester but that female students found an alternative pathway to success.