Gender differences in small group discussion in physics

The role of group discussion in the development of children's conceptual understanding in science is widely acknowledged. At the same time, an extensive literature exists on gender differences in participation in dialogue. This paper presents an in-depth investigation of the discussion processes of male and female secondary school Greek students while they worked in pairs and fours discussing simple physical phenomena. The analysis of group dialogue showed gender differences in the ways peers negotiated their ideas in small groups and, especially, in dealing with disagreements. Peers' discussion processes were investigated with reference to gender composition, group size and students' pre- to post-test changes in physics reasoning.