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Gender gap in the perceived mastery of reasoning-for-complexity competency: an approach in Latin America

José Carlos Vázquez-Parra (Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico)
Isolda Margarita Castillo-Martínez (Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico)
María Soledad Ramírez-Montoya (Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico)
Juan Alberto Amézquita-Zamora (School of Humanities and Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Guadalajara, Mexico)
Marco Cruz-Sandoval (Center for the Future of Cities, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico)

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education

ISSN: 2050-7003

Article publication date: 28 March 2023

Issue publication date: 2 January 2024

104

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to assess students' perceived mastery of reasoning-for-complexity competency and its sub-competencies in a sample of students in a Latin American university. The intention was to identify statistically significant differences between a population of men and women with similar sociocultural characteristics, assessing whether gender could be a factor for educational institutions to consider when implementing strategies to develop this competency.

Design/methodology/approach

The eComplexity instrument was applied to 370 undergraduate students in their first to ninth semesters in a private university in Western Mexico. Descriptive statistics were analyzed to determine the mean and standard deviation indicators and were tested for statistical significance. The convenience sampling methodology ensured that there were students from all semesters and a diversity of majors. The sampling aimed for a balance of men and women, resulting in 189 women and 181 men.

Findings

The results confirmed no statistically significant evidence to indicate differences between men and women in their perceived mastery of the reasoning-for-complexity competency in general. However, statistically significant differences were found in the perceived achievements of the sub-competencies of systems, critical and scientific thinking, which comprise the overall competency. Women presented a higher average perception of systemic and critical thinking achievement, and men had a higher perception of scientific thinking. The authors concluded that social and cultural elements influence the perception of achievement that men and women develop in thinking and solving problems.

Practical implications

Governments and educational institutions must establish training programs that do not follow gender stereotypes and promote reasoning-for-complexity skills equitably in men and women. It is necessary to create more scientific and academic spaces and projects involving women in the sciences; countries must emphasize this to improve their scientific competency. Only in this way will it be possible to reverse the perception that men and women have of their problem-solving skills and abilities, which, as this study shows, are more a matter of culture than capabilities.

Originality/value

Unlike previous studies, which analyze the competency of complex thinking in a particular way among its sub-competencies, this research sought comprehensive measurement. Furthermore, beyond measuring competency development, this study aimed to measure the perception of achievement. The authors believe this is the first step towards identifying elements of the social imagination that limit the formation of scientific thinking among women in Latin America.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the technical support of Writing Lab, Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, in the production of this work.

Funding: This work is a product of the project “OpenResearchLab: innovation with artificial intelligence and robotics to scale domain levels of reasoning for complexity”, receiving funding from the NOVUS 2021 Fund (Agreement: Novus 2021) of the Tecnologico de Monterrey. The project has also received funding from Tecnologico de Monterrey through the “Challenge-Based Research Funding Program 2022” with Project ID # I001 - IFE001 - C1-T1 - E.

Citation

Vázquez-Parra, J.C., Castillo-Martínez, I.M., Ramírez-Montoya, M.S., Amézquita-Zamora, J.A. and Cruz-Sandoval, M. (2024), "Gender gap in the perceived mastery of reasoning-for-complexity competency: an approach in Latin America", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 182-194. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-11-2022-0355

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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