Gender vs. Sex Differences: Factors Affecting Performance in Geographic Education

Much has been written about sex differences in learning, but less attention has been paid to the impacts of gender-which is socially constructed-on learning geography. This article investigates whether differences in gender influence performance on a standardized test of geography knowledge. Undergraduate students in two large clases completed a standardized inventory of gender differences and then completed a standardized test of geography knowledge. The results of our analysis of the correlation between gender traits and geographic learning resulted in somewhat unexpected results, as well as a set of complex questions for further research on learning styles in geographic education.