Barbie and Ken's Math Scores
Thursday July 31, 2008
Throughout my teaching career, I have noticed the gender discrepancies in math performance and achievement. I thought that if I differentiated my instruction and assessment, I may perhaps just narrow the gap for the classes I taught. And, although I seemed to have turned some female students around, I did still notice that the males (although not always) tended to out perform the females in most cases. Do the females believe that they 'can't do the math'? Are they buying into the myth of math?.
Many research activities suggest that careers requiring college math are heavier represented by males and at the college level, courses in math are also heavier represented by the male population. Why does this discrepancie exist? One of the biggest studies ever, based on 7 million students may just shed some light on the myth of the gender discrepancy. Its findings are promising. So Barbie enjoy those math classes, it seems to be keeping Ken on his toes!
See also, The Gender Politics of Math - Globe and Mail
Comments
Why do you think former child actress Danica McKellar wrote the book Math Doesn’t Suck?
She’s a female with a passion for mathematics.
There are females who are passionate for numbers but they fail in math courses because society expects females not to do well in math and science courses. This is a myth.
There are women mathematicians in the world and some of them are beyond comprehension.
Math is for everybody who loves it. Math should be lifted up for the whole world to see. Women can learn math if they forget what society has to say.
I think it is a matter of society, in some countries there are more female mathematical phd students than there are male phd students.