Any Math Boys Can Do, Girls Can Do, Too

Posted on July 25, 2008
Filed Under News, The Daily Prereq | By Jessica Gross

Here’s one for Larry Summers (cheap jab?): A recent survey of seven million students’ math test scores found no difference between boys’ and girls’ stats. This marks a big shift over the past few decades. In the ’70s, boys scored much higher across all grade levels. By the ’80s younger students’ marks were gender-neutral, although adolescent boys still scored higher than their female peers. Props to today’s math-minded girls.

Why have the disparities disappeared? The study authors, based at UC-Berkeley and Wisconsin-Madison, think the change stems from (1) girls’ enrollment in higher-level math courses, (2) a decline in stereotypes that women are innately worse at science and math, and (3) girls’ increased self-confidence. These three reasons are intertwined in a case of what psychologists call stereotype threat. If society tells girls that they can’t do math, they believe it and don’t bother enrolling in high-level classes. If the stereotype goes the other way, so do girls’ self-images and efforts.
First stop: high school math. Now on to rocket science.

(Source: MercuryNews.com)

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