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Science U.S. study concludes girls just as good as boys in math
Science U.S. study concludes girls just as good as boys in math | U.S. study concludes girls just as good as boys in math |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Saturday, 26 July 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 2 The result of the study is published on Thursday, July 25, 2008 in the journal Science. The article title is “Gender Similarities Characterize Math Performance.” The study was led by American psychologist Janet S. Hyde, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). Her colleagues are Sara M. Lindberg, also from the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Marcia C. Linn, from Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology at the University of California at Berkeley, and Amy B. Ellis and Caroline C. Williams, both from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin. The Hyde team analyzed mathematics questions from standardized tests required by the national “No Child Left Behind Law of 2001.” The analysis was performed from tests taken in 2002. The test scores came from over seven million children in ten U.S. states. The researchers found that the scores of boys and girls were the same in all grade levels from second to eleventh. They researchers made sixty-six different assessments. They calculated the difference between scores in standardized units between males and females. In twenty-one of the assessments, boys did slightly better than girls; in thirty-six assessments, girls did slightly better than boys; and in nine assessments, they were equal. Hyde declares, "But when you average them all, you essentially get no difference.” [MercuryNews.com: “What math gender gap? Study finds girls, boys equally adept"] She adds, “Girls have now achieved gender parity in performance on standardized math tests." [CNN: “Study: Girls equal to boys in math skills’] The study found that women get 48% of the mathematics degrees in the United States. However, it also showed that the number of physics and engineering degrees are still the domain of men. However, in secondary and primary school, girls are equal with boys in mathematics. The researchers state that the equality of the sexes is due to girls taking more advanced mathematics courses such as calculus (which, by the way, is required for college degrees in physics, engineering, and many other sciences). Please read page two to find out how certain groups of boys and girls did in the United States, and some interesting comments and remarks from Dr. Hyde. |
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