Girls are no worse than boys at maths
Baku, December 17 (AZERTAC). Scientists have previously believed that the relatively low numbers of women in high-level mathematics could be due to biological differences between men and women. But a new, international study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has cast doubt on the idea that the differences are biological at all. Previous studies tended to focus on a limited range of countries - whereas the new study observed school-level mathematical performance in 86 countries. The differences in performance seemed to be caused by social factors. `People have looked at international data for many years`, says Janet Mertz, senior author of the study and a professor of oncology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The new study, by Mertz and Jonathan Kane, a professor of mathematical and computer sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, was published today in Notices of the American Mathematical Society. `We found that boys — as well as girls — tend to do better in maths when raised in countries where females have better equality, and that`s new and important,` says Kane.
One hypothesis, expounded by Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard in 2005, suggested that male mathematical ability `varied more greatly` at both ends of the scale - ie there were better male mathematicians at the top end, and worse ones at the bottom end.
The new study relied on data from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the 2009 Programme in International Student Assessment. The Wisconsin study also debunked the idea proposed by Steven Levitt of `Freakonomics` fame that gender inequity does not hamper girls` math performance in Muslim countries, where most students attend single-sex schools.
Levitt claimed to have disproved a prior conclusion of others that gender inequity limits girls` mathematics performance. He suggested, instead, that Muslim culture or single-sex classrooms benefit girls` ability to learn mathematics. By examining the data in detail, the Wisconsin authors noted other factors at work. `The girls living in some Middle Eastern countries, such as Bahrain and Oman, had, in fact, not scored very well, but their boys had scored even worse, a result found to be unrelated to either Muslim culture or schooling in single-gender classrooms,` says Kane.
In addition, in wealthier countries, women`s participation and salary in the paid labor force was the main factor linked to higher maths scores for both genders. One proposed solution, creating single-sex classrooms, is not supported by the data. Instead, Mertz and Kane recommend increasing the number of math-certified teachers in middle and high schools, decreasing the number of children living in poverty and ensuring gender equality.
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