TeaHe research brief There is brief information about the interesting pedagogical work.
big idea
Women in statistics classes tend to perform academically better than men in a semester, despite having a more negative view of their abilities, as our recent study reported. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education,
Using data from over 100 male and female students from multiple statistics classes, my colleague And me Assess the gender gap in grades during a semester. As part of the study, students also answered surveys at the beginning and end of the semester, which measured six different things: their fear of statistics teachers in general; his ideas about the usefulness of statistics; their assumptions about their own mathematical ability; their anxiety about taking the test; their concern in interpreting the data; And their fear of asking for help.
Overall, we found that students who had more negative beliefs about their mathematical ability had lower grades during the semester. What is even more interesting are the gender differences that emerged.
Even though men and women scored the same in exams at the beginning of the semester, women ended the semester with about 10% higher final exam grades. This was the case, even though women had significantly worse attitudes about their mathematical abilities at the start of the semester than their male counterparts.
Especially at the start of the semester, women were more likely to underestimate their mathematical abilities than men in the class and to report greater concern for examinations and interpreting statistical findings. However, each of these self-assessments improved over the course of the semester, such that women’s attitudes were no different from men’s by the end.
Meanwhile, the grades of male students who reported fear of statistics teachers or fear of asking for help dropped sharply during the semester. For men whose outlook improved over the course of the semester, grades also improved — though not as much as women’s grades.
why it matters
Several studies have shown that from an early age, boys and girls learn math equally,
Although, Girls are less likely to be called compared to boys in math classes, even when they raise their hands like boys. In addition, some teachers inadvertently Grade girls’ math test more rigorous than boys’, By middle school, gender differences in math scores come to the fore. These factors may contribute to adult women being more likely to rate themselves. less mathematically proficient than men, As a result, Women are also less likely to do STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – Business.
The results of our study, in line with others, reinforce the notion that women have the potential to do better than men as well in STEM fields, such as statistics. we argue that Women will benefit from additional counseling To encourage them as they start pursuing STEM related education.
what is not yet known
The above evidence provides hints at some of the reasons for the gender discrepancy in perceived ability. However, there is much we still don’t know.
For example, why did the attitudes of the women in our study improve over time? Was it based on their confidence in their abilities as their grades improved, or did their statistics teachers affect their perception of their own abilities over time?
Among other questions, more research is needed to understand how women differed from men in their attitudes during the school semester. In particular, we want to clarify which classroom or instructor factors can lead to better attitudes among students, ultimately translating into better grades.
Jonathan B Santoprofessor of psychology, University of Nebraska Omaha And Kelly Rhea MacArthurAssociate Professor of Sociology, University of Nebraska Omaha
This article is republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons license. read the original article,
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