Gender Differences In Mathematics

Females consistently score lower than males on standardized tests of mathematics - yet no such differences exist in the classroom. These differences are not trivial, nor are they insignificant. Test scores help determine entrance to college and graduate school and therefore, by extension, a person's job and future success. If females receive lower test scores then they also receive fewer opportunities. Why does this discrepancy exist? This book presents a series of papers that address these issues by integrating the latest research findings and theories. Authors such as Diane Halpern, Jacquelynne Eccles, Beth Casey, Ronald Nuttal, James Byrnes, and Frank Pajares tackle these questions from a variety of perspectives. Many different branches of psychology are represented, including cognitive, social, personality/self-oriented, and psychobiological. The editors then present an integrative chapter that discusses the ideas presented and other areas that the field should explore.

This edited collection describes how the Autonomous Learning Behaviours (ALB) model, formulated by Fennema and Peterson, specifically relates to gender differences in mathematics education, learning and performance. The book provides a background to the debate on gender differences; considers the interactions between internal beliefs and external influences, as well as their effects on learning math; and provides a summary of the latest research relevant to the ALB model. Gender differences in learning mathematics is examined from a variety of perspectives, strengthened by longitudinal studies and a cross-cultural American and Australian perspective..

"... a wonderful addition to any mathematics teacher's professional bookshelf." -- The Mathematics Teacher "The individual biographies themselves make for enthralling, often inspiring, reading... this volume should be compelling reading for women mathematics students and professionals. A fine addition to the literature on women in science... Highly recommended." -- Choice "... it makes an important contribution to scholarship on the interrelations of gender, mathematics, and culture in the U.S. in the second half of the twentieth century." -- Notices of the AMS "Who is the audience for this book? Certainly women who are interested in studying mathematics and women already in mathematics who have become discouraged will find much to interest and help them. Faculty who teach such women would put it to good use. But it would be a loss to relegate the book to a shelf for occasional reference to an interested student or beginning mathematician. Everyone in the mathematics community in which each of Henrion's subjects struggled so hard to find a place could benefit by a thoughtful reading." -- Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) News Mathematics is often described as the purest of the sciences, the least tainted by subjective or cultural influences. Theoretically, the only requirement for a life of mathematics is mathematical ability. And yet we see very few women mathematicians. Why? Based upon a series of ten intensive interviews with prominent women mathematicians throughout the United States, this book investigates the role of gender in the complex relationship between mathematician, the mathematical community, and mathematics itself.

Australian edition of a collection, first published in the US in 1990, of nine essays and reports examining gender issues in mathematics and looking at gender equality in mathematics and mathematics education. The editors teach mathematics at the University of Wisconsin and education at Monash University respectively. Indexed.

First published in 1985. In the mid-seventies, there was growing concern that early decisions not to study mathematics in high school might be limiting the occupational options available to women. As part of a larger program on career development, the Career Awareness Division of the Education and Work Group, then one of the major organizational units of the National Institute of Education (NIE), initiated a special research grants program on women and mathematics. Research information that would sort out the competing explanations for women’s lower rate of participation seemed a useful contribution to debates about possible remedial actions. Should there be, for example, widespread development and implementation of programs designed to reduce mathematics anxiety? This volume represents the culmination of a research program with many contributions.

Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty presents new and surprising findings about career differences between female and male full-time, tenure-track, and tenured faculty in science, engineering, and mathematics at the nation's top research universities. Much of this congressionally mandated book is based on two unique surveys of faculty and departments at major U.S. research universities in six fields: biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, and physics. A departmental survey collected information on departmental policies, recent tenure and promotion cases, and recent hires in almost 500 departments. A faculty survey gathered information from a stratified, random sample of about 1,800 faculty on demographic characteristics, employment experiences, the allocation of institutional resources such as laboratory space, professional activities, and scholarly productivity. This book paints a timely picture of the status of female faculty at top universities, clarifies whether male and female faculty have similar opportunities to advance and succeed in academia, challenges some commonly held views, and poses several questions still in need of answers. This book will be of special interest to university administrators and faculty, graduate students, policy makers, professional and academic societies, federal funding agencies, and others concerned with the vitality of the U.S. research base and economy.

Compressing an enormous amount of information--over 400 studies--into a readable, engaging account suitable for parents, educators, and policymakers, this book advances the debate about women in science unlike any other book before it. Bringing together important research from such diverse fields as endocrinology, economics, sociology, education, genetics, and psychology, the authors show that two factors--the parenting choices women (but not men) have to make, and the tendency of women to choose people-oriented fields like medicine--largely account for the under-representation of women in the hard sciences.