Name:Sassy •
Title: Girls as good as boys at math :D •
Date posted: 07/31/08 4:19
Q: By TAMAR LEWIN
July 25, 2008
NYTimes
Three years after the president of Harvard, Lawrence H. Summers, got into trouble for questioning women’s “intrinsic aptitude” for science and engineering — and 16 years after the talking Barbie doll proclaimed that “math class is tough” — a study paid for by the National Science Foundation has found that girls perform as well as boys on standardized math tests.
Although boys in high school performed better than girls in math 20 years ago, the researchers found, that is no longer the case. The reason, they said, is simple: Girls used to take fewer advanced math courses than boys, but now they are taking just as many.
“Now that enrollment in advanced math courses is equalized, we don’t see gender differences in test performance,” said Marcia C. Linn of the University of
California, Berkeley, a co-author of the study. “But people are surprised by these findings, which suggests to me that the stereotypes are still there.”
The findings, reported in the July 25 issue of Science magazine, are based on math scores from seven million students in 10 states, tested in accordance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
The researchers looked at the average of the test scores of all students, the performance of the most gifted children and the ability to solve complex math
problems. They found, in every category, that girls did as well as boys. (To their dismay, the researchers found that the tests in the 10 states did not include a single question requiring complex problem-solving, forcing them to use a national assessment test for that portion of their research.)
Janet Hyde, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who led the study, said the persistent stereotypes about girls and math had taken a toll.
“The stereotype that boys do better at math is still held widely by teachers and parents,” Dr. Hyde said. “And teachers and parents guide girls, giving them
advice about what courses to take, what careers to pursue. I still hear anecdotes about guidance counselors steering girls away from engineering,
telling them they won’t be able to do the math.”
Girls are still underrepresented in high school physics classes and, as noted by Dr. Summers, who resigned in 2006, in the highest levels of physics, chemistry
and engineering, which require advanced math skills.
The study also analyzed the gender gap on the math section of the SAT. Rather than proving boys’ superior talent for math, the study found, the difference is
probably attributable to a skewed pool of test takers. The SAT is taken primarily by seniors bound for college, and since more girls than boys go to
college, about 100,000 more girls than boys take the test, including lower-achieving girls who bring down the girls’ average score.
On the ACT, another college entrance test, the study said, the gender gap in math scores disappeared in Colorado and Illinois after the states began rrequiring all students to take the test.
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So hopefully, in future, we will have more women physicists and engineers!
"The truth is always revolutionary."
(Antonio Gramsci)
Name:Judith •
Date: 08/01/08 2:31
A: Thank you , I wanted to go into engineering and now in my late 50's knowing I helped open that door makes me feel good , even if I did not make it.
Name:sam •
Date: 08/03/08 0:27
A: Dear Sassy, Judith,
Through out history, women have been responsible for making vast advancements in the realm of science. Famous women scientists have made huge accomplishments in the subjects of mathematics, research, health, astronomy and chemistry as well as many others.
Marie Curie :
Marie Curie is a well-known name amongst society and one of the most famous women scientists. She lived from 1867 to 1934 in Poland and France and attended the Sorbonne where she received a chemist's license in physics and mathematical sciences. Curie, along with her husband Pierre, is most famous for her discovery of the elements Radium and Polonium. She won a Nobel Prize for this accomplishment, the first woman ever to be awarded this distinction.
Pierre Curie : 1869 -1906
Pierre Curie was born in Paris on May 15, 1869. He was educated at home by his father, a general medical practitioner.
By age 18, Curie had completed the equivalent of a higher degree. Due to lack of money, he did not immediately pursue his doctorate, but worked as a laboratory instructor.
In 1895, he obtained his Doctor of Science degree and was appointed Professor of Physics. In 1900, he was promoted to Professor in the Faculty of Sciences, and in 1904 he became Titular Professor.
Curie's studies of radioactive substances were made together with his wife Marie, also a professor at the Sorbonne, whom he married in 1895. They announced the discovery of radium and polonium by fractionation of pitchblende in 1898 and later did much to elucidate the properties of radium and its transformation products. Their work in this era formed the basis for much of the subsequent research in nuclear physics and chemistry. Together, they were awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 .
I SAY:
NOT EVERY MAN IS EINESTEIN, AND NOT EVERY WOMAN IS MARIE CURIE.
Man and woman are equal WHEN WOMAN GIVEN THE CHANCE to work side by side with man.
Piere and Marie are the biggest example.
THE FAMILY OF THE HUMAN RACE CONSIST OF A MAN AND A WOMAN, AND IF THEY DO NOT WORK TOGETHER AND ON AN EQUAL BASIS, THEN THEY WILL NOT ACHEIVE THE FULL RESULT.
God bless you.
Name:Panluna •
Date: 08/06/08 21:46
A: Intellegence is found in both genders.And hair color does not undicate IQ.Education ,encouragement ,mental health,oppurtunities and background contribute to human developement..Native intellegence is what we are born with and then developed with experience and dealing with facts rationally.High and low IQ is based on all factors and both sexes fit in the catagories.
