How Dick and Jane Perform Differently in Geometry: Test Results on Reasoning, Visualization, Transformation, Applications, and Coordinates (original) (raw)
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The effects of spatial visualization and students' sex on mathematical achievement
British Journal of Psychology, 1998
Sex differences in mathematical achievement and spatial visualization skill were examined in a sample of 724 Norwegian sixth-grade students. Boys had significantly higher mean mathematics scores than girls. Significant sex differences favouring boys were found in the subsamples of most difficult tasks, but not in the subsamples of easiest tasks. No significant sex difference in spatial visualization was found. The hypothesis that boys' superior achievement in mathematics is due to a superior ability in spatial visualization was not supported. Although the effect of spatial visualization on mathematical achievement increased significantly up to a certain level of mathematics task difficulty, the hypothesis that the effect of spatial visualization on mathematical achievement increases with increasing task difficulty was not fully supported. With increasing mathematics task difficulty, it is hypothesized that boys, more than girls, will benefit from spatial visualization. This hypothesis was not supported by the present elementary school data.
International Journal of Research in Education and Science, 2018
In this research study, I investigated the relationships between preferences for solution methods, task difficulty, gender, and high school students’ geometry performance. Data were collected from 161 geometry students at six high schools at a county located in the southeastern region of the USA at the time of the 2013–2014 school year. The result revealed that there was not an association between preference for solution methods and geometry performance. The majority of students demonstrated a preference for visual solution methods. However, the preference for visual or nonvisual methods was not associated with task difficulty. That is, students were equally likely to employ visual as well as nonvisual solution methods regardless of the task difficulty. The study further revealed that there was a significant difference between male and female students in geometry performance but not in preferences for solution methods. Females outperformed males in geometry performance. The data ana...
In the early 1970s, gender differences in mathematics learning outcomes favouring males were identified. Research efforts revealed that learner-related cognitive and affective variables, as well as school-related and societal factors were implicated. Policy changes and funded intervention programs followed and had mixed effects. Both government and research attention have since turned elsewhere. In this paper, I present recent findings on gendered patterns in mathematics achievement and participation rates, and on the effects of technology on mathematics learning outcomes. The data indicate that any narrowing of the gender gap in the past decade now appears to be reversing. While there is a growing tendency to focus on smaller scale, qualitative studies, I argue that there is also the need to continue examining large scale data sources to monitor trends over time. I use three navigational metaphors to challenge thinking on the direction of future Australasian research on gender issues in mathematics education.
This study investigated the effect of games and simulations on the gender related differences in mathematics achievement and interest of students in geometry. The sample group consisted of 287 senior secondary school (SSS I) students comprising 158 boys and 129 girls from six out of the 46 secondary schools in Gwer-West LGA of Benue state, Nigeria. The study adopted a pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design, where intact classes were assigned to experimental and control groups. Data generated using Geometry Achievement Test (GAT) and Geometry Interest Inventory (GII) were analyzed using descriptive statistics to answer research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to test the hypotheses. Findings reveal that male and female students taught using games, and simulations did not differ significantly both in achievement and in interest. It was recommended among others that mathematics teacher should always use relevant games and simulations in teaching mathematics concepts but paying equal attention to the learning needs of both male and female students, and that school administrators should be encouraged to provide local games that could facilitate meaningful learning of mathematics.
An Analysis of Gender Differences on Performance Assessment in Mathematics--A Follow-Up Study
1999
To add to previous research on gender differences in mathematics ability and achievement, this study was designed to investigate gender differences in problem-solving strategies for two extended constructed-response mathematics questions in grade 3. It is a followup to a study of gender differences on constructed-response and multiple-choice items from the Delaware state assessment program. A sample of over 300 Delaware students completed tasks from the state's assessment program. A sorting guideline was used for sorting student responses, based on current research on children's thinking in the pertinent content area and also on the variety of strategies apparent in a sample of student work. The results of analyzing student response to one task, the "Eggs" task, demonstrate an interesting pattern in that more boys than girls used the most sophisticated approach, yet more boys overall were unsuccessful at accomplishing the task. The girls were more likely to use a visual, more concrete approach, and many more girls than boys did not give sufficient explanation for the strategy used to solve the problem. The results from the "Jellybean" task show that more boys (11W) than girls (7%) used the "Level B" approach, one of the sophisticated approaches, to the task. Other than that, no significant gender-specific differences in strategies were used to solve this problem. It is reasonable to say that gender differences in strategies used might have been masked by other factors such as item difficulty. The questions and their rubrics, the
2008
This paper discusses factors that contribute to gender differences in mathematics performance. We uncovered these factors through a study examining differences in the mathematics performance of 122 11th-and 12th-graders on a proctored administration of a retired SAT ® I. Students were first administered the SAT items in paper-and-pencil form and then administered a subset of those items on the computer, which tracked and timed each step students used to solve the items. A subset of students was also interviewed for their feedback and impressions about solving problems online, a mode that forced them to show their steps.