In response to my post "Re: Winnie and Math" [Hake (2007)], Cathy
Kessel, President of the Association for Women in Mathematics
<http://www.awm-math.org/>, posted the following on the RUME
(Research in Undergraduate Math Education) list [bracketed by lines
"MMMMM. . . ."; my inserts at ". . . . [insert]. . . . ."]:
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
The description of "Math Doesn't Suck" . . . [McKellar (2007)]. . .
.on the Amazon Web site states (in part):
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As the math education crisis in this country continues to make
headlines, research continues to prove that it is in middle school
when math scores begin to drop - especially for girls - in large part
due to the relentless social conditioning that tells girls they
"can't do" math, and that math is "uncool."
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Where is this research about scores dropping "especially for girls"
in middle school?
National Assessment of Educational Progress statistics show a 2-point
gender gap in average scores in grade 8 mathematics in 2003 and in
2005 (that's out of a total of 500 points).
<http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/mathematics/>
Due to NCLB, one can often find scores for a given state, school,
district, or county for various groups, including males and females.
For example, here are a few statistics for California from:
<http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2007/>
Average scores for grade 7 on CST Mathematics:
Males: 335.2
Females: 336.8
Average scores for Algebra I:
Males: 308.6
Females: 313.9
I think girls should be encouraged in mathematics -- but I don't see
that a gender gap in middle school test scores is the reason.
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The above appears to be consistent with the abstract of Hake (2007):
"[McKellar's book] might better have been aimed at college graduates.
Stanford's Jo Boaler has stated that girls and boys achieve at
similar levels in mathematics through school and at the
undergraduate level, but after college the numbers drop off.
According to Stanford's Londa Schiebinger women earn 46 percent of
undergraduate math degrees in this country but represent only 8
percent of math professors (she probably meant math full professors)."
REFERENCES
Hake, R.R. 2007 "Re: Winnie and Math," online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0708&L=pod&O=D&P=16976>.
Post of 15 August to AERA-C, AERA-J, AERA-K, AERA-L, AP-Physics,
CTP-L, Math-Learn, Math-Teach, Physhare, POD, RUME, PhysLrnR, TIPS, &
PsychTeacher (rejected).
McKellar, D. 2007. "Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School
Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail." Hudson Street
Press. Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/yrtxgd>.