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Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

| CWK Producer

Parents may expect their daughters to excel in an art or English course, but when it comes to math and science, they may have a different view.

“They automatically assume that since you’re a girl, you can’t handle the complications that you may run into with math or science,” 17-year-old Thanh Le-nguyen says.

Experts say for years there has been a cultural stereotype about math and science.  That, simply put, these subjects are better suited to boys than girls and even some parents may buy into this stereotype.

“Well, like he’ll use scientific terms and big words with my brother, but he’ll talk to me like I don’t know words that are bigger than four letters,” says Julie Kornder, 16.

“It’s hard because it’s not just your parents, not just your brother and sisters, it’s society.  They think that girls aren’t supposed to do as well as boys do in math or science,” 17-year-old Jimisha Relerford adds.

But according to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, girls measured up to boys in math in almost every grade from elementary school thru high school.  And just about as many women have college degrees in math as men.

But while girls may be just as capable as boys in math and science, that old stereotype still exists.

“The damage is not irreparable, but it is something that kind of plants that seed that it’s not for me,” educator Diann Ash says.

That seed comes from parents paying more attention to their son’s math or science projects than their daughter’s, or from making comments like, “Are you sure you can handle this?”

“Please be careful what you say to the daughters, make sure you provide them with the same kinds of opportunities.  Even the toys that we buy them actually signal that I don’t expect you’ll do any erector set building or any of those things, those are for the boys,” Ash says.

But experts say for some girls, those negative messages are a challenge.  With straight A’s in math and science, Jimisha says she’s eager to prove people wrong.

“I think that’s definitely a big part of it, to prove to people that I can be good at this, I can do this just as good as any male can,” she says.

Tips for Parents

A study published in the journal Developmental Psychology shows that parents are more likely to believe that math and science are less interesting and more difficult for daughters than for sons.  The Harvard University researchers based their findings on a survey of 52 boys and girls, aged 11 to 13, and their parents about science enjoyment and knowledge.  They also found that parents use different language when discussing science with boys and girls.  For example, fathers were more likely to use challenging or scientific language during science activities with their sons than with their daughters.
According to North Dakota State University’s (NDSU) Department of Psychology, the academic gender gap usually surfaces during adolescence.  It is at this time that girls become better at basic and computational skills while boys develop better mathematical reasoning and word problem solving skills.  Although no differences in grades exist, girls’ attitudes toward math and science become worse than boys.  In addition, girls begin to feel less competent about their math and science skills, and then their grades decline.
   
But why do these differences occur?  Experts at the NDSU offer the following reasons for the gender gap in science and math abilities:      

• More value is placed on girls’ compliance and boys’ assertiveness.
• Teachers spend more time responding to boys’ questions.
• Parents encourage boys to work independently and give more assistance to girls.  They also allow girls to participate in more off-task behaviors than boys.

• Parents and their children believe that math and science are more important for the careers of boys than girls.
• Parents underestimate their girls’ math abilities.
• Parents attribute girls’ math achievements to effort and boys’ math achievements to innate ability.
• Girls are taught that succeeding in math and science is not feminine.

Encouragement by parents is the first step in closing the gender gap in the areas of mathematics and science.  The National Network for Child Care suggests the following strategies to help foster a scientific or mathematical interest in your child:

• Provide your son or daughter with early math and science experiences.  Visit a local science museum.
• Think about the toys and activities you buy for your child.  Don’t forget that girls like chemistry sets, too.

• Find out what your child is doing in math and science at school.  Does he or she come home excited about a neat experiment he or she performed that day?
• When your child enters high school, encourage both boys and girls to take math and science.  It’s never too early to learn about college entrance requirements.
• Remind your child that both boys and girls can become anything they want to be – even a mathematician or scientist.

More and more, technology in the form of computers is being used inside and outside the classroom, especially in the fields of science and mathematics.  Therefore, it is important to ensure that your daughter receives the same exposure to computers as her male counterparts.  Experts in the Mathematics Department at Rice University offer the following tips for getting girls on computers:

• Girls like to join clubs and take classes with their friends.  A lone girl who likes computers is unlikely to join a computer club by herself.  So encourage your daughter to join clubs or classes with a group of friends.
• Girls need role models; they need to see women using computers competently and confidently.  Check out computing magazines – almost all of the photographs are of men.  On high school campuses, being a computer geek raises a male student’s coolness factor; it doesn’t have the same effect for girls.  To offset this, encourage your daughter’s teachers to invite female speakers to classes or clubs.  Also, ask them to share information about women who are leaders in the field.
• Make a conscious effort to encourage your daughter.  Challenge her to take the highest level of science, math and computing courses offered.
• When she asks, don’t tell.  Girls tend to ask for assistance when something won’t work.  Boys tend to try to figure it out.  Encourage your daughter to be daring with the computer.  It’s a real confidence booster when she succeeds.  Only step in if you really need to, and then try just a hint or help her to read the manual.
• Girls like to see what computers can do for them.  They see computers more as a tool and less as a toy.  Let your daughter type her papers on the computer, show her how to create Web pages or teach her to make a graph using a spreadsheet.
• Find out what percentage of the students in the highest level of computer science taught at your child’s school is girls.  If it’s not at least 50%, make the school aware of the problem.  Talk to counselors, teachers and other parents to enlist their help in encouraging the girls in your child’s school into the highest levels of computer science.

As a parent, your expectations can play a major role in your child’s academic development.  Math and science expectations for your child may be gender biased; the good news is that you can change this attitude over time. 

References

• Developmental Psychology
• National Network for Child Care
• North Dakota State University’s Department of Psychology
• Rice University’s Department of Mathematics
• University of Wisconsin- Madison

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