More women are pursuing higher education and doctoral degrees than ever before, breaking down barriers in formerly male-dominated fields. But women still are a rare commodity in math-related professions. Is there truth to the stereotype that males are inherently stronger in math than females?
Not so, says a new study by Eva Pomerantz, a professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Studies. She concludes that success in math boils down to learning styles.
According to the study, published in the journal Developmental Psychology, girls and boys perform equally well in math on achievement tests; but girls outperform their male counterparts in the classroom-particularly before college. Girls tend to be more focused in the classroom than boys, garnering higher grades in math even though both sexes score equally on standardized tests.
Focusing on 518 boys and girls as they went through fifth and seventh grades in three primarily white, middle- to upper-class school districts in Illinois, Pomerantz and her colleagues revealed that the differences in math grades in the classroom had to do with the girls' more focused approach to learning.
Boys tended to engage more in disruptive behavior and were more concerned with outperforming others-both factors that were tied to lower grades in math. Girls, on the other hand, used more learning strategies, such as preparing for tests, seeking help, and persisting even when things became challenging. The girls also engaged in less disruptive behavior than boys.
The marked differences between boys' and girls' achievement in the classroom disappeared at achievement test time. According to Pomerantz, girls may not have kept the edge they had in the classroom because confidence is a predictor of scores on achievement tests. Both boys and girls demonstrate equal confidence in their math skills; thus, when the classroom factors were removed, both sexes scored the same on math achievement tests.
But why do many girls choose not to continue studying math or pursue work in more typically "masculine" fields like math or engineering? Once again, the key may be their approach to learning.
"The girls' more learning-oriented approach may not match the work environment," says Pomerantz. "The atmosphere in these fields may provide a better fit to boys' more competitive approach."
