Factors Associated With Mathematics Achievement and Participation in Advanced Mathematics Courses: An Examination of Gender Differences From an International Perspective

Gender-related differences on measures of quantitative performance and problem-solving abilities consistently appear in national assessments (e.g., Dossey, Mullis, Lindquist, & Chambers, 1988; Fennema & Carpenter, 1981; National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1975, 1983; Wilson, 1972). Using a variety of performance measures, investigators have examined the nature of these differences and the factors associated with them for subjects varying in age from elementary school to undergraduates in college. From these studies, it is generally concluded that no gender differences are evidenced at the elementary school level, but beginning at approximately the seventh grade, any differences that appear, such as those found in spatial problem-solving tasks and tasks requiring mathematical reasoning, favor males. (See Fennema, 1974, 1980 and Leder, 1985, for a review of this literature.)

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Girls in the Mathematics Classroom: What's Happening with Our Best and Brightest?

Mathematics Teacher ◽

10.5951/mt.81.7.0533 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 81 (7) ◽

pp. 533-537

Author(s):

Shiela M. Strauss

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Mathematics Achievement ◽

Advanced Placement ◽

Mathematics Classroom ◽

Eighth Graders ◽

National Sample ◽

High School Mathematics ◽

Mathematics Courses ◽

Twelfth Grade

With the advent of both the women's movement and a heightened national nterest in educational excellence, scholary attention has been focused on the success of females in mathematics. Sells (1978) Identified mathematics as the “critical filter” that could limit the range of career choices available to those who do not take an adequate number of high school mathematics courses. Casserly and Rock (1979) looked at factors that differentiate girls who enroll in Advanced Placement mathematics courses from those who do not. Studies of Fennema and Sherman (1977) demonstrated that gender differences in mathematics achievement are substantially reduced when the number of mathematics courses is controlled. Benbow and Stanley (1982), however, found that sex differences in mathematics achievement did not reflect differential mathematics course taking. Their study involved students in the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) who, as seventh and eighth graders, scored as well as a national sample of eleventh- and twelfth-grade females on the S.A.T. mathematics and verbal tests

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Election of High School Mathematics by Females and Males: Attributions and Attitudes

American Educational Research Journal ◽

10.3102/00028312018002207 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 207-218 ◽

Cited By ~ 83

Author(s):

Joan Daniels Pedro ◽

Patricia Wolleat ◽

Elizabeth Fennema ◽

Ann DeVaney Becker

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Mathematics Performance ◽

School Mathematics ◽

Advanced Mathematics ◽

High School Mathematics ◽

Mathematics Courses ◽

Small Set ◽

Advanced Mathematics Courses

Males, more than females, elect advanced mathematics courses. This differential in the number of mathematics courses elected has been cited as a major explanation of sex-related differences in adults' mathematics performance and in their participation in mathematics-related careers. Knowledge about some of the variables that enter into the decision to persist in the study of mathematics is essential for those who are interested in encouraging females, as well as males, to adequately prepare themselves in mathematics. This study identified some attitudinal and attributional variables that relate to the election of mathematics courses by females and males. A small set of variables was found to explain some of the variance in female and male mathematics plans. These results might help in understanding why females do not continue in as large a proportion as males to elect mathematics and/or to enter mathematics-related careers.

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How to Integrate Ideological and Political Education into Mathematics Course of Vocational Education

Journal of Educational Theory and Management ◽

10.26549/jetm.v4i1.2496 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 51

Author(s):

Guijuan Tian

Keyword(s):

Teaching Quality ◽

Ideological And Political Education ◽

Political Education ◽

Advanced Mathematics ◽

Mathematics Courses ◽

Vocational Colleges ◽

Teaching Cases ◽

Teaching Purpose ◽

Advanced Mathematics Courses ◽

Mathematics Course

With the increasing enrollment of general higher vocational colleges every year, the inconsistency between the knowledge level and ability of the enrolled students and ideological and political education hinders the realization of the teaching purpose of the school to a great extent. Advanced mathematics is a compulsory basic course for college students and an important subject for realizing the teaching purpose. In order to achieve the teaching purpose and improve the teaching quality and level of mathematics in higher vocational colleges, we must deepen the reform of teaching contents in advanced mathematics courses in colleges, and integrate mathematical knowledge with ideological and political education organically, giving full play to the teaching characteristics of advanced mathematics courses while fulfilling the ideological and political education for students. Moreover, ideological and political education is also combined with interactive advantages by means of interactive teaching. This paper briefly discusses how to integrate advanced mathematics course with ideological and political education. By analyzing the actual teaching cases of ideological and political education and advanced mathematics courses, the content of classroom teaching is discussed.

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