Reply #11: Worrying in the 21st century!

[LeftishBrit]

Here is an interesting article by Elizabeth Spelke on (lack of) intrinsic gender differences in maths and science: particularly interesting for its report on steady reduction over the years in gender differences in science and maths.

http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~lds/sexsci /

Here's a debate on the subject between Spelke and Steven Pinker

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/debate05/debate05_index...



Here are a few extracts from a chapter I wrote:



'"Are males better at mathematics than females?

The folk wisdom is that males are better at mathematics than females. In fact, this statement needs considerable qualification. Males are more likely to be extremely good at mathematics. Certainly, the large majority of professional research mathematicians are men. At the other end of the scale, serious mathematical difficulties seem to be equally common in males and females (Lewis, Hitch and Walker, 1994; Gross-Tsur, Manor and Shalev, 1995).

Findings tend to show that any male advantage in arithmetic does not usually appear until the age of 10 or later (Benbow, 1988; Hyde, Fennema and Lamon, 1990; Lummis and Stevenson, 1990).

Studies of preschool and early primary school children generally show no gender differences in arithmetic. For example, Lummis and Stevenson (1990) found no gender differences in arithmetical calculations in kindergarten, first grade and even fifth grade (10-to-11-year-old) children in the United States of America, Taiwan and Japan. Fifth-grade boys in the Asian countries did, however, show an advantage in word problems.

Gender differences in mathematics have decreased overall (TIMSS, 1996, 1999) over the years. For example, Delgado and Prieto (2004) found no significant gender differences in arithmetic, word problem solving or geometry even in a group of (non-mathematician) university students.


Spatial ability and gender

Spatial ability has frequently been suggested (e.g. by Casey, Nuttall and Benbow, 1995) to be an important factor in mathematical performance in general, and in gender differences in mathematics in particular.

.... the evidence that differences in spatial ability are a major cause of gender differences in mathematics is quite weak. This weakness can be seen on two grounds: (1) differences in spatial abilities are small, and confined to only some forms of spatial skill; (2) the relationship between spatial and mathematical skills, other than geometry, is tenuous.'