Amy J,
In universities, 43% (or 46%) of the math students are women.
That's not what my experience was. We usually had 1 or 2 girls in advanced (elective) math classes, if that. Sometimes it was 100% guys.
Girls actually do better up thru 3rd or 4th grade. After that, I believe they fall off, and I think it's culture that takes over, classroom culture, etc.
Could it be that at that point, abstract thinking starts to take over from mechanics? I hope not, because I have 2 daughters, and I am certainly hope they will excel in math. I am trying to "teach" them math from very different angles than what her regular school curriculum offers, and find my 5 year old to be very perceptive, but I notice that she likes to resort to mechanical "tricks" instead of thinking.
Joe |
