Monday, October 23, 2006
Study: Expectations Matter When It Comes To Math
"In tests in Canada, women who were told that men and women do math equally well did much better than those who were told there is a genetic difference in math ability."
I think that given equal intelligence and effort, either gender is capable of doing well in any subject - there is no innate male advantage for science and math (or computers).
What does interest me, however, is how much an interest in a subject affects how well one can do: I have male and female friends who claim to have no interest in math, and, in consequence have convinced themselves they do not do well at it. While I cannot profess to *love* math, I don't dislike it (not like, say, housework...), I find it quite useful, and I'm reasonably proficient at it.
Also interesting on CNN.com recently: http://tinyurl.com/y9sm9r - "The nations with the best scores have the least happy, least confident math students, says a study by the Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Education Policy."
Hmmm...maybe I should lose some of that confidence...;-)
