Synopses & Reviews
Females consistently score lower than males on standardized tests of mathematics - yet no such differences exist in the classroom. These differences are not trivial, nor are they insignificant. Test scores help determine entrance to college and graduate school and therefore, by extension, a person's job and future success. If females receive lower test scores then they also receive fewer opportunities. Why does this discrepancy exist? This book presents a series of papers that address these issues by integrating the latest research findings and theories. Authors such as Diane Halpern, Jacquelynne Eccles, Beth Casey, Ronald Nuttal, James Byrnes, and Frank Pajares tackle these questions from a variety of perspectives. Many different branches of psychology are represented, including cognitive, social, personality/self-oriented, and psychobiological. The editors then present an integrative chapter that discusses the ideas presented and other areas that the field should explore.
Review
"The under representation of women in many mathematically based disciplines and careers has received renewed attention in the media recently, making this collection of articles that report on social scientific research into gender differences in mathematics timely indeed. Highly recommended." Choice"Gender Differences in Mathematics provides timely and useful coverage of what we currently know about these differences and an interesting historical snapshot of the various arguments and debates regarding these differences."
David C. Gray, British Journal of Educational Studies
About the Author
Ann M. Gallagher is a Research Scientist at LSAC. Her main research interest is sources of group differences in test performance and problem solving. She has published in the Journal of Educational Measurement, The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Merrill Palmer Quarterly and Teacher's College Record.James C. Kaufman is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the California State University at San Bernardino, where he is also the director of the Learning Research Institute. He served as the co-editor of The Evolution of Intelligence (with Sternberg; Lawrence Erlbaum, 2002) and The International Handbook of Creativity (with Sternberg; Cambridge University Press.)
Table of Contents
Preface; 1. Research on the women and mathematics issue: a personal case history Susan Chipman; 2. The perseverative search for sex differences in mathematic ability Paula Caplan and Jeremy Caplan; 3. A psychobiosocial model: why females are sometimes > and sometimes