Girls and Math (Nov 07)

What we know about the female brain is that the whole brain is involved in thinking about problems, unlike the male brain, which is more compartmentalized. It would seem then, that encouraging strategies, which make use of "whole brain thinking", would be good for girls. Girls may, in fact, actually "see" problems differently (did you know that girls have more cones than rods in their eyes? Cones are the "detail detectors;" while rods are the "motion detectors."). We also know that many girls are likely to say that they enjoy mathematics until roughly middle school. Boys are often slow to begin to read in the early grades, and some girls hit a stumbling block in math in middle school. That doesn’t mean that boys can’t learn to read well or that girls can’t become superb mathematicians. Rather, it is a time to pay particular attention to boys’ and girls’ learning styles. In the primary grades, hard-working girls are likely to be very successful in math and will say that they enjoy it. As the math becomes more complex, girls, who are more likely to be uncomfortable with failure (or the lack of certainty that they are on the right track), start saying that they "can’t do math."

Once again, risk-taking plays a role. Girls need to be encouraged to simply dive in, develop a strategy, and then assess the success of the strategy. In the years that I taught boys, I can say that very few ever checked their answers (they assumed they were correct …). They were not always correct, but they did not let that stop them. Being overly concerned with "the right answer" also misses the point. Math is an intellectual game to pursue for the pure delight of it, and part of the joy is in the journey. It is also a great example of how we can learn more from mistakes than in the things that went well the first time and are typically left unexamined.

Another great strategy for girls is one that plays to their strengths: talking and writing about math. Problems worth talking and writing about need to be complex, of course. Examples of such "writing to learn" strategies are to explain (in words) how you solved the problem, the assumptions you could make, and the discoveries made along the way. In first grade, Ms Brewer has students write a story that matches a mathematical expression. Ms. Burke, in third grade, uses slip problems (complex problems that are distributed on slips of paper) and then asks students to present their work to the class—and talk their way through the solutions. Mr. Matthews, in middle school, makes significant use of games— taking a playful approach to math!

Although process and math facts are important, they are not effective strategies without context and bolstering supplementation. Girls, especially, seem to enjoy looking at a problem from different angles and benefit from working with manipulatives. They are also likely to enjoy using math in context—an application problem—such as the recent third grade project: Spanish restaurant. Indeed, such situations may make it possible to really understand the math, rather than simply perform a calculation. Math programs that use, as their primary strategy, straightforward drill problems are unlikely to produce a deep, rich understanding of the mathematical concepts (and that is probably true for both males and females).

The ideal math program for girls would be one that encourages them to use their whole brains and encourages risk taking. The math program at GSA is built upon a foundation of Math in Our World (McGraw Hill), but it is heavily enriched. Teachers make use of the enrichment extensions that come with that program and also draw upon other math programs for ideas. In our recent review of the math curriculum, teachers listed some of the math programs or strategies that they routinely draw upon:

• Hands-on-Equations
• Algebra tiles
• Slip problems
• Writing-to-learn strategies (writing about math problems as a way of developing a greater understanding)
• Games
• Interdisciplinary projects

We continue to look for ways to further improve our math program. This fall, teachers are experimenting with Singapore Math problems and have made math one of the foci of our school visits. Want to know more? Arrange to attend a GSA math class; we’ll bet that it is different from any math class you remember taking as a child!