Mental math shortcuts suggest future STEM performance—and gender is a significant predictor
We leverage third party services to both verify and deliver email. By providing your email address, you also consent to having the email address shared with third parties for those purposes.Some readers may solve the problem procedurally: line up the two numbers, add the ones column, carry the one, and add the tens to get 43.
. Others might instead: 29 + 14 is the same as 30 + 13, a much easier sum to calculate. Recent studies show that the less likely someone is to use procedural solutions, the better they tend to be at more abstract problem-solving—and gender is a significant predictor. In a new study, researchers asked a group of 213 students from one Midwestern U.S. high school to do three arithmetic problems. Only 18 percent of the boys used the procedural method for all three questions, compared with 52 percent of the girls. And those who rarely used a procedural algorithm were significantly more likely to succeed on problem-solving questions.. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. “Honestly, blew me away,” says Indiana University Bloomington mathematics education researcher Sarah Lubienski, a co-author of the study, published. They are “the most interesting findings of my career,” she adds. And that was before Lubienski and one of her co-authors realized that another group had reached almost identical conclusions in a similar study with 810 U.S. adults. The researchers decided to team up for a two-study paper. “Together we felt like it made a pretty compelling argument that we need to pay more attention to how people are approaching computation from a young age,” Lubienski says.The team found that students who reported a greater desire to please their teachers, a trait that skews heavily female, were more likely to solve problems procedurally—that is, the way the teacher instructed them to. This tendency could factor into a long-standing paradox in math education: girls often have better math grades than boys, and girls and boys perform similarly on state assessments, but girls lag behind on high-stakes testing such as the SAT and beyond, especially with tasks that involve solving problems they’ve never seen before. The same studiousness that helps girls get ahead in school may be holding them back later on. The researchers also found that creative problem-solving was correlated with stronger spatial skills, specifically, with being able to rotate objects in one’s mind—an ability that Lubienski says can be learned. “What I find exciting is that points to potentially malleable mechanisms—not just ‘girls do X, boys do Y’ but why those differences might emerge,” says education researcher Joseph Cimpian of New York University, who was not involved in either study. “The issue may be not ability but rather the interaction of instruction, classroom norms, anxiety and what students believe is expected of them.” Even if you’re no longer in high school, it’s never too late to improve your problem-solving skills and practice thinking outside the box, Lubienski says. “Try to solvehas served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too., you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
$106M 'mental health village' in Norwalk breaks ground: What to knowLA County has officially broken ground on a first-of-its-kind 'Care Community' at the Metropolitan State Hospital campus, turning vacant buildings into 162 beds of treatment and housing.
Read more »
Celtics' Jayson Tatum details Achilles comeback, reflects on mental hurdles leading up to NBA season debutFox News Channel offers its audiences in-depth news reporting, along with opinion and analysis encompassing the principles of free people, free markets and diversity of thought, as an alternative to the left-of-center offerings of the news marketplace.
Read more »
'We've come a very, very long way': A lifetime dedicated to mental health improvementLee Benson has written slice-of-life columns for the Deseret News since 1998. Prior to that he was a sports columnist. A native Utahn, he grew up in Sandy and lives in the mountains with his family.
Read more »
Stop ignoring the mental health of trans violent offendersScott Newgent, a transgender man, argues media and institutions obscure transgender violent offenders, calls for honest reporting, questions rapid medical...
Read more »
LA County investing $100 million for mental health services by leasing empty state facilitiesLocal leaders have broken ground on a project to turn vacant state buildings at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk into a new mental health facility for Los Angeles County.
Read more »
Stem Cell Treatments For Parkinson's And Heart Failure Approved in World FirstThe Best in Science News and Amazing Breakthroughs
Read more »