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Fennema, E., & Sherman, J. A. (1978)
Fennema, E., & Sherman, J. A. (1978)
Fennema, E., & Sherman, J. A. (1978). SexÐrelated differences in mathematics achievement and related factors: A further study, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 9, 189-203.
Fennema and Sherman (1978) explored cognitive and affective variables that may impact gender-related differences in math achievement in grades six to eight. The depedent variable, "mathematics learning," was given three levels: 1) computational skill, 2) conceptual knowledge, and 3) problem solving ability. Standardized tests were also used to measure cognitive abilities and spatial visualization. A battery of affective variables in this study include "attitude toward success in mathematics," gender stereotyping of mathematics as a domain, perceived attitudes of parents and teachers toward the child as a mathematics student, effectance motivation toward math, confidence for math learning, and math usefulness. These variables are all included on the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales (Fennema & Sherman, 1976).
More than 1300 students participated in the study. Although self-efficacy was not measured in this study, there was a significant gender difference on only two affective variables: mathematics confidence and perceptions of math as a male domain. Boys reported greater mathematics confidence and perceptions of math as a male domain. With regard to math computation and gender, there were ambiguous findings between the four schools used in this study. Overall, the results indicate that there there are no significant differences on gender and mathematics learning, nor on gender and effectance motivation for learning--when all four schools in this study were analyzed together.
In a previous study, conducted by the same authors, the same measures were used but with high school students. The two studies can be combined or contrasted to show developmental changes between age and grade level. Overall, the study reports that boys are signficantly more confident and are more likely to perceive math as a male domain from grades 6 - 11. Boys also perceive their parents as more supportive of them as math learners, and are more likely to perceive math as useful. Results suggest that there are few gender differences on math learning in middle school, but increases emerged in high school, particularly with math confidence, gender stereotyping of math as a male domain, and perceived usefulness of mathematics. All differences reported moderate correlations (e.g. r = 2 or 3.something). Authors also warn that researchers should be cautious when reporting on the educational and statistical significance of gender differences in mathematics.
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