So this study, the one from Science suggesting that gender isn’t
such a useful variable when trying to predict if an individual
will be good or math at not – is all over my feeds and my
del.icio.us network. And it’s got me thinking about critical
thinking, perception, and the really big thing we’re trying to
support with our talk and our teaching about information
literacy. So the study in question basically looked at NCLB data
from a lot of states, looking at how students performed on the
math sections by gender. The differences they found were
statistically insignificant at every level, from primary to
secondary grades. They concluded that, for grades 2 to 11, the
general population no longer shows a gender difference in math
skills….There is evidence of slightly greater male variability
in scores, although the causes remain unexplained. Gender
differences in math performance, even among high scorers, are
insufficient to explain lopsided gender patterns in
participation in some STEM fields. So what does thi