http://www.fi.uu.nl/publicaties/literatuur/6320.pdf

The analysis of the two groups of extreme items made it clear that there were
very distinct differences between the girls’ problems and the boys’ problems.
The girls performed equally as well as the boys or a little bit better on:
– problems which ask for accuracy,
– problems of which the text is complex,
– problems which ask for (refl ection on) strategies and not for calculations,
– well-known problems which refer to standard procedures,
– straight-away problems (in which the operation and the numbers are given
and no re-organisation is necessary), and
– problems which refer to shopping situations.
An example of such a girls’ problem is the Camera problem2
, found with the other
problems in the Activities section.This problem is about a boy who wants to buy
a camera. The test sheet contains a lot of text that tells the students the amounts
of money the boy has saved in four subsequent months. The students have to calculate
what is the shortage for buying the camera. The difference in p-value of
this problem was -.04, meaning that the difference was in favour of the girls.
On the other hand, the boys perform clearly better than the girls on:
– problems which ask for daily-life knowledge on numbers and measures,
– problems in which large numbers with many zeros are used,
– problems in which different numbers or different units of measurement are
used,
2
Cito Test 1995 – Part 1, Item 16; p-value boys = .76, p-value girls = .80.
242 International Perspectives on Learning and Teaching Mathematics
MARJA VAN DEN HEUVEL-PANHUIZEN Girls’ and Boys’ Problems
– problems which have possibilities for ”tinkering” with numbers 3
, and
– problems which ask for reasoning backwards.


If you want girls to have as good or better results in math, just reform math and ask the right kinds of math questions. Do away with computation by all means.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

The post that was quoted here has been removed

The post that was quoted here has been removed

Originally posted by Eladar
http://www.fi.uu.nl/publicaties/literatuur/6320.pdf

[b]The analysis of the two groups of extreme items made it clear that there were
very distinct differences between the girls’ problems and the boys’ problems.
The girls performed equally as well as the boys or a little bit better on:
– problems which ask for accuracy,
– problems of which the text is c ...[text shortened]... t reform math and ask the right kinds of math questions. Do away with computation by all means.

Originally posted by Eladar
.

All you need to do is ask the right kinds of questions in the right format for girls to perform better in math. I notice much of the reform movement in the US is aimed at asking more female friendly questions and avoiding the ones at which girls struggle.

Originally posted by normbenign
Doesn't this vary with the age of the subjects?

Originally posted by wolfgang59
You really are quite dense.

All you need to do is ask the right kinds of questions in
the right format for boys to continue to perform better in math.

Originally posted by Eladar
I suppose it is really not fair to include mathematical computations when one defines the field of math. I guess it makes people like you feel better about girls doing as well as guys in the field of math, even if the tests are being rigged specifically to get better results for females.

Originally posted by Eladar
Perhaps you can site a study that says it does.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
Your own posts implies current tests are rigged in favour of boys.
Get a grip!

Here you go Norm:

http://educationnext.org/gender-gap/


One explanation that comes to mind is which test is being used to determine math achievement. I know that Oklahoma's math tests are much different than the ACT or the SAT. One glaring weakness of the Oklahoma Geometry test is that all figures are drawn to scale. ACT nor SAT math sections have pictures drawn to scale.