Context, confidence and the able girl1

Abstract

Summary Girls do not appear to perform as well as boys on questions which involve the application of knowledge in mathematical and scientific contexts. This study was an attempt to explore the level of confidence in mathematics and science of girls in their third year of secondary schooling and to use the findings as a means of raising their consciousness. Third‐year pupils were first given an NFER Quantitative assessment. A few weeks later they were presented with four questions, two of which were set in unfamiliar contexts. They had to decide whether or not they could successfully answer them. The responses were recorded and analysed and then presented for discussion to a group of the more‐able girls. On the two science questions, the boys responded more positively, but a marked difference was found between the responses of the more‐able boys and girls. Individually the more‐able girls appeared to lack confidence in their own ability to answer the questions, but the group discussions showed that they ex...