Gender Differences in Elementary School Children’s Strategy Use and Strategy Preferences on Multidigit Additions and Subtraction Story Problems

Abstract

Gender differences in the strategies elementary school children use to solve multidigit addition and subtraction story problems that require regrouping are investigated in two studies. Study 1 replicates the Fennema and colleagues (1998) study by reexamining previously published data on 72 children’s addition and subtraction solution strategies. Study 2 extends previous findings by identifying the reasons for 70 third-grade children’s strategy preferences. Gender differences in strategy use, although significant, were not as strong as those reported by Fennema and colleagues (1998). But the reasons boys and girls gave for choosing particular strategies suggests that the sources of these differences might be important and there are different understandings of what it means to learn and do mathematics. Results support the hypothesis that early gender differences in strategy use influence later gender differences in problem solving performance that appear in middle school and continue throughout high school.