Math Aptitude Research Articles

Predicting students’ math self-concepts to explain gender differences through teachers’ judgments and students’ perceived teachers’ judgments

The present study examined to what extent teachers’ judgments of students’ aptitude and students’ perceived teachers’ judgments explain gender differences in the early development of students’ math self-concepts. A sample of N = 519 elementary school students was investigated at four measurement occasions from the end of third until the end of fourth grade. We assessed students’ self-concepts and their perceived teachers’ judgments of their aptitude in math. Teachers (N = 27) judged students’ aptitude in math and provided students’ math grades. First, we found significant gender differences in students’ math self-concepts, teachers’ judgments, and students’ perceived teachers’ judgments, but not in students’ math grades. Second, structural equation models showed that teachers’ judgments of students’ aptitude as well as students’ perceived teachers’ judgments of students’ aptitude longitudinally predicted students’ self-concepts. Mediation analyzes demonstrated that teachers’ judgments and students’ perceived teachers’ judgments contributed to gender differences in students’ math self-concepts. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

A Prolific Innovator: Dr. Helena Wisniewski [WIE From Around the World

Dr. Helena Wisniewski’s father was an engineer who worked on the Viking Mars Landing—his patented actuator was on the landing vehicle—and her mother was a kindergarten teacher. Every Sunday, her grandfather used to arrive at her house with puzzles for her to solve, each one harder than the last, and he delighted in seeing her master them. In high school, she would pick up her father’s engineering books and apply them to her own coursework. She had a passion and an aptitude for math, and she would go on to study mathematics at William Paterson University, where she became a distinguished alumnus, and Stevens Institute of Technology before receiving her Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Managing Your Screen Time

The screen as a computer, mobile phone, tablet or television is a piece of present day life. Expanded screen time is related with heftiness, pernicious impacts on temperament and subjective and socio-enthusiastic advancement, prompting poor instructive execution in kids and thus ought to be diminished to 1-2 hours per day. Drawn out TV seeing brings down psychological capacities, particularly identified with momentary memory, early reading and math aptitudes and language development. Gaming animates outrage, viciousness, weight, epilepsy and social segregation in kids and teenagers. Enjoying over the top on line shopping is a type of web enslavement and has been named as Pathological purchasing and has a hidden patho-physiology of delight chasing or departure of negative feelings and intellectual instruments like impulsivity, disappointment in self-guideline, or basic leadership deficiencies. Extreme utilization of social networking sites like Facebook and texting Apps like WhatsApp has prompted compulsion causing well-being impacts as headache, low backache, obesity, burning eyes, insomnia, exhaustion, lowers self-esteem and causes depression. This review article examined the different well-being impacts of the expanding screen time in the cutting edge time and prescribes screen time to be constrained to 1-2 hours in a day and a break from the 'screen' during weekends and family travels

Gender stereotypes can explain the gender-equality paradox

The so-called "gender-equality paradox" is the fact that gender segregation across occupations is more pronounced in more egalitarian and more developed countries. Some scholars have explained this paradox by the existence of deeply rooted or intrinsic gender differences in preferences that materialize more easily in countries where economic constraints are more limited. In line with a strand of research in sociology, we show instead that it can be explained by cross-country differences in essentialist gender norms regarding math aptitudes and appropriate occupational choices. To this aim, we propose a measure of the prevalence and extent of internalization of the stereotype that "math is not for girls" at the country level. This is done using individual-level data on the math attitudes of 300,000 15-y-old female and male students in 64 countries. The stereotype associating math to men is stronger in more egalitarian and developed countries. It is also strongly associated with various measures of female underrepresentation in math-intensive fields and can therefore entirely explain the gender-equality paradox. We suggest that economic development and gender equality in rights go hand-in-hand with a reshaping rather than a suppression of gender norms, with the emergence of new and more horizontal forms of social differentiation across genders.

Career Ladder: Joyce Nethery

1980s A calling in chemical engineering Joyce Nethery always had a natural aptitude for math and science, but she didn’t know she wanted to study chemical engineering until she visited a factory th...

Self-Regulation in First-Semester Calculus

Improving STEM retention is a major focus of universities and studies have shown calculus to be a barrier for STEM intending students. Prior to this study, local data indicated students did not pursue STEM fields because they were not passing calculus. The goal of this study is to report on factors related to student success in first-semester calculus. In particular, taking into account incoming math aptitude, the relationship between final grades and self-reported self-regulatory aptitudes were examined. Self-regulatory aptitudes include self-reported measures of motivational orientations and use of learning strategies. Results indicate self-regulatory aptitudes predict final grades above and beyond math aptitude. In this study, math aptitude alone predicted 32% of variance in students’ final calculus grades. However, adding in measures of self-regulation, the model was able to predict 48% of variance. In addition, measures of self-regulation differed amongst high and under achievers as well as low and over achievers. This indicates self-regulation plays a role in student success. Furthermore, gender differences were present in measures of self-regulation which may be of importance for improving retention of women in STEM.

The Association Between Female Students’ Computer Science Education and STEM Major Selection: Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling

Concerning the underrepresentation of female students in computer science (CS) classes at the K-12 level and math-intensive STEM fields, this study investigated the relationship between female students earning less credits in CS courses during high school and their STEM major choices. Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school graduates from the restricted data of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 which were collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics. The multilevel structural equation modeling revealed that (a) female students’ lower frequency of taking CS courses was associated significantly with their underrepresentation in STEM fields, (b) earning less credits in CS courses was a stronger factor for female students’ underrepresentation in STEM fields compared to the well-documented predictors for STEM major choice—math self-efficacy and math scores on the ACT, and (c) no significant difference in ACT math scores emerged between male and female students, which challenges the dominant view that male students’ greater math aptitude causes the persistent gender gap that leads to women’s underrepresentation in STEM fields. The study suggests that integrating CS in traditional classrooms as well as promoting a rigorous CS curriculum at the secondary level would be an effective strategy to increase female participation in math-intensive STEM fields.

Longitudinal reciprocal effects between teachers’ judgments of students’ aptitude, students’ motivation, and grades in math

We investigated whether teachers’ judgments of students’ aptitude had reciprocal effects on students’ motivation and math grades. We expected that teachers’ judgments of students’ aptitude would predict students’ grades and motivation, and that teachers’ judgments would also be predicted by these two aspects. A sample of N = 519 elementary school students was investigated at four measurement occasions from the end of third until the end of fourth grade. Students reported their self-concepts and intrinsic task values in math. Teachers (N = 27) judged students’ aptitude in math and provided students’ math grades. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that students’ prior grades and prior self-concepts (but not intrinsic task values) had positive effects on teachers’ subsequent judgments of student aptitude. Also, teachers’ prior judgments of student aptitude predicted students’ subsequent grades but not motivation. The findings underscore the importance of teachers’ judgments for students’ achievement development and give insights into which students’ motivational variables influence teachers’ perceptions of students’ aptitude.

Do Teachers' Beliefs About Math Aptitude and Brilliance Explain Gender Differences in Children's Math Ability Self-Concept?

The self-concept of ability in math in elementary school is an early predictor for future math-related choices and careers. Unfortunately, already at this early age girls report lower ability self-concepts in math than boys - despite their comparable performances in objective math competence tests. In the present study we focus on teachers’ beliefs as factors explaining these gender differences. Women’s underrepresentation in math and science in academia has recently been explained by the belief held by the environment that success in these domains requires an innate ability that cannot be taught (“brilliance”). In addition, teachers’ beliefs regarding their students’ mathematical aptitude have also been found to influence students’ self-concepts of ability. Here, we study if teachers’ beliefs regarding their students’ mathematical aptitude and brilliance beliefs may account for gender differences in elementary school students’ self-concept of ability in math and thus potentially contribute to entering the gendered path into math and science professions. In a sample of 830 fourth graders (M = 9.14 years old, 49% female) and 56 elementary school teachers from Germany, we assessed teachers’ beliefs regarding their students’ mathematical aptitude and their belief that children need brilliance to succeed in math as well as children’s mathematical ability self-concept and competencies. In line with prior research, boys reported a statistically significantly more positive math ability self-concept (d = 0.50), although boys and girls reached similar scores in a standardized math competence test (d = 0.07). However, multilevel regression analyses revealed that teachers’ math brilliance beliefs were not related to the gender gap in students’ ability self-concept in expense of girls whereas the gender gap was mediated by teachers’ beliefs about their students’ mathematical aptitude. These findings suggest that math brilliance beliefs held by important socializers such as teachers might not play a role in explaining gender differences in math-related motivation in elementary school whereas teachers’ beliefs about students’ math aptitude do. Results are discussed against the background of teacher expectancy effects, developmental changes in elementary school, and cultural differences.

The relative importance of math‐ and music‐related cognitive and affective factors in predicting undergraduate music theory achievement

SummaryBased on research identifying relations between math and music, we aimed to identify the group of cognitive and affective factors related to math and music theory that best explained undergraduate music theory achievement. Using dominance analysis, we predicted the music theory course grades of 230 undergraduate music majors. Potential predictors were narrowed from measures of knowledge, aptitude, experience, confidence, and anxiety in both music theory and math as well as spatial skills and reading test scores. Results suggested that ACT math scores and music theory confidence were important predictors for Music Theories I and II grades. Music Theory I was also predicted by aptitude‐based music theory skills, and Music Theory II was also predicted by math course experience. These findings provide evidence for a relation between math and music theory and support the use of several readily available measures for college‐level music instructors to identify students who may struggle in music theory.

An explanative basis for the differential performance of students with low math aptitude in general chemistry

Students who score within the bottom quartile on cognitive measures of math aptitude have been identified as at-risk for low performance in chemistry courses, with less attention as to why such differential performance persists. At-risk students struggle most differentially on assessment items related to the mole concept and stoichiometry. An exploration as to the nature of the differential performance observed became of great interest as the assessment of these topics rarely progresses beyond multiplication or division, and at-risk students who achieved proficiency with the mole concept and stoichiometry had no noticeable gaps in academic chemistry performance when compared to students scoring in the top three quartiles of math aptitude. Thus, students in first-semester general chemistry were surveyed to describe their solution processes toward assessment items involving the mole concept and stoichiometry. Three hundred and forty-eight students responded to all survey prompts with 101 identified as at-risk. Findings suggest that while all students were observed to struggle in the conceptualization of the algorithms by which they execute solution processes, not-at-risk chemistry students were more likely to achieve correct answers via chemically implausible solution pathways. Rather than suggest the removal of assessment practices involving algorithmic, multiple-choice assessment on these topics, the implications include practical suggestions and opportunities for further research toward improving the equitability of measures used to assess proficiency with stoichiometry.

First person: William Kaelin Jr, MD: The scientist's discoveries have paved the way for improved treatments of kidney cancer and other diseases.

First person: William Kaelin Jr, MD: The scientist's discoveries have paved the way for improved treatments of kidney cancer and other diseases.

Chemistry topics posing incommensurate difficulty to students with low math aptitude scores

The identification of students at risk for academic failure in undergraduate chemistry courses has been heavily addressed in the literature. Arguably one of the strongest and most well-supported predictors of undergraduate success in chemistry is the mathematics portion of the SAT (SAT-M), a college-entrance, standardized test administered by the College Board. While students scoring in the bottom quartile of the SAT-M (herein referred to as at-risk) perform significantly worse on first-semester chemistry assessments, little is known of the topics on which these students differentially struggle. The purpose of this study is to provide insight as to which first-semester chemistry topics present an incommensurate challenge to at-risk students. Students were identified as either at-risk or not at-risk via SAT-M scores. Students’ assessment responses were collected across four semesters of first-semester chemistry courses at a large, public university (N = 5636). At-risk students struggled consistently across all topics but disproportionately with mole concept and stoichiometry. Analyzing the trend in topics suggests that the struggles of at-risk students are not entirely attributable to topics that rely heavily on algorithms or algebraic math. Moreso, at-risk students found to have performed well on mole concept and stoichiometry went on to perform similarly as their not at-risk peers. The results support an instructional emphasis on these topics with reviewed literature offering promising, practical options to better serve at-risk students and broaden representation in the sciences.

Can Digital Technologies Play a Role in Improving Children’s Learning Outcomes in India?

In this study, we explore the effects of an educational intervention in the form of digital games targeted towards improving the learning outcomes in mathematics and Hindi language among first, second and third graders in four government schools in southern New Delhi. In addition to administering these games in the classroom, we randomly recruited 40 households from a low-income community, where children play the games as an extra-curricular activity. We measure the improvement in aptitude in math and Hindi pre- and post-intervention, using various demographic controls and find that the community intervention had some impact in boosting aptitude. In contrast, the school intervention did not show the desired results though it did register some improvement in children’s knowledge. Using qualitative observation coupled with the quantitative assessment of impact, we attempt to deconstruct the various infrastructural challenges and sampling issues posed in our school intervention, and identify key features that need to be adhered to for future researchers who may want to assess the impact of educational interventions on young children from underprivileged backgrounds in India.

Teacher immediacy and learning mathematics: Effects on students with divergent mathematical aptitudes

ABSTRACTUndergraduates pursue degrees in disciplines in which they hold an affect or possess an interest. Math and science majors possess a positive affect for mathematics; however, to maximize the number of math majors, it is important to boost the motivation of non-math majors to learn mathematics. This study examines the relationships between instructors’ nonverbal immediacy and (1) affective learning of math, (2) affect for math, and (3) affect for the instructor. Participants were 426 freshmen (math and non-math majors) at a public university in the southwest United States. Comparisons were made between students enrolled in calculus and algebra courses. Comparisons between groups of varying math aptitude were also examined. Immediacy was moderately correlated with students’ affective learning (0.38), with the strongest correlation for those with medium math aptitude (0.47). When affective learning was restricted to affect for the subject content, an even stronger correlation was found for students with medium math aptitude (0.49). There was no significant difference between the correlations for immediacy and affective learning for calculus students and algebra students. An even stronger positive correlation (0.61) was found between immediacy and affect for the instructor. Results suggest that, regardless of aptitude for mathematics, students enrolled in mathematics courses who perceive their instructors to be immediate have a greater positive affect toward the instructor and the mathematics content. Surprisingly, students with an average aptitude in mathematics have a greater positive affect toward the mathematics content when compared to students with higher and lower aptitudes in mathematics.

Research on Teaching Economics to Undergraduates

This survey summarizes the main research findings about teaching economics to undergraduates. After briefly reviewing the history of research on undergraduate economic education, it discusses the status of the economics major—numbers and trends, goals, coursework, outcomes, and the principles courses. Some economic theory is used to explain the likely effects of pedagogical decisions of faculty and the learning choices that students make. Major results from empirical research are reviewed from the professor perspective on such topics as teaching methods, online technology, class size, and textbooks. Studies of student learning are discussed in relation to study time, grades, attendance, math aptitude, and cheating. The last section discusses changes in the composition of faculty who teach undergraduate economics and effects from changes in instructional technology and then presents findings from the research about measuring teaching effectiveness and the value of teacher training. (JEL A22, I23, J44)

DUF1220 copy number is linearly associated with increased cognitive function as measured by total IQ and mathematical aptitude scores.

DUF1220 protein domains exhibit the greatest human lineage-specific copy number expansion of any protein-coding sequence in the genome, and variation in DUF1220 copy number has been linked to both brain size in humans and brain evolution among primates. Given these findings, we examined associations between DUF1220 subtypes CON1 and CON2 and cognitive aptitude. We identified a linear association between CON2 copy number and cognitive function in two independent populations of European descent. In North American males, an increase in CON2 copy number corresponded with an increase in WISC IQ (R (2)=0.13, p=0.02), which may be driven by males aged 6-11 (R (2)=0.42, p=0.003). We utilized ddPCR in a subset as a confirmatory measurement. This group had 26-33 copies of CON2 with a mean of 29, and each copy increase of CON2 was associated with a 3.3-point increase in WISC IQ (R (2)=0.22, p=0.045). In individuals from New Zealand, an increase in CON2 copy number was associated with an increase in math aptitude ability (R (2)=0.10 p=0.018). These were not confounded by brain size. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report a replicated association between copy number of a gene coding sequence and cognitive aptitude. Remarkably, dosage variations involving DUF1220 sequences have now been linked to human brain expansion, autism severity and cognitive aptitude, suggesting that such processes may be genetically and mechanistically inter-related. The findings presented here warrant expanded investigations in larger, well-characterized cohorts.

Breadth-Based Models of Women’s Underrepresentation in STEM Fields: An Integrative Commentary on Schmidt (2011) and Nye et al. (2012)

Relative strength of math and verbal abilities and interests drive science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career choices more than absolute math ability alone. Having one dominant aptitude (e.g., for mathematics) increases the likelihood of a strong self-concept in that domain and decreases the likelihood of equivocation about career choices in comparison with individuals with equivalent mathematical aptitude who have comparable strength in non-math areas. Males are more likely than females to have an asymmetrical cognitive profile of higher aptitude in math relative to verbal domains. Together, these two points suggest that the academic and career pursuits of high math ability males may be attributable to their narrower options among STEM fields, whereas females’ more symmetrical cognitive profile means their math and verbal interests compete in the formation of their ability self-concept and, hence, in their broader career choices. Such equivocation about STEM careers is in fact already evident in girls with high math aptitude as early as junior high school. Thus, we argue that asymmetry in interests and aptitudes is an underappreciated factor in sex differences in career choice. To the extent this is true, focusing on strengthening young women’s STEM-related abilities and ability self-concepts to increase female STEM representation may be an unproductive approach; to increase representation, it may be more effective to focus on harvesting the potential of those girls and women whose breadth of interest and high ability spans social/verbal and spatial/numerical domains. The use of interventions that play to this greater breadth by socially contextualizing STEM is one potential solution.

Correlates of Problem Solving Performance in Prerequisites of Math Courses with Problem Solving Performance in Engineering Physics 1

Word problems are topics in Physics and math that students had difficulties. Physics is one of the branches of physical science. Advanced Algebra, Plane and spherical Trigonometry are branches of mathematics which are the prerequisites in engineering physics 1. As future engineers, students need to acquire sufficient mathematical and science proficiency. The study used the descriptive research design which was anchored on the three groups that contributed to problem solving capabilities of students; personal, cognitive, and social factors. The math entrance examination result and Science aptitude test are found to be significant with the final course grade in engineering physics1. The problem solving skills in personal factors (problem solving and study strategies skills), language and comprehension in cognitive factors have significant relationship with problem solving capabilities in Engphy1. The personal factors (problem solving and study strategies skills) have a significant relationship between the final course grades in engphy1. The final course grade in both the math courses are also found significant with engineering physics 1. The levels of problem solving in engineering physics1 are also found significant in both math courses. The personal and social factors have significant effect in the final course grade in engineering physics1. It also shows that the final course grade in math courses have a significant effect with the final course grade in engineering physics1. Keywords: Math courses, word problem solving, personal factors, cognitive factors, social factors and engineering physics1, descriptive design, Philippines

Elinor Ostrom: “A Magnificent and Irreplaceable Treasure”

[Author Affiliation]Rick K Wilson, * Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, MS 24, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA; E-mail: rkw@rice.edu .Catherine C Eckel, [dagger] Sara & John Lindsey Professor, Department of Economics, Texas AM E-mail: ceckel@econmail.tamu.edu .[Acknowledgment]Thanks to Haley Harwell (Texas AM instead, she drew upon the many ways in which locally organized individuals solved social dilemmas to argue for a decentralized, individualized approach. For her many coauthors, she was an indefatigable force. For her many students, she was an inspiration and an endless source of information and ideas. For those who met her, Lin was infectiously exuberant, down-to-earth, and capable of finding something important to discuss with anyone she encountered. At a reception in her honor at the Southern Economic Association Meetings in 2010, she was standing in a corner by herself for a few moments until the graduate students discovered her. Suddenly, she was surrounded by students asking myriad of questions to which she was happy to reply, and, as always, she pressed the students about their own research.Lin believed in the power of institutions and built a long-lasting example of her own. In 1973, Lin and Vincent founded the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis (affectionately known by participants as Camp Wopotopa). The Workshop brought scholars from a variety of disciplines together to work jointly on projects. Its primary goal was to bridge the world of ideas with the world of practical policy advice. The Workshop provided an intellectual center around which undergraduate and graduate students could learn the research process, faculty could elaborate new ideas, and visitors could come to share in the intellectual enterprise. Over the years, it became a large extended, intellectual family that had the breadth exhibited by Lin's work. The Workshop was central to Lin's work, and we return to it later.Lin's BackgroundLin grew up in Los Angeles, California, and received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from UCLA in political science. From the beginning, Lin was interested in studying economics, but she was strongly discouraged from doing so. Undergraduate advisors told her that women did not have the appropriate aptitude for math and rigor demanded by economics. Instead, she was encouraged to go into political science where the demands were not as high. …