Closing the gender gap - helping girls excel in science and math

Instructor, March, 1996 by Ann Pollina

Innovative teaching techniques that help girls excel in science and math

For the last 20 years, I've been immersed in one of the most interesting laboratories in the world - an all-girls' classroom. In that time, my students have taught me an enormous amount about how girls learn, what attracts them to science and mathematics, and why some lessons work better than others. Whether or not you feel girls take a backseat to boys in your classroom, all your students will benefit from these ideas.

Connect mathematics and science to art, to the lives of real people, and to the good of the world. Bring to life the people who do mathematics and science. Ask your students to reflect on the kind of mathematics and science you would need to live as a Plains Indian; in Colonial America; in 14th-century China; or as a prehistoric hunter-gatherer. You may push your students to wonder for the first time: What is mathematics? What is science? How do math and science work together?

Examine your assessment strategies: Do you focus on process as well as product? Do you reward reflection over speed? Many girls do not typically think in terms of right or wrong, but look at both sides of a dilemma and try to develop strategies in which everyone wins. Mix questions that require written explanations with multiple-choice questions. Students should be amply rewarded for thoughtful insights. Writing portfolios are as viable a tool in math and science as they are in language arts.

Foster an atmosphere of true collaboration. Having students work in groups of threes and fours does not ensure a collaborative experience. The group members should need one another; the group task should be too big for anyone to do alone. Even in small groups, girls may question their first reaction to questions and need time for reflection if they are to contribute fully. It can help to assign the question for homework so all students will have ideas to contribute.

Encourage girls to act as experts. Keep expectations high and give frequent feedback. Girls demonstrate great practical intelligence in real-world situations, but they are often reluctant to use information gained because it hasn't been imparted by an expert. Life experience should be celebrated as a strong source of conjectures. Having girls present topics to the class, using girls to staff the technology room, having a science lab for extra help staffed by girls - all of these strategies help girls gain confidence.

Help girls become comfortable with technology by emphasizing both purpose and opportunity for its use. When researchers Cornelia Brunner and Margaret Honey at the Center for Children and Technology ask children to create their dream machine, boys build vehicles and weapons; girls design helpers and friends. The computer industry tends to develop games filled with weaponry and vehicles, which fuels girls' perception that computers are boys' domain. Encourage girls to recognize the networking and communications capability of the computer along with its link to writing and research and its use as a tool in mathematics and science.

If we stop trying to change girls, and instead let a feminine approach to math and science inform our pedagogy, we will benefit boys, girls, and scientific inquiry.

ANN POLLINA is dean of faculty an head of the Mathematics Department at Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut.