Encouraging young women to stay in the mathematics pipeline: Mathematics camps for young women

School Science and Mathematics, Oct 2003 by Chacon, Paul, Soto-Johnson, Hortensia

For two summers, week-long residential mathematics programs were held for high school women, with the primary goal of encouraging them to continue their study of mathematics. The activities were designed to rekindle their excitement about mathematics and to support the idea that women should learn advanced mathematics. This paper reports the findings of the data collected to assess the programs. Statistically significant changes were found in student attitudes, confidence level, willingness to continue working on a problem, and perception of the value of group work. Journal entries confirmed the statistical analysis. Follow-up surveys also indicated that the summer programs changed the way the participants perceived mathematics and mathematics courses.

According to the recently released report, Trends in Educational Equity of Girls and Women (U.S. Department of Education, 2000), males and females enroll in similar high school mathematics courses with equal frequency. Further, although the gender gap in enrollment has closed, gender-based differences in achievement and attitude persist. In addition, the findings indicate that high school women are less likely than men to pursue careers involving science and mathematics, even though women are more likely to enroll in college immediately after graduation. The situation worsens after graduation from college. Henrion (1997) reported in Women in Mathematics: The Addition of Difference that although women constitute 44% of the nations mathematics majors, they make up only 24% of the nation's Ph.D's in mathematics.

Opinions vary as to the cause of gender-based differences in attitude, persistence, and performance in science and mathematics. Possible explanations include lack of encouragement and lower expectations by parents and teachers, peer pressure (Keynes, 1995), little information about mathematics and science careers, and lack of female role models following mathematics and science career paths (Asera & Treisman, 1995). Regardless of the causes, the fact remains that by the time women reach 12th grade fully 50% state that given a choice they would not study any more mathematics (U.S. Department of Education, 2000).

The Trends in Education Equity in Women and Girls report also showed that from 1980 to 1995 there has been a decrease (for both men and women) in the level of excitement, perception of importance, and overall satisfaction with school. This decrease is greater for women. These changes are particularly alarming in light of the fact that education is more important than ever to the quality of life of young people.

Effective intervention strategies that improve students' attitudes toward mathematics, make students aware of career choices, and raise students' mathematical skills are well documented in the literature (Campbell, 1991; Dunham, 1990; Oakes, 1990). Intervention should occur during pre-adolescence before negative attitudes toward mathematics appear. There should be hands-on fun activities with real mathematical content presented in a less competitive environment than the traditional classroom. Career orientation sessions should involve working professionals and need to focus on the actual career and not on career choices.

Most extracurricular interventions for high school women suffer the fate of not becoming institutionalized and, therefore, cannot be sustained. Some exceptions do exist, including Summer Mathematics at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, All Girls/All Mathematics Summer Camp for High School Girls at the University of Nebraska, and the Paula Program at Saint Mary's College in Indiana. In addition to being partly supported by their home institutions, these programs share the characteristic of being directed by individuals who feel passionately about providing young women the highest quality educational experience.

Sources of support do exist for programs that encourage and train women to pursue mathematics and science related careers, including the American Mathematical Society Epsilon Fund, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Tensor Foundation, the Association for Women in Mathematics, and the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. For two summers, $500,000 MAA Tensor grants helped the Department of Mathematics at the University of Southern Colorado (USC) host summer mathematics camps for high school women. Each camp was a weeklong residential program directed by mathematics faculty members. It cost approximately $600 per student to run each camp. Tuition was not charged of the students. Remaining costs were covered by donations from USC and local businesses. The camps included a focused curriculum, female guest speakers, and structured social activities. This paper provides a description and evaluation of this effort.

Camp Participants

The camps were designed for academically talented young women who do not mind a week of hard work. Camp 1999 enrolled 16 and Camp 2000 enrolled 20 high school women. All participants were required to have completed at least two high school mathematics courses and to be attending high school the following year. Some schools allow students to enroll in high school courses as middle school students; thus, entering freshman were eligible for the camp.