Is the academic preference different
FOR Males compared to females

They say boys like math and science and girls like social studies and English.
Is it really true?

Created by Alyssa Lawrence and Bryan Beatrez in the spring of 2011.

Statement of the problem

We are going to study if there is a difference in academic preference of males compared to females in our high school. We have heard that the common stereotype is that males are better at math and science and females are better at history and English. However, there have been many studies conducted with no conclusive result. Most studies have been done on younger children, younger than age 12. We would like to see if this stereotype also applies to teenagers. We are curious if these studies have any merit and would like to answer to this question. Finding many studies about this topic, we are curious how our high school relates to these studies.

Background Research

In most cases, boys and girls do like the same subjects. It is generally agreed that if the subject is taught properly, then boys and girls will both have an equal understanding of the subject. It is hard to adequately judge the academic progress of students in their young years. However, when students enter middle school, it is much easier to judge their progress. The common stereotype is that boys are better at math than girls. A factor that might contribute to these academic preferences is learning styles. Every student learns best differently. The teacher should teach in a way in which everybody benefits academically. (4)

At some schools, this stereotype is more apparent than at others. For example, at Staples High School, the enrollment difference between males and females in honors-level English courses is significant. The ratio of girls to boys in these classes is 3 to 1. The ratio of girls to boys in their Advanced Placement ® English course is 7:3. Now looking at the math courses, the opposite is true. Boys. Boys favor the higher-level math courses. In Advanced Placement ® Statistics, the ratio of boys to girls is 3 to 2. Although not as apparent as English, it is still a significant enrollment difference. SAT scores have also supported this trend. Boys score higher on the math section and girls score higher on the English sections. It is important to note that there are always some outliers in these studies. Also, teachers have indicated the boys and girls appear to be equally comfortable with the content covered, even though their grades can be significantly different. All of this data tends to agree with the stereotype that boys are better at math and girls are better at English. However, this conclusion is not extremely clear (2).

The New York Times conducted two separate studies. One studied boy’s math skills compared to girl’s math skills. This study found that in elementary school students, 72% of boys are at the proficient level while 79% of girls are at the proficient level in reading. The study concluded that this gap is similar to middle school and high school students. In every state, girls scored higher on standardized tests than boys (1).

The second research conducted by the New York Times was studying why women are underrepresented in math and science fields. It is a puzzling problem as the gap between boy’s and girl’s scores on the math and science sections of standardized tests is shrinking. One possible explanation is that there is a culture bias towards women. Women usually post to less-known publications, making their work not as well-known (5).

Age is a major factor for children when considering their most valued school subject. For example, “the percentage of children who rank science their favorite subject increases with age, from 7.9% of children 6-7 years old saying it is their favorite subject, to 13.5% of children 10-11 years old choosing it as their favorite subject.” The data summarizes the fact that younger children have differing favorite subject classes compared to older children. As a child increases in age, favorite subjects change dramatically. Younger children are prone to liking elective based classes while teenagers are more prone to liking like core based classes. According to MRI’s American Kid’s Study in 2006, of children aged between 6-11, 18.8% of younger children (ages 6-7) chose math as their particular favorite subject in school, while 27.9% of children aged 10-11 chose math as their favorite subject. On the other hand, in electives such as music, with children aged 6-7 years old, there were 12.2% who chose it as their favorite class subject. In contrast, only 6.2% of children between the ages of 10-11 chose music as their favorite class subject. This major age difference between the children shows how as a child is young their favorite class subjects are more directed towards electives, but as a child gets to their teenage years, their favorite class subjects change to core classes such as math (3).

Many studies have been conducted comparing student’s academic ability in the core subjects. The common stereotype was that girls are better at English and boys are better at math. However, this stereotype may no longer be the case. A correlation has been shown that generally students who enjoy subjects more that they academically excel in. These studies have yielded many different results, making it impossible to draw a valid conclusion using only this data.

Links:

Statement of the problem

Background Research

What research has been completed on this topic?