Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Not on our watch.

"...researchers have focused on the influence of the social environment on children's math and science achievement. Very early on, boys are given the chance to tinker with toys or objects (for example, building blocks, Legos, racing cars, and simple machines) that involve many of the principles inherent in math and science. Girls often lack these experiences, so they enter math and science classrooms feeling insecure about their abilities. Girls then begin to believe they cannot do math and science as well as boys."*





* Reprinted with permission from the National Network for Child Care - NNCC. Jovanovic, J. and Dreves, C. (1995). Math, science, and girls: Can we close the gender gap?. In Todd, C.M. (Ed.)., *School-age connections*, 5(2), Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service.

1 comment:

Beth said...

Yeah... our girls have plenty of math and science toys/books/etcetera. But I really think that most people don't want to admit that it's possible there are general differences between the male and female brains, making them (generally, of course) better suited for different things.