Female elementary school teachers can unknowingly pass along their anxieties
about mathematics to their girl students, who then score lower on achievement
tests compared with boys in the same class, according to new research from the University of Chicago.
The yearlong study found that female elementary school teachers pass along
their anxiety about math to girl students, which then undermines the students’ confidence
in their own math skills. This can also cause girls
to perform poorly in math-dependent subjects such as engineering and science.
The researchers conclude that teachers need more math training before
entering the classroom.
The Chicago study found that
many teachers—about 90 percent of the country’s elementary school teachers are
women—receive their teaching certificate with little mathematics preparation.
The teachers’ concerns about their own math skills are then passed along to
girls in their classes. However, the study found that teachers’ anxiety does
not impact boys’ math ability.
“Having a highly math-anxious female teacher may push girls to confirm the
stereotype that they are not as good as boys at math, which in turn, affects
girls’ math achievement,” writes Sian Beilock, an associate professor in
psychology at the University of Chicago
and the lead author of the study.
The study, “Female Teachers’ Math Anxiety Affects Girls’
Math Achievement,” was published in the Jan. 25 issue of "Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences."
Along with Beilock, Stella Rowley, a professor of psychology at the University
of Chicago, and two graduate
students followed 17 first- and second-grade teachers, along with 52 boy
students and 65 girl students, for 12 months. The study tested the students
early in the year and found that both boys and girls were not affected by math
anxiety.
Later in the year, the researchers found that as the teachers became more
anxious about their own math skills, girls were more likely than boys to
develop doubts about their own math skills. The study found the girls who were
affected by their teachers’ concerns did worse on standard tests than boys and
that some girls began accepting the stereotype that “boys are good at math and
girls are good at reading.”
“Thus it may be that first- and second-grade girls are more likely to be
influenced by their teachers’ anxieties than their male classmates, because most
early-elementary school teachers are female, and the high levels of math
anxiety in this teacher population confirm a societal stereotype about girls’
math ability,” writes Beilock.
The researchers conclude that programs that prepare teachers for the classroom
should focus more energy and resources on developing the math skills of their
teachers. Teachers also need help in coping with and overcoming their anxiety
when it comes to math, according to the report.
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