Schreiber Iris, Ashkenazi Hagit
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Heliyon. 2024 Aug 10;10(16):e35610. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e35610. eCollection 2024 Aug 30.
Despite significant progress in recent years, there is still evidence of gender differences and underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in mathematics. To promote equal opportunities for all students, it is essential to comprehend gender differences in math learning at school and identify potential barriers to educational equality. In this regard, our study examined the gender differences in solving word problems, and whether they relate to the solution strategy the students were taught. The study involved 100 10th-grade students divided into two groups and taught different solving approaches. One group was taught an algebraic approach using linear equations, while the other group was taught a combined approach, which incorporates the algebraic solution with a functional-graphic solution using a graph of a linear function. The research findings reveal gender differences in various aspects: Girls who learned the algebraic approach had better attainments than boys; Boys who learned the combined approach opted to solve problems with functions and graphs, whereas girls in the same group preferred an algebraic solution; Boys who learned the combined approach achieved significantly higher than boys who learned the algebraic approach. This study illuminates the importance of teaching word problems using diverse solution strategies because different populations of students respond differently to different strategies.
尽管近年来取得了显著进展，但仍有证据表明，在数学领域的领导职位中存在性别差异，女性代表性不足。为了促进所有学生的平等机会，理解学校数学学习中的性别差异并找出教育平等的潜在障碍至关重要。在这方面，我们的研究考察了解决文字问题中的性别差异，以及这些差异是否与学生所学的解决策略有关。该研究涉及100名十年级学生，他们被分成两组并教授不同的解决方法。一组被教授使用线性方程的代数方法，而另一组被教授一种综合方法，即将代数解法与使用线性函数图像的函数-图形解法相结合。研究结果揭示了多个方面的性别差异：学习代数方法的女孩比男孩成绩更好；学习综合方法的男孩选择用函数和图形解决问题，而同一组中的女孩则更喜欢代数解法；学习综合方法的男孩比学习代数方法的男孩成绩显著更高。这项研究阐明了使用多种解决策略教授文字问题的重要性，因为不同群体的学生对不同策略的反应不同。
