Gender differences in mathematics and science competitions: A systematic review

Abstract

Gendered patterns in mathematics and science interest emerge in early childhood, develop over time, and ultimately reflect advanced course selection in secondary education. During the crucial time adolescents become aware of their strengths and interests and specialize accordingly, they get the opportunity to participate in out‐of‐school learning programs such as mathematics and science competitions. This raises the question whether mathematics and science competitions contribute to gender equity by equally promoting female and male interests. In this article, we present a systematic review on gender differences and the mechanisms explaining success and failure in mathematics and science competitions. On an international level, we found large gender differences regarding participation in all Olympiads with the exception of the biology Olympiad. In fairs and national Olympiads, overall participation rates were not gendered as such, but females preferred biology topics whereas males preferred physics related topics. Male and female achievement in fairs was comparable, but males clearly outperformed female participants at the Olympiads, with the smallest differences in the biology Olympiad. Variables and theoretical frameworks explaining participation and achievement and the role of gender in mathematics and science competitions are discussed. We suggest that gender stereotypes, through their influence on self‐concept and interest, play an important role in the mechanisms resulting in low female participation rates in and beyond mathematics and science competitions (especially in physics and chemistry). The mechanisms we found explaining female representation during a national selection competition might be considered as reflecting those in female mathematics or science careers and could thus serve as food for thought on countering the gender gap in mathematics and science.

Engaging young women in physics: An intervention to support young women’s physics identity development

“…For example, in many countries typically around 25% of the participants in the primary stages are young women. In the international competition, after the teams have been chosen, only around 7% of the participants are young women [8,14]. Focusing on the target country in this study, gender patterns are a particular concern in the German selection process for the Physics Olympiad compared to many other countries [13,15].…”

Scientists of the future: an analysis of talented students’ interests

“…Thus, educators might want to think about developing gender-specific enrichment measures and in-school activities focusing on such science activities which have a special appeal to girls. Such enrichment or in-school activities might trigger a stronger interest in science itself, thus presenting a possible method to close still existing gender gaps in science competitions, science courses, and science as a profession (e.g., Reis & Park, 2001;Steegh, Höffler, Keller, & Parchmann, 2019). On the other hand, this finding could be seen as a grave shortcoming of the boys' interest profiles: As social and artistic science activities are important parts of today's scientists' work fields (Stamer et al, 2019) and the artistic dimension developed in childhood in particular is very important for success among adult science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) professionals (Root-Bernstein et al, 2019), serious efforts might be in order to promote boys' interests in these fields.…”

Pembekalan Pra-OSN Menggunakan Soal-Soal Problem Solving Berbasis Representasi Multimodus bagi Siswa SMP

“…Dukungan tersebut bisa berupa pemberian informasi terkait skema OSN, pelatihan terstruktur dan berkelanjutan agar dapat membantu sekolah dalam rangka akselarasi program peningkatan mutu pendidikan sains. Sekolah memberikan kontribusi terbesar bagi peserta didik dalam berprestasi sesuai minat dan bakat mereka baik itu matematika maupun sains sesuai dengan fase awal perkembangan mereka (Steegh, Höffler, Keller, & Parchmann, 2019). Dalam hal ini sekolah berperan sebagai fasilitator peserta didik.…”