Investigating Gender Differences in Mathematics and Science: Results from the 2011 Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey

Abstract

The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related fields remains a concern for educators and the scientific community. Gender differences in mathematics and science achievement play a role, in conjunction with attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs. We report results from the 2011 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a large international assessment of eighth grade students' achievement, attitudes and beliefs among 45 participating nations (N = 261,738). Small to medium sized gender differences were found for most individual nations (from d =-.60 to +.31 in mathematics achievement, and d =-.60 to +.26 for science achievement), although the direction varied and there were no global gender differences overall. Such a pattern cross-culturally is incompatible with the notion of immutable gender differences. Additionally, there were different patterns between OECD and non-OECD nations, with girls scoring higher than boys in mathematics and science achievement across non-OECD nations. An association was found between gender differences in science achievement and national levels of gender equality, providing support for the gender segregation hypothesis. Furthermore, the performance of boys was more variable than that of girls in most nations, consistent with the greater male variability hypothesis. Boys reported more favorable attitudes towards mathematics and science and girls reported lower self-efficacy beliefs. While the gender gap in STEM achievement may be closing, there are still large sections of the world where differences remain.

Cross-National Comparisons of Students’ Science Success Based on Gender Variability: Evidence From Timss

“…Gender heterogeneity in success is an important phenomenon and have been empirically proven by recent researches based on the overall scores of large-scale assessment studies that provide outcomes from samples of students in different nations (e.g. Baye & Monseur, 2016;Gray et al, 2019;Liu, Alvarado-Urbina, & Hannum, 2019;Reilly, Neumann, & Andrews, 2019). Therefore, investigating effective factors on students' success by considering the gender variability may produce accurate and efficient results for researchers aiming to compare the dynamics of different educational systems.…”

Gender and Mathematics Education: An Overview

“…As indicated at the beginning of the chapter, research conducted in the 1970s was partly driven by data on gender differences in participation in post compulsory mathematics courses. Lower female participation in higher level mathematics courses internationally was publicized by early researchers (including, for example, Schildkamp-Kündiger 1982) and continues to be documented (AMSI 2017;OECD 2009;Leder 2015;Lubienski and Ganley 2017;Reilly et al 2017;Stoet and Geary 2018;Wang and Degol 2017;Wilson and Mack 2014). Particularly disturbing is the trend for females to be under-represented in school level enrolments in the most challenging mathematics subjects and, at tertiary level, the relatively small numbers enrolled in masters and Ph.D. courses.…”

Gender Differences in the Interest in Mathematics Schoolwork Across 50 Countries

“…However, this gender gap in mathematics interest does not seem to be universal. Recent research using cross-national data from the Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) has uncovered that in many countries the gender gap in mathematics attitudes, including interest in schoolwork, is reversed (Ghasemi and Burley, 2019;Reilly et al, 2019). These findings suggest that the correct question to ask is not why girls are less interested in math than boys are, because often the opposite holds.…”