Self-Efficacy in Mathematics, Attitudes, and Achievement of Boys and Girls from Restricted Samples in Two Countries

Abstract

A Saskatchewan sample of 191 (99 boys and 92 girls) and a Western Australian sample of 134 (49 boys and 85 girls) Grade 12 students were administered the Mathematics Achievement Test, Mathematics Self-efficacy Scale, and Mathematics Attitude Inventory. Total scores on two derived parallel forms of the Mathematics Achievement Test, three subscales of the Mathematics Self-efficacy Scale (daily, problems, and courses), and two derived attitude measures of the Mathematics Attitude Inventory, analyzed in a 2 × 2 multivariate analysis of variance design with gender and locale as the fixed factors, as expected, showed effects for gender, locale, and their interaction were significant. These results are related to the previous reports on these variables; instructional and theoretical implications are discussed.

Is Victor Better than Victoria at Maths?

“…Kimball (1989), for example, cites many studies showing that boys in high school achieve consistently higher scores than girls on standardised maths tests. More recent studies (Hedges & Nowell, 1995;Randhawa, 1994) confirm these findings. Beller and Gafni (1996) report that the only differences in maths performance found among students from seven countries were in favour of boys.…”

Brief Report: Is Gender a Factor in Mathematics Performance Among Nigerian Preservice Teachers?

“…Many conclusions have been reported regarding gender differences in mathematics. For example, Hedges and Norwell (1995), Peterson and Fennema (1985) and Randhawa (1994) reported gender difference in favour of men. Others, however, have found no difference (Bronholt, Goodnow, & Cooney, 1994).…”

An evaluation of the supplemental instruction program implemented in a first-year calculus course.

“…Furthermore, most of the differences previously determined may be largely due to affective factors (Gallagher & Kaufman, 2005;Kleinman, 1995;Randhawa, 1994). Girls are stereotypically described as not liking mathematics and not doing well in mathematics.…”

“…Additionally, gender will be included in the analyses to determine if gender has an effect on who attends SI, as well as on final grades in the Calculus course. There is a widespread belief that males outperform females in mathematics, particularly in geometry, spatial mathematics, and problem-solving (Chipman, 2005;Kleinman, 1995;Randhawa, 1994). Since Calculus is comprised of all three of these concepts, gender needs to be considered as a factor.…”

“…Typically, the expectation is that males outperform females in Mathematics (Chipman, 2005;Randhawa, 1994). Gender is equally split within the SI categories.…”