Gender gap persists at highest levels of math and science testing

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A study that examined 30 years of standardized test data from the very highest-scoring seventh graders has found that performance differences between boys and girls have narrowed considerably, but boys still outnumber girls by more than about 3-to-1 at extremely high levels of math ability and scientific reasoning.

At the same time, girls slightly outnumber boys at extremely high levels of verbal reasoning and writing ability.

Except for the differences at these highest levels of performance, boys and girls are essentially the same at all other levels of performance.

The findings come from a study performed by Duke University's Talent Identification Program, which relies on SAT and ACT tests administered to the top 5 percent of 7th graders to identify gifted students and nurture their intellectual talents. There were more than 1.6 million such students in this study.

Researchers Jonathan Wai, Megan Cacchio, Martha Putallaz and Matthew C. Makel focused in particular on gifted seventh graders who scored 700 or above on the SAT's math or verbal tests, which is higher than most high school juniors score.

Among these students at the very top of the performance curve, the differences in verbal and mathematical performance have maintained a persistent gender gap over the last 15 years, said Jonathan Wai, a post-doctoral research associate at Duke TIP, and lead author on a paper appearing in the July/August issue of the journal Intelligence.

The ratio of 7th graders scoring 700 or above on the SAT-math was about 13 boys to 1 girl when it was measured in a landmark study 30 years ago, but that ratio dropped dramatically in the 1990s, Wai said. Since 1995, the gap has remained steady at about 4 boys to 1 girl.

The top scores on scientific reasoning, a relatively new section of the ACT that was not included in the earlier study, show a similar ratio of boys to girls.

Much has been said and written about the small numbers of women found in top positions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and there are probably many social and cultural reasons for that gap, said Wai. But there do appear to be some real differences in math and science reasoning that may factor into the disparity.

"Our research only serves to inform the debate," Wai said. "It's apparent that there are still differences in ability levels due to gender, even as women have occupied more STEM jobs in the last 30 years. We will continue our research, but for now it seems that ability is still a factor in the equation."

In earlier work that examined how many of these talented youngsters went on to earn Ph.D.s, publications, patents and tenured professorships, Wai and his colleagues at Vanderbilt University, David Lubinski and Camilla Benbow, found that differences in math ability did seem to affect what happened 20 years down the road. "Differences in ability within the top 1 percent make a difference in predicting real world achievement in STEM and other areas," Wai said. "What matters is ability, not the sex of the individual, in predicting these outcomes."

Acknowledging that there are some differences in ability might further the efforts to get more women into math and science, Wai said. For example, it would be good to know more about what made the test performance gap close so dramatically between 1981 and 1995. "Perhaps that's something we could use."

The research team, which included Megan Cacchio, a 2006 Duke graduate who started this study as her undergraduate honors thesis, also looked at 13 years worth of SAT and ACT data for U.S. high school students. They found a similar pattern among the top performers. In 2009, males scoring a perfect 800 on the SAT-math outnumbered females about 2 to 1.

"Even though there are more female role models in math and science now than 30 years ago and sex biases may have eased, we're still seeing these differences among the most talented students," Wai said. The current study doesn't address how those differences might affect a person's career path directly, but "interests and preferences are probably more important than abilities," he said.

"The more important question is whether these differences explain any of the gender differences in career choices and the kinds of behaviors linked to career success, and if so how much," said Jacquellyne Eccles, McKeachie-Pintrich Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Michigan, and director of the Gender & Achievement Research Program. "This is a very hard question to answer when the social and cultural forces influencing career choices and persistence/engagement are also very strong."

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Wai, J., et al., "Sex differences in the right tail of cognitive abilities: A 30 year examination." Intelligence (2010). doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2010.04.006

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TV viewing, video game play contribute to kids’ attention problems

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Parents looking to get their kid's attention - or keeping them focused at home and in the classroom - should try to limit their television viewing and video game play. That's because a new study led by three Iowa State University psychologists has found that both viewing television and playing video games are associated with increased attention problems in youths.

The research, which included both elementary school-age and college-age participants, found that children who exceeded the two hours per day of screen time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics were 1.5 to 2 times more likely to be above average in attention problems.

"There isn't an exact number of hours when screen time contributes to attention problems, but the AAP recommendation of no more than two hours a day provides a good reference point," said Edward Swing, an Iowa State psychology doctoral candidate and lead researcher in the study. "Most children are way above that. In our sample, children's total average time with television and video games is 4.26 hours per day, which is actually low compared to the national average."

Studies on elementary, college-aged youths

The researchers assessed 1,323 children in third, fourth and fifth grades over 13 months, using reports from the parents and children about their video game and television habits, as well as teacher reports of attention problems. Another group of 210 college students provided self-reports of television habits, video game exposure and attention problems.

Previous research had associated television viewing with attention problems in children. The new study also found similar effects from the amount of time spent with video games.

"It is still not clear why screen media may increase attention problems, but many researchers speculate that it may be due to rapid-pacing, or the natural attention grabbing aspects that television and video games use," Swing said.

Gentile reports that the pace of television programming has been quickened by "the MTV effect."

"When MTV came on, it started showing music videos that had very quick edits -- cuts once every second or two," Gentile said. "Consequently, the pacing of other television and films sped up too, with much quicker edits."

He says that quicker pace may have some brain-changing effects when it comes to attention span.

"Brain science demonstrates that the brain becomes what the brain does," Gentile said. "If we train the brain to require constant stimulation and constant flickering lights, changes in sound and camera angle, or immediate feedback, such as video games can provide, then when the child lands in the classroom where the teacher doesn't have a million-dollar-per-episode budget, it may be hard to get children to sustain their attention."

The study showed that the effect was similar in magnitude between video games and TV viewing.

TV, video games may contribute to ADHD

Based on the study's findings, Swing and Gentile conclude that TV and video game viewing may be one contributing factor for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.

"ADHD is a medical condition, but it's a brain condition," Gentile said. "We know that the brain adapts and changes based on the environmental stimuli to which it is exposed repeatedly. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to believe that environmental stimuli can increase the risk for a medical condition like ADHD in the same way that environmental stimuli, like cigarettes, can increase the risk for cancer."

"Although we did not specifically study the medical condition of ADHD in these studies, we did focus on the kinds of attention problems that are experienced by students with ADHD," added Swing. "We were surprised, for example, that attention problems in the classroom would increase in just one year for those children with the highest screen time."

Swing points out that the associations between attention problems and TV and video game exposure are significant, but small.

"It is important to note that television or video game time cannot solely explain the development of attention problems," he said. "Clearly other factors are involved."

The researchers plan to continue studying the effects of screen time on attention. They also hope future research can identify what aspects of television or video games may be most relevant to attention problems.

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Grappling with the Gaps

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Grappling with the Gaps identifies current gaps in the research on the education of children and youth in the foster care system based on interviews with twelve nationally recognized experts in education and child welfare.

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