Towards Gender Equity in Mathematics Education
Supervisor: Patricia Cretchley
Description: Although there are many reports to the contrary, and the gender debate rages, many girls enjoy mathematics at school, perform well on a wide range of styles of assessment, and report a strong sense of pleasure and satisfaction in their achievements. Yet professional and academic fields of mathematics, and curriculum developments, are generally dominated by men. This course examines contemporary research and perspectives on gender equity issues, and contributions in the ICMI 1996 study "Towards Gender Equity in Mathematics Education", in particular, and reviews that literature in the light of current reports on the neglect of boys' education and the dearth of male teacher role models at the primary school level, in some parts of the world. In particular, a significant finding from the huge data-set arising from a TIMS study is raised for critical discussion: that a student's achievement in recent TIMS mathematics tests at primary school level was positively related to his or her having a male mathematics teacher. The course aims at identifying appropriate ways to encourage males and females into the study of mathematics at all levels, and strategies for encouraging students with a strong potential into the teaching profession, and raises debate on gender issues in a wide range of areas of influence: from education policy, to school and classroom management, to curriculum and course design.
Prerequisites: TBA
Main text: TBA
Some potential study topics
| What is Maths? Ron Addie | Attitude and belief Patricia Cretchley | Computer Algebra Ed Patricia Cretchley | Assessment issues Patricia Cretchley |
| Education research? Patricia Cretchley | Bridge gaps Patricia Cretchley | Gender equity Patricia Cretchley | Teaching geometry Patricia Cretchley |
| Math history Patricia Cretchley | Gen Lin Models Peter Dunn | Bayesian stats Paul Fahey | Survey sampling Ashley Plank |
| Maths Methods Tony Roberts | Quantum Computing Tony Roberts | Water waves Tony Roberts | Games theory Tony Roberts |
| Parallel numerics Tony Roberts | Hydro stability Sergey Suslov | Math Biology Sergey Suslov | Banach spaces Oleksiy Yevdokimov |
| Fundamental Maths Education Oleksiy Yevdokimov | Number history Oleksiy Yevdokimov |