Girls Inherit Math Phobia From Female Teachers
Research conducted at the University of Chicago shows that female elementary school teachers who are anxious about math often pass the phobia on to female students. Published in a recent edition of PNAS, the findings are the product of a year-long study on 17 first- and second-grade teachers and 52 boys and 65 girls who were their students. The researchers found that boys' math performance was not related to their teacher's math anxiety while girls' math achievement was affected. To determine the impact of teachers' mathematics anxiety on students, the team assessed teachers' anxiety about math. Then, at both the beginning and end of the school year, the research team also tested the students' level of mathematics achievement and the gender stereotypes the students held. read more