Kissing math
Seema Singh -
Sunday, September 07, 2008 3:12 PM
For long the stereotype that girls are poor (or less interested) in math has ruled our psyche, letting them shy away from this subject even though sporadic studies have suggested the opposite.
In one more instance this week, the most detailed study so far, vocational psychologists from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and other places say that self-confidence instilled by parents and teachers is more important for girls learning science and math than their initial interest.
For older girls, interest becomes central in pursuing a career in these disciplines but early on its confidence building that is crucial says the lead researcher Nadya Fouad. The US National Science Foundation and the National Research Council are pulling out all the stops in tracking the reasons why many girls avoid science and math.
Indian academicians do not want to enter into a gender debate at this point as the overall enrollment in math and science isn't encouraging and they are busy trying to address that.
As NSF and other global bodies strive to reverse the rapidly declining numbers of women in STEM (science, tech, engineering, math), US actress-mathematician-author Danica McKellar has a new book out called Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss which aims at encouraging math interest in young girls.
Kiss My Math is a sequel of sorts to her best seller Math Doesn't Suck and I think these two engagingly written books could form a good tool in any teacher's arsenal to make math cool.
I must admit I dropped out of pursuing math in higher studies (despite being good in numbers) largely because of this stereotype. But I think math, besides having enormous career prospects (read Why math will rock your world?), is crucial for a way of thinking.
By the way, did you know that NRN Murthy & Infosys have this in-house dictum -- In God we trust, rest all bring data to the table?