RES - AnimalWorld: Enhancing High School Women's Mathematical Competence

RES - 动物世界：提高高中女性的数学能力

• 批准号: 0120809
• 负责人: Carole Beal
• 金额: $ 90.03万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-11-01 至 2005-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0120809&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RES; AnimalWorld; Enhancing; Women; Mathematical

Some national assessments show that the gender gap in math achievement has narrowed dramatically in the last decade, and that there has been a significant increase in the number of mathematics courses taken by high school women. However, other data indicate that female students do not confront the critical transition from high school to college with deep, conceptually based mathematical competence that supports entry into STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) careers. Specifically, female students perform much less well than males on complex problem solving, when they must apply novel problem solving approaches, and when they must work under time pressure or transfer skills to problems not previously seen. Other research points to differences in female and male students learning styles; female students require more structured, concrete and repetitive instruction whereas males do equally well with more abstract hints and help, suggesting that they have a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. A related concern is that female students increased math course taking has not translated into a higher number of women in the pipeline towards careers; that is, women are taking additional math but are not planning to utilize it in their careers. The consequences are seen in the continued under-representation of females in STEM majors and careers, and the critical lack of mathematically sophisticated workers in numbers sufficient to meet our nations needs.This project is designed to investigate the factors that contribute to female students shallower mathematical competence, as well as the learning styles that characterize male and female students at the critical transition from high school to college. Our investigations take place in the context of a multimedia, multi-component simulation environment: AnimalWorld. AnimalWorld provides high school women (and men) with 1) an intelligent tutor for high school mathematics (fractions; algebra; geometry; ratios/proportions/decimals; probability) that provides gender adaptive instruction and allows for analysis of male and female learning styles; 2) a virtual mentor component, in which students who are solving math problems in the simulated world can meet real female researchers and experts (through video clips embedded in the simulation) who discuss their training and the importance of math for their careers; 3) a math at your fingertips module in which students periodically rehearse math facts to free cognitive resources for higher-order problem solving, predicting increased math test scores; 4) a module to enhance students spatial cognition through dynamic manipulation of objects in simulated three-dimensional environments, which will allow us to provide a strong test of the hypothesis that females poorer math achievement reflects less well developed spatial cognition; and 5) an SAT-Math preparation module designed to narrow the striking gender gap on this critical achievement test.Our prediction is that female students who work with AnimalWorld will show significant increases in their complex math problem-solving skill, including their SAT-Math exam performance; that gender adaptive instruction will foster greater conceptual understanding in female students; and that virtual mentors will encourage female students to report greater interest in STEM careers. The results will increase our understanding of male and female learning styles, as well as provide new approaches to effective mathematics instruction for all students.

一些国家评估显示，在过去十年中，数学成绩的性别差距大幅缩小，高中女生选修数学课程的数量大幅增加。然而，其他数据表明，女学生没有面对从高中到大学的关键过渡，具有支持进入STEM（科学，技术，工程，数学）职业的深刻的，基于概念的数学能力。具体而言，女生在解决复杂问题方面的表现远不如男生，当她们必须应用新的解决问题的方法时，当她们必须在时间压力下工作或将技能转移到以前没有见过的问题时。其他研究指出，男女学生的学习风格不同;女生需要更有条理、具体和重复的指导，而男生在更抽象的提示和帮助下同样表现良好，这表明他们对数学概念有更深入的理解。一个相关的问题是，女生更多地学习数学课程并没有使更多的妇女走向职业生涯;也就是说，妇女正在学习额外的数学，但不打算在其职业生涯中利用它。其后果是，STEM专业和职业中女性的代表性持续不足，严重缺乏足以满足我们国家需求的数学熟练工作者。本项目旨在调查导致女性学生数学能力较浅的因素，以及从高中到大学的关键过渡阶段男性和女性学生的学习风格。我们的调查是在多媒体、多组件模拟环境：AnimalWorld的背景下进行的。动物世界为高中女生（和男生）提供1）高中数学的智能导师（分数;代数;几何;比率/比例/小数;概率），提供性别适应性教学，并允许分析男性和女性的学习风格; 2）虚拟导师组件，在模拟世界中解决数学问题的学生可以遇到真实的女性研究人员和专家（通过嵌入在模拟中的视频剪辑）谁讨论他们的培训和数学对他们的职业生涯的重要性; 3）一个数学在你的指尖模块，学生定期排练数学事实，以释放认知资源的高阶问题解决，4）通过在模拟三维环境中对物体的动态操作来增强学生空间认知的模块，这将使我们能够对以下假设提供强有力的检验：女性较差的数学成绩反映了发育不好的空间认知; 5）SAT数学准备模块，旨在缩小这一关键成就测试中显著的性别差距。我们的预测是，与AnimalWorld合作的女学生将在解决复杂数学问题的技能方面表现出显着的增长，包括他们的SAT数学考试成绩;性别适应性教学将促进女学生更好的概念理解;虚拟导师将鼓励女学生报告对STEM职业更感兴趣。研究结果将增加我们对男性和女性学习风格的理解，并为所有学生提供有效的数学教学新方法。