A comparison of performance and attitudes in mathematics amongst the ‘gifted’. Are boys better at mathematics or do they just think they are?

This paper explores gender differential performance in ‘gifted and talented’ 9‐ and 13‐year‐olds in a mathematics assessment in England. Boys’ and girls’ attitudes to mathematics and their views about which gender is better at mathematics are also considered. The study employs the use of a matched sample of boys and girls so that school, age and previous achievement in mathematics can be controlled whilst exploring performance on World Class Test items. The main result of this research was that there was no significant gender difference in performance for the 9‐ or the 13‐year‐olds. However, attitudinal differences were found, including a seemingly commonly held stereotypical view of mathematics as a boys’ subject. These results are important since the uptake of higher level mathematically‐based courses by girls is poor. Further findings reveal that where ‘gifted’ girls perform as well as ‘gifted’ boys, their confidence in the subject is lower than their performance might suggest. This work is also discussed in the light of related research findings and in relation to stereotype threat theory.     

Sex Differences in Science and Technology Among 11‐year‐old Schoolchildren: II‐‐affective

Two thousand and sixty‐five 11‐year‐olds in their first term at secondary school were given a variety of attitude and achievement tests. Overall both girls and boys had positive attitudes to science but there were substantial sex differences‐‐boys were much keener than girls to learn about physical science, and girls were keener than boys to learn about nature study and human biology. Boys had much greater experience than girls of tinkering activities, but girls had more experience of biological science activities. Boys were much more likely than girls to see science as a masculine preserve. At this age attitudes to science were virtually unrelated to achievement in science‐ and technology‐related areas. One important exception to this is that girls who saw science as masculine tended to perform worse on the cognitive tests.     

Challenging Gender Stereotypes: Resistance and Exclusion

The likelihood of resisting gender‐stereotypic peer group norms, along with expectations about personal resistance, was investigated in 9‐ to 10‐year‐olds and 13‐ to 14‐year‐olds (N = 292). Participants were told about a stereotype conforming group (boys playing football; girls doing ballet) and a stereotype nonconforming group (boys doing ballet; girls playing football). Contrary to expectations from gender‐stereotyping research, participants stated that they would personally resist gender‐stereotypic norms, and more so than they would expect their peers to resist. However, expecting peers to resist declined with age. Participants expected that exclusion from the group was a consequence for challenging the peer group, and understood the asymmetrical status of gender stereotypes with an expectation that it would be more difficult for boys to challenge stereotypes than for girls.     

Children's Judgments and Reasoning About Same‐Sex Romantic Relationships

Children's (5‐, 7‐ to 8‐, and 10‐ to 11‐year‐olds), and adolescents’ (13‐ to 14‐year‐olds) judgments and reasoning about same‐sex romantic relationships were examined (N = 128). Participants’ beliefs about the acceptability and legal regulation of these relationships were assessed, along with their judgments and beliefs about excluding someone because of his or her sexual orientation and the origins of same‐sex attraction. Older participants evaluated same‐sex romantic relationships more positively and used more references to personal choice and justice/discrimination reasoning to support their judgments. Younger participants were less critical of a law prohibiting same‐sex relationships and were more likely to believe it was not acceptable to violate this law. Beliefs about origins of same‐sex attraction showed age‐specific patterns in their associations with evaluations.     

Silent Films and Strange Stories: Theory of Mind,Gender, and Social Experiences in Middle Childhood

In this study of two hundred and thirty 8‐ to 13‐year‐olds, a new “Silent Films” task is introduced, designed to address the dearth of research on theory of mind in older children by providing a film‐based analogue of F. G. E. Happé's (1994) Strange Stories task. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that all items from both tasks loaded onto a single theory‐of‐mind latent factor. With effects of verbal ability and family affluence controlled, theory‐of‐mind latent factor scores increased significantly with age, indicating that mentalizing skills continue to develop through middle childhood. Girls outperformed boys on the theory‐of‐mind latent factor, and the correlates of individual differences in theory of mind were gender specific: Low scores were related to loneliness in girls and to peer rejection in boys.     

Changes in Intelligence Over a Quarter of a Century

The purpose of the investigation is to study changes in intelligence among Swedish 13 year‐olds during a 25‐year period. The results show that the average of spatial and reasoning intelligence has successively risen. Concerning verbal intelligence, there is a clear increase during the 1960's. After this period the growth has been more irregular. No changes in the differences between social groups were observed. On the other hand, this was the case between boys and girls. In verbal ability, there were only small differences between the sexes in 1961. However, in 1985 the girls were clearly ahead of the boys. In spatial and reasoning ability, the boys were superior in the early 1960's. Twenty‐five years later this difference had almost disappeared.     

Girls negotiating sexuality and violence in the primary school

Girls’ vulnerability to sexual violence and harassment is a recurrent theme in much of the literature on schooling in sub‐Saharan Africa. Within this research, girls are often framed as passive victims of violence. By drawing on a case study, this paper focuses on 12 to 13‐year‐old South African school girls as they mediate and participate in heterosexual cultures that are simultaneously privileging and damaging. Set against the wider social context where violent gender relations are key to the building blocks of patriarchy, the paper examines how heterosexuality underscores the formation of femininity as girls engage with and participate with each other and boys in informal school relations. To this end, Butler's concept of the ‘heterosexual matrix’ is deployed to examine how girls navigate the wall of male power, where the ‘real’ expression of femininity is embedded within heterosexuality. The paper explores girls’ investment in heterosexual cultures in the school playground and on ‘dress‐up Friday’ to examine how gender power inequalities and violent relations manifest. In expanding the analysis of heterosexuality to primary school contexts, the paper broadens the focus of school‐based gender and sexualities research in sub‐Saharan Africa to address a neglected area of younger girls’ femininity and their active agency. The paper argues for the importance of addressing primary school girls, femininity and the power of heterosexuality through which relations of inequalities operate.     

Parochial Compliance: Young Children's Biased Consideration of Authorities’ Preferences Regarding Intergroup Interactions

Prosocial behavior is arguably influenced by an interaction between intrinsic dispositions (e.g., group bias) and extrinsic factors (e.g., institutional regulations). The current study investigated this interaction developmentally. Preschoolers (3‐ to 4‐year‐olds) and kindergarteners (5‐ to 6‐year‐olds; N = 111) participated in a resource distribution task in which they had to consider both the recipients’ group membership (minimal color‐based groups), and their own teachers’ preferences regarding how to distribute (give “all” or “none”). The results revealed that only kindergarteners were influenced by the experimental factors and differently across genders. Specifically, when the recommendation was to give “none,” girls followed it indiscriminately toward in‐ and out‐group recipients, but boys did so only toward out‐group recipients. Thus, boys exploited an authority's legitimization to act antisocially, according to a parochial bias.     

The Development of Occupational Sex‐role Stereotypes,Occupational Preferences and Academic Subject Preferences in Children at Ages 8, 12 and 16

This paper reports data from a questionnaire‐based UK study aimed at examining occupational sex‐role stereotypes and occupational preferences of male and female pupils at three ages. Data were collected from 594 children in total (108 8‐year‐olds, 307 12‐year‐olds and 177 16‐year‐olds) who responded to questions that asked for their views on who (males, females or both) should perform certain occupations and how much they would like to have each of the occupations as their career. The children were also asked to indicate their favourite school subject. Analysis indicated that the youngest age group held significantly more stereotyped views regarding who should perform certain jobs than the older children and that, generally, boys sex‐typed appropriateness of occupations to a significantly greater degree than girls, although this difference was not significant in the youngest age group. Furthermore, analysis of the occupational preference ratings revealed significant differences between male and female subjects for many occupations, with higher ratings generally being awarded to stereo‐typically gender‐appropriate careers. Significant differences between the three age groups were also observed in the preference ratings for many occupations, with a tendency for the majority of occupations to be perceived less favourably with increasing age of respondent. Finally, school subject preferences were considered. No consistent or stable pattern of preference emerged for males and females across age‐groups, confirming recent suggestions that gender stereotyping of school subjects is weakening.     

Research report

The primary purpose was to investigate the efficacy of a full year of single‐sex (SS) teaching of science. The secondary aims were to locate any differentiation by set and gender, and to relate these to more proximal variables. Participants were 13 year olds. Higher set girls gave evidence of clear benefits overall, and higher set boys also, except in biology. Lower set pupils performed at or below expectations. Analyses of additional questionnaire and interview data pointed to further reasons for avoiding the making of unqualified generalizations about SS teaching. Pupil preferences for SS teaching were relevant, as were gender differences in attitudes to biology and physics. Qualitative data suggested higher set girls benefited from more learningrelated classroom interaction and less interference and exploitation of girls by boys in SS classes. Lower set pupils complained that SS teaching deprived them of social interaction with the other sex. The concluding suggestion was that SS teaching offers affordances of benefits when mixed‐sex teaching has specifiable disadvantages.     

Back to basics: how young mothers learn about sex and sexuality

Adolescent pregnancy continues to be a major concern for policy-makers, programme developers, helping professionals and society generally in the USA, especially in light of the US federal government's legislative emphasis on abstinence-only sex education until recently. Studies have found that abstinence-only programmes do not succeed in preventing young people from becoming sexually active or pregnant; most young people have sexual intercourse in their teenage years long before they even contemplate marriage. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how 32 teenage mothers learned about sex and their related views about pregnancy and birth control. Findings indicate that they have often received little accurate information about sex from their parents and schools. Findings also reveal their widely varying views about birth control and pregnancy. Overall, the findings support the need for comprehensive sexuality education that addresses the topics covered in this study in an age-appropriate manner. The findings also suggest ways that helping professionals in other settings besides schools can help young people address these issues.     

Using collaborative technology to enhance pre-service teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge in Science

Groups of 11‐year‐olds in their first term at secondary school were given three cognitive tests. Girls and boys were found to be approximately equal in science knowledge. Boys did slightly better on tests of physical science, especially when these were in multiple choice form, but otherwise there were few sex differences. Neither the style of the question (multiple choice or structured) nor the content (feminine or masculine) had any great effect on sex differences in performance. However, boys performed markedly better than girls on tests of spatial ability and mechanical reasoning. These skills may be important for later success in technical studies at school.     

CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND BEHAVIOUR ACROSS FIVE YEARS OF BROADCAST TELEVISION: A NATURALISTIC STUDY IN A REMOTE COMMUNITY

3‐ to 8‐year‐olds’ free‐play behaviour was video‐recorded in two playgrounds before broadcast TV's availability in the South Atlantic island of St. Helena. Similar aged children's behaviour in the same playgrounds was recorded five years after television's arrival. Recorded behaviours were then coded for pro‐social and anti‐social acts. Out of sixty‐four pre‐lpost‐TV comparisons only nine significant shifts were found. Five revealed decreases in pro‐social behaviour (boys and girls), two showed increases in pro‐social behaviour (boys only), and the remaining two showed decreases in anti‐social behaviour (for boys only). In the discussion, particular environmental factors are highlighted which may help determine whether learned aggression (from TV and elsewhere) is enacted.     

Teenage social behaviour and emotional well‐being: the role of gender and socio‐economic factors

This article draws on the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to examine parent ratings of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and prosocial behaviour in pre‐ and mid‐adolescents. A series of mixed‐design ANOVAs yielded interesting results. Parent ratings of emotional difficulties in girls increased as they moved from pre‐ to mid‐adolescence whereas for boys the reverse was found. Peer problems were found to be on the rise, whereas prosocial skills decreased for 14‐year‐olds. Most importantly, significant associations were found between socio‐economic measures (that is, family income and parent education) and ratings across the domains of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, highlighting the socio‐economic specificity of behaviour and well‐being in adolescents. These findings have significant implications for understanding trends in young people's social behaviour and emotional well‐being from pre‐ to mid‐adolescence within their socio‐economic context.     

Gendering processes in the field of physical education

In Finnish secondary schools, girls and boys are taught physical education (PE) in separate groups. A male teacher normally teaches the boys and a female teacher teaches the girls. Focusing on PE teachers’ comments in two different ethnographic studies of seventh graders (13–14‐year‐olds), we examine the processes that reproduce or challenge the gender system and the possibilities of agency in the context of PE. Our findings suggest that the bodies of male students are regarded as strong and are, therefore, appreciated by both female and male teachers. Moreover, male teachers’ competence in PE is evaluated higher than that of the female teachers. None of the teachers questioned the male teachers’ ability to teach girls, however, heteronormativity arose as an issue. There were more doubts over female teachers’ competence to teach boys.     

Teachers' views of teenage sexual morality

This paper examines the discourses of morality drawn on by secondary school teachers in England to describe their attitudes to pupils' developing sexual identities. Although teachers recognized their own formative role in the sexual socialization of pupils and identified homophobic attitudes among boys, they were ambivalent about how far they could intervene in homophobic bulling in school. However, they failed even to recognize the widespread misogynistic bullying of girls by boys as a problem. Teachers expressed anxieties about girls' ownership of sexual knowledge and sexual agency while perceiving boys to be sexually immature and less ‘responsible’. We explore possible reasons for teachers' neglect of misogynistic bullying and their labelling of girls as sexually precocious. We argue that the discourses shaping teachers' attitudes to sexual morality and sex education were largely embedded in a form of liberal individualism that impeded them from confronting the structurally reproduced relations of gender domination.     

Bullying in Mixed Sex Groups of Children

A sample of 192 8‐ to 10‐year‐old children were asked in individual interviews to say which classmates bully other pupils and who they selected as victims. They were provided with a well‐known definition of bullying devised by Olweus. Test‐retest reliability of bully nominations was shown to be good. The data were analysed to reveal the number of male and female victims of male and female children viewed by their peers as bullies. Consistent with previous research, many boys were shown to bully an appreciable number of girls and boys, but they selected significantly more same‐sex than other‐sex victims. However, our finding that there was not a significant difference in the number of same‐sex and other‐sex children selected as victims by girls was not consistent with the results of earlier studies. Thus, more boys may be bullied by girls than has been suggested by the extant literature.     

Verbal abuse in school. Constructions of gender among 14‐ to 15‐year‐olds

Verbal abuse has been identified as a common element in the life of children in school. This paper explores how this discursive practice is used in the construction of masculinities and femininities among children aged 14–15 through observations and interviews in classes in two schools in Stockholm. Verbal abuse, often with sexual content, contributed to ‘toughness’, a central component of hegemonic masculinity in the schools. Popular, tough boys generated most of the verbal abuse, but were not necessarily regarded as verbally abusive; rather, responsibility for the bulk of verbal abuse was attributed to ‘rowdy’ boys. Girls’ verbal abuse was not similarly advantageous for their femininity; instead, both through being verbally abusive and being the target of abuse, girls risked being positioned negatively. It appears that verbal abuse in school simultaneously orders masculinities and femininities, and structures heterosexual relations between the genders.     

Shadows: Young Taiwanese children’s views and understanding

The purpose of this study was to examine young children’s views about shadows. Young children hear references to or are involved in many scientific experiences in their everyday lives, and shadows are a part of children’s everyday experiences. Young children may have constructed their knowledge about shadows through their daily experiences. Therefore, a total of 32 children, of which one‐half were four years old and one‐half were five years old, were individually interviewed twice to elicit their views and understanding of shadows. Data were collected by a mixture of picture‐pointing, verbal explanation, and manipulation, and were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. We focused on five facets of children’s ideas about shadows: ideas about the source of light, shadow orientation, shadow shape, shadow size, and shadow intensity. The five year olds performed significantly better on production of shadows, production of shadow shape, and production of shadow size, and also gave more reasonable explanations for their choices than did the four year olds, showing a better understanding of the concept of shadows. Another significant finding of the study was that young children have a much more sophisticated understanding of shadows than Piaget originally suggested and than their verbal explanations imply.     

Unraveling the Slut Narrative: Gender Constraints on Adolescent Girls' Sexual Decision-Making

Limited research exists on the slut labeling process, a key means of enforcing rules around appropriate female sexuality. This study explores that process through qualitative interviews with 44 adolescent girls in Travis County, Texas. Labeling girls as sluts or hos was pervasive and was based on a number of factors beyond sexual behavior, including dress, friendships with boys, or jealousy from other girls. Responses depicted a narrow space in which girls functioned, bound at one end by limited agency and at the other by pervasive vulnerability. There was consensus about the negative consequences of being labeled. Most girls held mixed opinions about the slut labeling process: this may reflect their attempts to push back against a system that entraps them. These findings suggest that prevention and sex education programs must explicitly address slut labeling as well as other gender narratives that impede healthy sexual development.