When girls just aren't interested in science, parents can't do much to motivate them to become interested in science.

Articles  Girls' and Boys' Developing Interests in Math and Science: Do Parents Matter?  Encouraging Girls to Pursue Math and Science  The Links Between Parent Behaviors and Boys’ and Girls’ Science Achievement Beliefs  Encouraging Girls to Enter Engineering

Girls' and Boys' Developing Interests in Math and Science: Do Parents Matter? By: Janis Jacobs and Martha Bleeker

What are the research methods utilized?  Beginning in 1983, children, parents, and teachers were recruited through ten elementary schools in Detroit. The children were followed through the rest of grade school, middle school, and high school. Each spring, children and parents completed questionnaires in their classrooms in the participating schools.  The values measured were: Science and math related items purchased, parents’ math and science activities with children, parents’ math modeling, parents’ perceptions of child’s math ability, parents’ math value, children’s science and math activities, and children’s math interest.

Conclusions of the study  Mothers were more likely to buy science and math items for their sons rather than daughters.  Both mothers and fathers were more likely to spend more time with their daughter’s science and math programs. The cause of this might be due to the fact that parents think the daughter needs more help in this subject.  This study showed that if parents promote more math and science related behavior, then the child would become more interested in math and science (regardless of gender).

Limitations  This study was only done in the Detroit area (not exactly the greatest representation of the American culture, at least in my opinion).  The study didn’t follow the kids into college or their career endeavors. I think that would have produced good results in the study.

Connection to our myth  This article connects to our myth because it talks about parents’ influence on their children’s interest in math and science.  This article disagrees with the myth. Parents can influence a girl’s view on math and science. This article is on the same perspective as the Live Science article.

Source  Jacobs, Janis E., and Martha M. Bleeker. "Girls' and boys' developing interests in math and science: Do parents matter?." New Directions for Child & Adolescent Development (2004): Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 Oct

Encouraging Girls to Pursue Math and Science By: Tracy A. Huebener

What are the research methods utilized?  There are a few research methods utilized in this article. Mainly, the author seems to get most of the information from excerpts from books written by experts on the subject of education. Scholarly articles and journals are also used by the author of this article.

What were the conclusions of the research study?  The article’s main point is that although the gap between girls and boys concerning math and science has basically been eliminated, girls are still not pursuing careers in those fields. The article then goes on to give a few examples on how to improve girls’ interest.

What are the limitations of this research?  The main limitation of this research is the fact that it doesn’t use many statistics. The article gives a few examples of how to motivate young students, but it never gives evidence that these methods actually work.

How is this article connected to your myth? Does it support/refute your myth? Does it support/refute the LiveScience article?  The article is connected with the myth because it is showing different ways that adults can encourage students to enjoy school.  It disagrees with the myth because the myth states that nothing can be done to change girls’ minds about math and science, while this article gives a few different approaches that can be taken to change a child’s (both boys and girls) mindset about education.

Source  Huebner, Tracey A. "Encouraging Girls to Pursue Math and Science." Educational Leadership 67.1 (2009): Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 Oct

The Links Between Parent Behaviors and Boys’ and Girls’ Science Achievement Beliefs By: Ruchi T. Bhanot and Jasna Jovanovic

Research Methods  Analyzed the links between parental involvement in children’s science schoolwork, how it varies for boys and girls, and how these behaviors relate to children’s science achievement beliefs.  Data were gathered over a span of a school year from 114 middle-school students (50% girls, 81% Europe American) and their parents (mothers: n =103, fathers: n = 90)

Research Methods (cont.)  Used a survey to determine parents perceptions which asked questions such as ‘‘How much talent does your child have in science?’’ and ‘‘How good is your child in science?’’. Used a Likert response scale to determine parental involvement.  Used a survey to determine children’s perceptions on his or her science ability. Asked questions such as ‘‘How useful do you think science will be for what you do after you finish school?’’

Conclusions of Study  Boys at the end of the school year were more confident in their science abilities than girls.  Parents of boys tended to overestimate their child’s science ability than did parents’ of girls.  Parents of boys believed that their child liked science more than did parents of girls.

Conclusion of Study (cont.)  Girls valued science more when their mother or father also believed science was important for their daughter.  Boys’ task-value beliefs about science appeared to be disconnected to how much parents’ believed their son valued science.  Girls were more interested in science when the parents were involved in their science schoolwork and believed that science is important.

Connections to Myth  The myth that states “When girls just aren't interested in science, parents can't do much to motivate them to become interested in science,” has been found false in the research conducted by Bhanot and Jovanovic. If parents just decide to be involved in their daughter’s schoolwork, then the daughter will become more interested in science and hold science at a higher value. Parents should not just focus on their daughters though, the sons also need support.

Source  Bhanot, Ruchi T., and Jasna Jovanovic. "The Links Between Parent Behaviors and Boys' and Girls' Science Achievement Beliefs." Applied Developmental Science 13.1 (2009): Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 22 Oct. 2010

Encouraging Girls to Enter Engineering By Victoria Burt

What are the research methods utilized?  In order to encourage girls to be interested in engineering, companies supported a Girl Day in which many different colleges and companies, such as Exxon Mobile, brought in middle school and high school girls to teach them about engineering and spark their interest in it.

What were the conclusions of the research study?  By providing girls with information on engineering, more of them are likely to look into it as a career, than had they not been informed and encouraged to look into it.

What are the limitations of this research?  Limitations would be that only girls near where these programs are being held would know about them.

How is this article connected to your myth?  This article is connected to my myth because it shows that girls can be encouraged to become interested in a certain subject, in this case engineering, if they are just shown it in an interesting light, such as hands on experience.

Does it support/refute your myth?  This refutes my myth because it shows that if parents find different ways of showing their daughter information on science and science related fields, other than force feeding it to them, they can become interested in it.

Does it support/refute the LiveScience article?  This article supports the LiveScience article because they both discuss how providing girls with the information on science and/or engineering related careers and supporting them, helps increase their interest in it.

Source  Burt, Victoria. (2008). Encouraging Girls to Enter Engineering. Machine Design, 80(3), 40. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Connections  Gladwell- Emphasizes opportunities lead to success, parents can give these opportunities.  Dweck- Girls with a fixed mindset in science can be sway to have a more growth mindset

Fact or Myth? MYTH