Gifted girls in single-sex classes

Boys are more varied than girls regarding skills and achievements; there are more boys than girls in the lower and higher edges of the achievements scale. High ability girls, on the other hand, are more varied than high ability girls regarding their areas of

interest; while girls tend more often to be interested in developing many areas, be more “rounded”. In addition, as has already been shown by Stanley, Benbow, and their colleagues (Benbow, 1988, 1992; Benbow, & Lubinski, 1993; 1996; Benbow, Lubinski, & Hyde, 1997; Benbow, Lubinski, Shea, & Eftekhari-Sanjani, 2000;

Benbow, & Stanely, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1988; Stanely, 1988, 1994; Stanley, &

Benbow, 1986; Stanley, Keating, & Fox, 1974; Stanley, & Stumpf, 1997). Among the mathematically gifted the percentage of boys is much higher than that of girl. This has been the case both in Israel (David, 1997, 2001b) and elsewhere. Thus, the mathematically talented or gifted girl belongs to a small minority in every gifted program (David, 1997, 1999b, 20011b; Landau, 1990).

The difference between the problem of a low rate of female participation in mathematics at a level, which enables them to acquire high prestigious jobs, and the special problem of high ability girls is fundamental. Mixing these two problems had led researchers to false conclusions as to what means should be taken to solve “the problem of females and math/science”. I hereby offer to clarify the distinction between these two problems.

The literature about gifted, talented, or high-ability females reveals substantial gender differences in mathematics starting at pre-adolescence (e.g. Benbow, 1986, 1988, 1992; Benbow & Lubinski, 1993, 1996; Benbow, Lubinski, & Hyde, 1997; Benbow, Lubinski, Shea, & Eftekhari-Sanjani, 2000; Benbow, & Stanely, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1988; Benbow, Stanely, Arjmand, & Walberg, 1991; Benbow, &

Wolins, 1996), that reach their very pick when examining the number of female university staff member in the mathematics department all over the world.

There is a large group of female students, who like to study and get good grades, but nevertheless neither participate enough in high-level math, physics, and computer sciences during high school, nor aspire for a future in these areas.

Cognitive, educational, psychological, and social causes will be examined, along with the class setting: single- versus mixed-sex, in order to answer the question: why?

At the young age of 7-8, when among the general population there are still no gender differences favoring boys in any subjects, gender differences favoring boys in the decision to participate in a special gifted school have been noticed (David, 1997, 1998a). Throughout the years 1974-1997 the percentage of girls rejecting the offer to transfer at the beginning of grade 3 to the special gifted class located at the Graez School in Tel Aviv was always higher than that of the boys. In all these years the

mathematical scores of boys in the psychometric exam required for this school was higher than that of girls (e.g. Cahan & Ganor, 1995; Zorman & David, 2000). As a result these gifted classes has always had a vast majority of boys. Thus it might be possible that gifted girls have rejected the gifted mixed-sex groups, populated mainly by boys, in favor of studying among less talented peers.

While the mixed-sex school aimed forat the gifted Tel Aviv population belonging to the general system has been characterized by a low rate of participation – less than 50, the one day a week gifted program, aimed for the Tel Aviv population that belong to the state religious system has been characterized by a participation rate of over 90% during the last decade of the 20th century (David & Zorman, 1999).

Without discussing the causes for this crucial gap between these two programs, one difference regarding choice curriculum seems to be a main reason for the low dropout rate from the program: girls have a wide choice of subjects starting in grade 5, and they usually place themselves out of mathematics (David, 1999b). Thus, the 5^th-6^th grade math classes for the gifted consist mainly of boys. Girls are not offered gifted girls settings, as was done in the SMPY project more than a quarter of a decade ago (Stanley, Keating, & Fox, 1974). Practically, both groups of girls use the same choice pattern regarding learning high level mathematics: either they do not participate in the program, as in the gifted classes, or they participate in subjects other than mathematics, as in the Wednesday program for the gifted state religious students.

In a single-sex gifted middle-school algebra class girls were found to ask questions much more than in coeducational gifted classes or in single-sex “regular”

classes (Stutler, 1997). While in the boys’ gifted class the boys would start working on their assignments as soon as they got them, the girls tended to ask questions covering all possible aspects of the materials. These questions developed into theoretical discussions, something that was not done before because of fear of being ridiculed or being considered unfeminine by the gifted boys in the class. Unlike in regular girls classes, in this class the girls enjoyed the competition and behaved in a

“non-feminine” way – they were noisy, nonconforming, and “unladylike”. This behavior is in accordance with findings about gifted girls in general (e.g. Landau, 1990, 2000; Zorman & David, 2000). One more result of the teaching of algebra in a girls’ gifted class was the tremendous increase in achievements (Stutler, 1997).

Gifted girls suffer more than their regular peers from the Cinderella syndrome (e.g.

Davis & Rimm, 1985; Kerr, 1995; Lavach & Lanier, 1975; Schwartz, 1991, 1994;

Zorman & David, 2000). Thus, not having to be afraid that academic success will result in a failure as females results in an exceptionally large increase in academic achievements. In addition, girls in the girls’ gifted math class reported a greater overall understanding of math concepts than when in the mixed class.

However, single-sex class per se is not THE answer to the mathematics participation problem of high ability girls. For example: while as has been shown girls mostly prefer cooperative learning, Hernandez Garduno (1997) has found that talented girls did not benefit from cooperative math learning. The findings of Rizza (1999) were similar to those of Hernandez Garduno (1997), while Gavin (1992) obtained similar results among high ability female college students. O’Shea (1998) also found that gifted young women preferred both competition in math and fast-paced math classes.

While most researchers have stressed the importance of cooperative learning for girls (e.g. Dillow, Flack, & Peterman, 1994; Hertz-Lazarowitz, 1994, 1995, 1999; Perrenet & Terwel, 1997; Petersen, 1991; Sell & Kline; 1995; Sharan, 1994; Slavin, 1994; Stevens & Slavin, 1995; Undrwood, Jindal, & Underwood, 1994), it has been found that among high ability students – whether male or female – the preferred style is competitive (Stutler, 1997) and individual (Hernandez Garduno, 1997). Thus, the only main style difference between females and males in learning math and science was found in the female tendency towards profound learning, in the deep wish to understand everything learnt completely, and in the willingness to invest as much time and effort needed for such a high level of understanding until reaching that goal.