Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
The gender gap in STEM majors and careers is very prominent and alarming (Beilock & Maloney, 2015). Students are more likely to avoid STEM careers when they show higher levels of Mathematics...Show moreThe gender gap in STEM majors and careers is very prominent and alarming (Beilock & Maloney, 2015). Students are more likely to avoid STEM careers when they show higher levels of Mathematics Anxiety (MA; Ahmed, 2018). The current study investigates the difference in Mathematics Anxiety between male and female students in their first year of the preacademic educational track (HAVO, atheneum and gymnasium) in secondary school in the Netherlands. The Numerical Dot-Probe Task (NDPT) is a computerized task that is based on attentional bias and less susceptible to bias than self-report questionnaires. (Rubinsten, Eidlin, Wohl, & Akibli, 2015). Related concepts to MA that will be controlled for are; mathematical achievement, general anxiety and working memory. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling, the final sample consisted of seven students. Using the adapted t-test, z-scores of all participants were compared in order to answer the research question (Crawford, Garthwaite, & Wood, 2010). 100% of girls and 20% of boys showed higher levels of MA when looking at their scores on the self-report questionnaires compared to their score on the NDPT. Overall, the girls’ MA score was overestimated and the boys’ MA score was underestimated. However, this effect was not strong enough to result in an overrepresentation of girls and an underrepresentation of boys in the population of children with high levels of MA when looking at the self-report questionnaires. Results suggested that the prominent gender gap in STEM studies might not be due to gender differences in MA. Due to the smaller sample size, it is important that these findings are replicated in future studies using bigger samples. Stereotype threat is a variable that could explain the STEM gender gap and should thus be included in these future studies.Show less
