Transcript Slide 1

Girls and Maths
Tom Garner
Aims of Session:
• To help you identify girls who will potentially underachieve from your
data;
• To understand the key issues affecting the progress of these girls;
• To outline an overview of possible proactive intervention strategies;
• To investigate girl friendly teaching strategies and approaches;
• To provide a range of resources, activities and ideas to take back and use in
school.
Background:
• Involvement in a Local Authority working party in 2008-10;
• Action Research project in School;
• Dissemination of research findings to Head Teachers in 2011;
• Primary Maths Specialist Teacher training – 2008-2010;
• Masters Degree – Girls and Maths focus for dissertation – 2010 – 2012;
• Leading intervention programmes – 2011-12;
• Overseeing intervention programmes – 2012 to date.
Background: The data
In 2007-2008 the issue of girls underachieving in Maths became
an issue for National Strategies.
So, what did they do about this?
Background: The data
There was a serious lack of research into this issue.
Whilst there has been more research since then…
In 2008 this search returned just 2,000,000 results.
Table 2: Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above and level 5 or above in
key stage 2 tests and teacher assessments by gender
Percentage of pupils at level 4 or above (Test)
Mathematics
Boys
2007
2008
2009
20106
20117
20127
2013
78
79
79
79
80
84
85
Girls
2007
2008
2009
20106
20117
20127
2013
76
78
78
79
80
84
85
Source: gov.uk statistics website
Table 2: Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above and level 5 or above in
key stage 2 tests and teacher assessments by gender
Percentage of pupils at level 5 or above (Test)
Mathematics
Boys
2007
2008
2009
20106
20117
20127
2013
35
35
37
36
37
42
43
Girls
2007
2008
2009
20106
20117
20127
2013
30
28
32
32
33
36
39
Source: gov.uk statistics website
Identifying the Girls
Why is this important?
Focus on more than expected progress – i.e. 3 levels (from KS1
 KS2) – your 2As to 5.
Ofsted’s focus on challenging the more able.
The new focus on ‘secure level 4s’.
Children achieving a level 2A, 3C or above at the end of Key
Stage 1 should be achieving level 5 at the end of Key Stage 2.
Boys are making this progress, girls are not.
Nationally in 2013 there was a 4% difference between boys
and girls achieving level 5.
This gap had varied from between 4% – 6% over the last 7
years, but the gap has not narrowed.
Which children?
Girls
2A in Maths at the end of KS1.
Your Data
Activity 1
Use your tracking data to identify these children in your
class/school.
Which children?
What about the girls who achieved a 3C?
Issues:
How well is your data at the end of KS1 quality
assured/moderated by your SLT?
Are the 3Cs secure level 3s or girls who are really 2A?
Should 3C girls be included or not?
Tracking
These girls need to be tracked carefully throughout Key Stage 2.
You should expect no less than one whole level of progress by
the end of year 4.
3C girls should be monitored and, if no progress has been made
by the end of year 3, intervention should be put in place.
Tracking
Key issues affecting the progress
of (2A) girls
Activity 2
Read through the 14 comments attributed to boys and girls’
attitudes to / feelings about maths.
Decide which fit your impressions of boys and which are more
suited to girls (7 each).
Which comments will have the greatest bearing on girls who feel
that they are not achieving?
Girls
Boys
•Can often use weak, inefficient strategies,
which initially get the correct answer but
which need refining
•Are less likely to keep using time -consuming
strategies for calculations, and will try
alternatives for bigger numbers
•Not confident in taking onboard more
efficient mental strategies
•Will quickly try out a method soon after it has
first been demonstrated
•Like to have methods clearly defined and
explained and to be shown how to use them.
•Are less worried about rules or understanding
– just want to get the correct answer
•
•Pay more attention to detail and are more
unsettled by the unexpected.
•Will ‘have a go’ without worrying about
presentation, consequences and results
•Want to complete what they are being given
to do and need time to think about how they
can respond.
•Aim to reach the end as quickly as possible
even if they have not answered everything on
the way.
•Prefer to follow rules without developing ‘real •Will use a new strategy or just get the answer
wrong
understanding.’
•Are more likely to put mathematical success
•Are often convinced that mathematical
success is down to effort, but failure is through down to ability, but see failure arising through
lack of effort.
lack of ability.
Research shows that girls do well at Key Stage 1 through
using strategies taught to answer questions.
When moving into KS2, boys are happy to use a range of
strategies, including newly taught ones, whilst girls prefer to
use previously taught but now inefficient strategies.
Calculation Strategy
How well do you know the steps in your school’s
calculation policy?
Activity 3
Let’s think about the two operations that often receive less
teaching time: subtraction and division.
On your own or with a partner, write down the teaching
steps for both of these operations.
Calculation Strategy
Be confident with your calculation policy.
Be aware that you may need to go back a step (for
confidence building) as well as looking at moving forwards.
When encountering decimals or larger numbers, for
example, earlier stages of the calculation policy may need
to be revisited to ensure children have the understanding.
Problem Solving
Generally, girls do not do as well at problem solving activities
which are (should be) undertaken regularly in Key Stage 2.
The Teaching Sequence
Review
Teach
Practise
Apply
Evaluate
Leicestershire Maths Team
undertook a major study of girls’ maths attainment
and found that…
Girls enjoy the routine practicing of skills and techniques more
than boys.
However they often get too little opportunity to consolidate
what they know when lessons are dominated by the response
of attention seeking boys.
The quiet hardworking girl is often hidden by her own silence
and desire to please.
Strategies
Do your KS1 staff understand progression in calculation (both
written and mental)?
Children are often taught one strategy rather than a range of
strategies.
The biggest issue…
Confidence
Negative Perceptions
Many girls tend to lack confidence in Mathematics.
Studies have shown that negative perceptions of Mathematics
from mums, and especially female teachers, makes almost no
difference to boys’ but a significant difference to girls’ attitudes
and confidence.
Source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125172940.htm
Proactive Intervention
Strategies
When?
Early identification and intervention is key.
Girls need to be identified at the end of year 2 (from KS1 data)
and intervention put in place in year 3 and continued in year 4.
Action research shows this works.
One cohort achieved expected progress with a number of girls
having moved from a 2A to a 4C by the end of year 4 as a
result.
Why?
In my action research project, intervention starting in year 5
and year 6 made NO difference at all.
Years 5 and 6 are too late to address this issue.
A tried and tested approach…
All girls group (ideal size is 6-8 children).
Once a week – best done outside of normal maths lessons. 20-30 mins.
Teacher or Teaching Assistant, Male or Female.
Two ground rules:
- No question is a silly question
- You can ask the same question as many times as you like (because if
you don’t understand first time it is my fault for having not explained
it correctly, not your fault for not understanding).
Games based approach.
Focus on weekly in class objectives – a second attempt to have a go.
Staff
Who will lead the session is important.
What doesn’t matter:
• Whether it is delivered by a Teacher or Teaching Assistant.
• Whether the Teacher/TA is male or female.
What does matter:
Whoever is delivering the session must have a good subject knowledge
and must show an enjoyment of Maths.
The difficulties
• Not enough staff.
• Support needed in year 6.
• Other interventions take priority.
• There are only 5 days in a working week.
• Etc.
Teachers
Negative attitudes to Maths impact on girls but not boys.
Activity 4
What can we do about this?
Discuss on your tables an come up with a list of strategies.
Teachers
Negative attitudes towards Maths normally exist because of
preconceptions based on past experience.
In other words, teachers who didn’t like or understand Maths at school
will not like teaching it and will spread their negative perceptions.
Changing Perceptions
• Coaching and Mentoring support:
• Pedagogical/Subject Knowledge support;
• Teaching support;
• Planning support:
• How to extend the more able;
• How to support those that don’t understand.
Break
Tea, coffee, juice and biscuits available at
the back of the hall.
Girl Friendly Teaching Strategies
and Approaches
Trying to ‘empathise’ with girls who have negative perceptions of
maths doesn’t work.
What does work:
Giving the same girls the impression that maths is ‘easy’ if we:
Have time to think about it
Have time to discuss it
Have resources to help
Have a variety of approaches, especially for calculation
Can organise our thinking
It is also extremely important to show an enjoyment of maths and
link it to real life.
Girls feel you gain mathematical success through effort, and that
failure in maths is through lack of ability.
Boys feel that mathematical success is down to ability and that
failure comes through lack of effort.
Failure linked in the child’s mind to lack of ability has a greater
negative effect than anything else on further performance.
Therefore failure in mathematics is more likely to impact on a girl’s
future achievement than on a boy’s.
Also…
Girls are adverse to risk
taking, whereas boys are
not!
Strategies
Children will fail if we teach them one and only one method.
They need to be taught a range of strategies from which they
can choose the most appropriate.
Model
Imitate
Apply
Strategies
Activity 5
Let’s sort some sums!
With a partner, work through the calculations on the yellow
sheet in the middle of your table.
DO NOT SOLVE THEM!
For each one identify the most appropriate strategy that should
be used to solve it.
How would you solve it?
(calculation sorting)
There is no right or wrong answer.
The point is…
About stopping and thinking;
Making things easy for yourself;
Using known facts to solve the problem
(by doing as little maths as possible!)
How would you solve it?
(calculation sorting)
•Should be introduced from year 3
•Should be used to develop lateral
thinking about strategies
•Should develop and build on .
previously learned strategies.
Mental Maths Practise Tests
Use as a teaching opportunity to discuss strategies
The most important part is NOT
the testing or the mark achieved,
but the discussion that follows
the test.
Lancashire Project
A project in Lancashire found that overall the most successful strategies
in improving girls’ confidence, engagement and achievement in
mathematics were:
The use of talk partners and thinking time (no hands up);
The development of an ethos in the class dialogue about difficulties and
a ‘team approach’ to overcoming these;
The use of success criteria, learning prompts and working walls;
Giving frequent praise and encouragement;
Maths club aimed at girls.
Lancashire Project
Other key findings were:
80% of girls preferred paired and group work;
Biggest successes were in Schools using BLP;
Plenaries and reviews where time was taken to go over strategies used,
demonstrate, talk and explain were highlighted as a contributory factor;
The use of games also increased enjoyment and achievement in maths;
That marking was an important factor. It revealed that girls respond
better to questioning statements in marking, e.g. Could you explain the
strategy used in question 6? If you know this, what else do you know?
Do you think there is a quicker way of finding your answer? Etc.
Other Findings
Collaborative work
Real life links
Questioning techniques
Speaking and Listening activities
Ofsted
Good Practice report - Findings
Real life application
Teacher subject knowledge
Collaborative work
Single sex maths sets and girls maths clubs
Physical resources
Opportunity to reason
Marking – positive and developmental
Other Considerations
• Groupings/Sets – mixed/single sex.
What does the Sutton Trust Report say about this?
• Grouping your 2A girls together on the same table in the classroom.
Other Considerations
Research has shown that boys dominate the ‘talk’ in Maths. Do they
dominate in your classroom?
Do you (without realising) direct more questions at boys that girls?
Do you choose boys to answer questions more than you choose girls?
Other Considerations
Models and images.
Girl Friendly Classrooms
Activity 6
Working as a group, make a list of all of the things you could do
to make your classrooms more girl friendly in Maths.
Girl Friendly Classrooms
Motivating Girls to Achieve Their
Potential – Four Key Points
Focus on the positives. Girls often favour problem solving – systematic,
organised working – pattern spotting and creating rules.
Organise grouping. Changing mental maths strategy competitions to
paired discussions & time-managed challenges – more time and thought
allowed.
Cross curricular investigations. Making maths relevant and contextual
gives girls a reason to apply their skills.
Guided group work. The format and design of guided group work brings
together all of the above elements in a format that works for all pupils.
Resources, Activities and Ideas
to use in School
Games and Activities
Should these be competitive or
non-competitive?
Games and Activities
Where to start? Areas to focus on:
Times Tables (knowledge and recall)
Place value
Bridging the hundreds barrier
Four operations (mentally or written)
Teaching ideas
Stack ‘em
up games
Multiplication
and Division
3
24
9
30
21
Three
Times Table
Stack ‘em
up
12
15
27
6
18
http://www.fairhaven.ik.org/p_Printable_Maths_Games.ikml
Bing Bong Zong.
• One player is the ‘Odd Person’, the other is the ‘Even Person’.
• Each player says ‘Bing Bong Zong’ then holds out one to five/ten fingers.
• Multiply them. Odd Person scores for an odd total, Even Person scores
for an even total.
Change the game by:
• First person to shout the answer scores the point.
• Play in groups of three or four.
• Add instead of multiply for less able children (or to build confidence).
Addition Pyramids
3
7
5
Tower game - addition
Play in pairs or
individually.
Keep going!
Roll die (0-6 or 0-9) and
record number
Roll die (0-6 or 0-9) and
add number to first
number rolled. Record
total.
Example Booklet:
Games and Practical Activities
Booklet of examples
Add 9 or Halve
Halve evens,
Add 9 to odds.
Roll your 0-9 die and write the number here:
STOP! When you get back to
the number you started with.
Play on your own or in pairs.
Does there need to be a winner?
Monopoly – create your own
version?
Problem Solving
National Strategies Publications:
- Finding all possibilities
- Logic problems and puzzles
- Finding rules and describing patterns
A word of warning!
Generic materials. Need adapting for any kind of use.
Change context/scenario and use with girls.
Liverpool
Problem Solving
Materials
Booklet of examples
Key Messages
• Confidence is crucial;
• Early identification is key;
• Girl only intervention groups;
• Games based approach is essential;
• Don’t empathise – show girls Maths is easy.
All resources used today and links
to websites referred to can be
accessed via our website:
http://www.fairhaven.ik.org/p_Gi
rls_and_Maths.ikml
Please note –
This is a ‘hidden’ page on our website and is not linked to from any
other page.
Before you leave…
• Please complete an evaluation sheet.
• Thank you.
Girls and Maths
Tom Garner
[email protected]