Math for Girls

Presented by

Dana Zacharko and Melissa Holyfield

In 1992, Mattel Toys put the first talking Barbie doll on the market.

Barbie's first words were, "Math class is tough." Mattel thought they were simply

expressing the feelings of most school-age girls. Many parents and teachers, though,

thought Barbie should keep her mouth shut.

As a result, Barbie stopped talking.

Stereotypes

Smart girls aren’t cute.

Stereotypes

Have High Expectations for Girls

•Avoid rescuing girls. Encourage girls to make an imperfect product, to get dirty, disheveled, and sweaty in pursuit of a goal; to make big, interesting mistakes.

•Encourage risk-taking and problem-solving. Don't be too eager to solve a girl's problems for her. Learning about options and consequences is a necessary and valuable step for all youth on their road to becoming confident and mature adults.

•Expect and advocate for homework that includes complex problem-solving and requires analytic skills beyond simple computations.

•Stress the importance of math and science even if these are not your own strong points. Being positive about math and science and communicating that they are important enhances the chance for girls to seek math and science as attractive learning and career opportunities.

Strategies Note Taking

White Boards

Manipulatives

Cooperative Grouping

Math Games

Integrating Music and Movement

“Alternative” Problem Solving Methods

Students are better off taking notes during class than relying solely on their listening ability because taking notes:

keeps them active and alert.

keeps them focused on what is being discussed in class

provides them with a written record that they can refer to later and use for exam preparation and completing assignments

benefits their learning and retention of new material

Note Taking

White Boards

Use of white boards allows for immediate/informal assessment as well as “workspace” for problems.

Math GamesGames can be used with the girls to promote critical thinking, strategizing, and risk taking.

• 24 Game – multiplication, division, subtraction, and addition

• Go Crazy – multiplication facts

• Greedy – probability game, uses vocabulary

• Elapsed Time board games

• Multiplication Bingo

It’s game time!Hand up, pair up and “go

crazy”!

Manipulatives and Cooperative Grouping

Girls often need and make good use of manipulatives to help take them from concrete to abstract thinking.

Cooperative groups help the girls as they work out problems because the teamwork helps validate their thinking.

Integrating Music and Movement

Through the use of music and movement students are mapping the content into more parts of their brains.

• Multiplication Macarena

• Geometrical Shapes

• Place Value Shuffle

• Polygons (Math Party CD)

•Positive and Negative Numbers Hustle

“Alternative” Methods of Problem Solving

Girls need to understand that there is not always a set way to solve a problem.

• Lattice Method – multiplication

• Partial Products Method – multiplication

• Drawing Pictures/Diagrams – “When in doubt draw it out.”

• Make a chart.

Great math internet sites

• Encouraging girls in math and science (IES Practice Guide) - http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/20072003.pdf

• Study: Girls Like Science and Math - http://www.livescience.com/technology/080307-girls-science.html

• BrainCake http://www.braincake.org

• Girl Power! Campaign homepage - http://www.girlpower.gov/

• Girls Inc. Online - https://www.girlsinc-online.org/members/Welcome.html

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Melissa Holyfield: mlholyfi@volusia.k12.fl.us

Dana Zacharko:

dlzachar@yahoo.com