Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
There are so many parts of our education system that separate girls from the pack. Make them feel like they’re not good enough. When it comes to math, specifically, the science backs them up. That’s why we have Leslie Gilbert here today. She is the founder of MathKit, a set of hands-on math games to help families build girls’ confidence and skills. Check out her Kickstarter for MathKit games and help her meet the funding goal by the Friday December 11 deadline, and bring this vision of playful math learning to life!
Want to empower your girl? Teach her math.
Math confidence and skills keep the future open for girls. When they grow up, they will know they can study anything. They can understand statistics and personal finances. They can protect themselves from predatory lenders and question politicians who manipulate data.
Math is still suffering from a gender gap.
A study in Science indicates that girls in elementary school succeed in math at the same level as boys, but have more difficulty later with complex problem-solving.. Though performance is the same, researchers have found important differences in elementary girls’ self-perception. Even when girls are succeeding at the same level as boys, they self-assess as having lower ability. Girls underestimate themselves.
Girls also have higher levels of math anxiety, regardless of performance. A study of 5th-graders also showed that the kids most likely to give up on a difficult math problem are high-achieving girls.
The true goal of math–learning reasoning skills and understanding the number system–can become distorted in elementary school. Kids think that math speed = intelligence. Math becomes a race to the right answer. This is particularly harmful to girls, many of whom are drawn to other learning styles and dislike speed rote memorization.
Put the M back in STEM play at home.
Many popular toys inspire young girls to engage in science, technology, and engineering. A recent article from Forbes calls STEM toys for girls a hot new trend. (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). By all means, let’s get girls playing with robots, doing science experiments, and learning about future careers. A close look at STEM toy lists, however, reveals very few toys that focus on math learning.
Mathematics is foundational, but it is still a difficult subject for parents to support well at home. Many parents are uncomfortable with math, and they justifiably worry that they are going to give that math anxiety to their kids. Other parents simply need help getting started.
To empower girls, play math with them.
I am a college math teacher and the mother of a second grade girl. I want to help families set girls up for success in math by playing games together. Through games, families can teach girls how to embrace and work through mistakes, relax with math, and try harder problems. Math can stop being an intelligence test, with all the associated stress.
We cuddle up with wonderful books to make reading welcoming. Let’s reimagine family math as thoughtful, playful, and social – a safe space for girls to learn.
Let’s teach our girls that they can learn ANYTHING, especially math.
kendallashley0128 reblogged this from beinggeekchickendallashley0128 liked this
totally-turtle liked this
beinggeekchic posted this