ED372946 SE054399
Title: Single-Sex Mathematics Classes in a Co-Educational Setting:
A Case Study.
Author(s): Leder, Gilah C.; Forgasz, Helen J.
Pages: 32
Publication Date: April 1994
Notes: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational
Research Association (New Orleans, LA, April 4-8, 1994).
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC02 Plus Postage.
Language: English
Document Type: Reports--Research (143); Speeches/meeting papers (150)
Geographic Source: Australia; Victoria
Journal Announcement: RIEDEC1994
Gender differences
in mathematics learning continue to attract much research attention.
Single-sex settings as the preferred option for improving schooling
for girls have evoked fierce advocates as well as critics. This
case study, undertaken in response to a specific request from a
co-educational state school in the outer area of Melbourne, Australia,
and with its maximum cooperation, examined both the shorter and
longer term effects on students' attitudes and performance in mathematics
of the introduction of single-sex mathematics classes at the grade
10 level. Important dimensions of the study included surveying students
in as well as out of the program, seeking the reactions of parents
to this initiative, and the opportunity to assess the effect of
the introduction of such classes at grade 10 instead of at lower
grades (7
and 8), where such interventions have more typically been tried.
Results include: (1) Both female students and mothers were more
favorably inclined towards the single-sex mathematics program than
were their male counterparts; (2) Performance levels for males and
females were not significantly different throughout the project
year; and (3) Anticipated and actual subject choices for grade 11
were no different for males and females; however, anticipated subject
choices for grade 12 showed more differences between males and females
than past state average statistics. Contains 10 references. (Author/MKR)
Descriptors: Case Studies; *Coeducation; Foreign Countries; Grade
10; *High School Students; High Schools; Mathematics Achievement;
*Mathematics Instruction; *Parent Attitudes; *Sex Differences; *Student
Attitudes; Surveys
Identifiers: Australia (Melbourne); *Single Sex Classes
