| Over many years, a large amount of research data has been collected about the differences between male and female students' performance in mathematics and science. In some studies, the environments to which students are exposed reportedly provide opportunities for them to experience different activities that might become areas of interest. These data indicate that students will repeatedly engage in activities that they perceive as positive, or that they are likely to be rewarded for, and, as a result, may develop skills, improve performance, and experience feelings of empowerment. In spite of these recent studies, girls still experience attitudes in the classroom or at home that dampen their enthusiasm for mathematics and science, despite the changing roles in society. The goal of this research was to examine the responsiveness of five economically disadvantaged, minority female sixth-grade students to mathematics and science in two different settings. The purpose was not to force these students to respond to mathematics and science instruction in the same way as boys do. Rather, the researcher proposed to study how economically disadvantaged, sixth-grade minority female students interpreted and responded to different mathematics and science pedagogical approaches. The participants' interpretation of the teaching practices was used to examine the extent to which these programs promoted a sense of empowerment. The participating students were observed in the regular classroom environment and during after-school mathematics and science club activities. These students experienced a complete hands-on and problem-solving learning environment. How this approach sustained, contributed to, or, possibly, dampened the students' enthusiasm for mathematics and science was examined. The research method used to assess students' enthusiasm in this study was qualitative and comprised of interviews, observation, and document analysis. It was suggested that the curriculum leader in mathematics and science use this study as a pilot to review phenomena in other schools within the district. Additionally, analysis revealed the need to examine the hiring of a diverse group of teachers to ethnically balance the teacher-pupil ratio. Findings suggest that every attempt should be made to strengthen or enhance communication to build better relations between parents, community, and school. Looking seriously at the adoption of a process that will help facilitate communication would be a genuine help to many educators. |
