A Study On The Gender Difference Of Junior Middle School Students’ Mathematics Achievement Based On CEPS Data

Gender differences in mathematics academic achievement are a fundamental aspect of educational inequality,with women feeling inadequate in the four disciplines of science,technology,engineering,and mathematics(hereinafter referred to as STEM).In the long run,people have formed a specific concept of mathematical gender culture,that is,men are better at learning mathematics and science than women.In recent years,more and more surveys have shown that girls’ academic achievements are gradually catching up with and even surpassing those of boys,including the traditional "male advantage" discipline.What is the impact of mathematical gender stereotypes on girls’ mathematical performance? How do girls achieve "overtaking" in math? These are issues worthy of attention under the contemporary educational environment.This study is based on the baseline survey data of the China Education Tracking Survey project from 2013 to 2014.It examines gender differences and possible influencing factors in mathematical performance,and extracts relevant features from student survey questionnaires in three aspects: mathematical gender stereotypes,gender role education expectations,and non cognitive abilities,A decision tree prediction model is constructed based on the standardized scores of first grade and third grade students in the autumn semester of the 2013-2014 academic year in mathematics mid-term exams as the dependent variable.Evaluate the model performance of ID3,C4.5,and CART decision tree algorithms,and conduct research based on the optimal algorithm model CART decision tree structure and its relative importance score of feature variables.The study found that female students’ math performance was significantly higher than that of male students.On the one hand,mathematical gender stereotypes had a positive effect on male students’ math learning,on the contrary,they had a negative impact on female students’ math learning;On the other hand,parents and teachers have higher educational expectations,and girls’ firmer learning willpower and stricter selfdiscipline can help girls overcome the obstacles caused by gender stereotypes in mathematics,and promote girls to catch up with and even lead boys in mathematics learning.Finally,from the three levels of individual,family and community,this paper puts forward feasible suggestions for eliminating mathematical gender stereotypes as far as possible and helping girls threatened by gender stereotypes to overcome obstacles,which has enlightening significance for promoting the development of education equity in China.