Abstract
In English-speaking, Western countries, mathematics has traditionally been viewed as a “male domain”, a discipline more suited to males than to females. Recent data from Australian and American students who had been administered two instruments (Leder and Forgasz 2002) tapping their beliefs about the gendering of mathematics appeared to challenge this traditional, gender-stereotyped view of the discipline. The two instruments were translated into Hebrew and Arabic and administered to large samples of grade 9 students attending Jewish and Arab schools in northern Israel. The aims of this study were to determine if the views of these two culturally different groups of students differed and whether within group gender differences were apparent. The quantitative data alone could not provide explanations for any differences found. However, in conjunction with other sociological data on the differences between the two groups in Israeli society more generally, possible explanations for any differences found were explored. The findings for the Jewish Israeli students were generally consistent with prevailing Western gendered views on mathematics; the Arab Israeli students held different views that appeared to parallel cultural beliefs and the realities of life for this cultural group.
This chapter is a reprint of an article published in ZDM—The International Journal on Mathematics Education (2008) 40(4), 545–558. DOI 10.1007/s11858-008-0139-3.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
PISA: Program for International Student Achievement.
- 2.
TIMSS: Trends in Mathematics and Science Study.
- 3.
It should be pointed out that the Australian data were gathered in metropolitan Melbourne. Participating students were drawn from the three sectors of education—government, Catholic, and Independent (private)—and represented Australia’s extensive ethnic and multicultural profile.
References
Australian Council for Educational Research [ACER] (2007). Mathematical Literacy in PISA 2006. Retrieved on 17 December 2007 from: http://www.acer.edu.au/ozpisa/kf_maths.html.
Andre, T., Whigham, M., Hendrickson, A., & Chambers, S. (1999). Competency beliefs, positive affect, and gender stereotypes of elementary students and their parents about science versus other school subjects. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36, 719–747. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2736(199908)36:6<719::AID-TEA8>3.0.CO;2-R.
Ayalon, H. (2002). Mathematics and science course taking among Arab students in Israel: A case of unexpected gender equality. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(1), 63–80. doi:10.3102/01623737024001063.
Haidar, A. (Ed.) (2005). Arab society in Israel: Population, society and economics (1). Tel-Aviv: Van Leer Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House (in Hebrew).
Barkatsas, A. N., Forgasz, H. J., & Leder, G. C. (2002). The stereotyping of mathematics: Gender and cultural factors. Themes in Education, 3(2), 91–216.
Birenbaum, M., & Nasser, F. (2006). Ethnic and gender differences in mathematics achievement and in dispositions towards the study of mathematics. Learning and Instruction, 16, 26–40. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2005.12.004.
Brandell, G., Nyström, P., & Sundqvist, C. (2004). Mathematics—a male domain? Retrieved 9 April 2008 from http://www.mai.liu.se/SMDF/madif5/papers/Brandell.pdf.
Central Bureau of Statistics. Israel (2007). Israel in figures. 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2008 from http://www1.cbs.gov.il/www/publications/isr_in_n07e.pdf.
Cooper, B., & Dunne, M. (2000). Assessing children’s mathematical knowledge. Social class, sex and problem solving. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Fennema, E. (1974). Mathematics learning and the sexes: A review. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 5, 126–139. doi:10.2307/748949.
Fennema, E., & Sherman, J. (1976). Fennema–Sherman mathematics attitude scales. JSAS: Catalog of selected documents in psychology, 6(1), 31 (Ms. No. 1225).
Fogel-Bizau, S. (2003). ‘The second earner’ in the era of globalization: Women in the Israeli labor market (in Hebrew). Society, 8. Accessed 28 December 2006 from http://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=8060.
Forgasz, H. J. (2001). Mathematics: Still a male domain? Australian findings. Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Education Research Association [AERA] as part of the symposium, Mathematics: Still a male domain? Seattle, USA, 10–14 April. [ERIC document: ED452071. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/16/f7/16.pdf].
Forgasz, H. J. (2006a). Australian year 12 mathematics enrolments: Patterns and trends—Past and present. International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics. http://www.ice-em.org.au/pdfs/Mathematics_Enrolments.pdf. Accessed 28 December 2006.
Forgasz, H. J. (2006b). Australian year 12 “Intermediate” level mathematics enrolments 2000–2004: Trends and patterns. In P. Grootenboer, R. Zevenbergen & M. Chinnappan (Eds.), Identities cultures and learning spaces. Proceedings of the 29th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (Vol. 1, pp. 211–220). Adelaide: MERGA.
Forgasz, H. J., & Leder, G. C. (1996). Mathematics and English: Stereotyped domains? Focus on Learning Problems in Mathematics, 18(1, 2 & 3), 129–137.
Forgasz, H. J., Leder, G. C., & Gardner, P. (1999). The Fennema–Sherman Mathematics as a male domain scale reexamined. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 30, 342–348. doi:10.2307/749839.
Forgasz, H. J., Leder, G. C., & Kloosterman, P. (2004). New perspectives on the gender stereotyping of mathematics. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 6(4), 389–420. doi:10.1207/s15327833mtl0604_2.
Kashti, O. (2007, 28 November). Wide gaps between test scores in Jewish, Arab schools. Haaretz.
Greene, B. A., DeBacker, T. K., Ravindran, B., & Krows, A. J. (1999). Goals, values, and beliefs as predictors of achievement and effort in high school mathematics classes. Sex Roles, 40, 421–458. doi:10.1023/A:1018871610174.
Kimball, M. M. (1989). A new perspective on women’s math achievement. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 198–214. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.105.2.198.
Lavy, V. (1998). Disparities between Arabs and Jews in school resources and student achievement in Israel. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 47(1), 174–192. doi:10.1086/452391.
Leder, G. C., & Forgasz, H. J. (2002). Two new instruments to probe attitudes about gender and mathematics. ERIC, Resources in Education (RIE). [ERIC document number: ED463312].
Leder, G. C., Forgasz, H. J., & Solar, C. (1996). Research and intervention programs in mathematics education: A gendered issue. In A. Bishop, K. Clements, C. Keitel, J. Kilpatrick, & C. Laborde (Eds.), International handbook of mathematics education, Part 2 (pp. 945–985). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.
Meyer, M. R., & Koehler, M. S. (1993). Internal influences on gender differences in mathematics. In E. Fennema & G. C. Leder (Eds.), Mathematics and gender (pp. 60–95). Lucia: St Queensland University Press.
Ministry of Education. Israel (2007). Matriculation examination data 2006 (translation). Retrieved on 8 November 2007 from http://www.education.gov.il/netuney_bchinot/.
Mittelberg, D., & Lev-Ari, L. (1999). Confidence in mathematics and its consequences: Gender differences among Israeli Jewish and Arab youth. Gender and Education, 11(1), 75–92. doi:10.1080/09540259920771.
Mullis, I. V. S., Martin, M. O., Gonzalez, E. J., & Chrostowski, S. J. (2004). Findings from IEA’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study at the fourth and eighth grades. Chestnut Hill: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, Boston College.
Nasser, F., & Birenbaum, M. (2005). Modeling mathematics achievement of Jewish and Arab eighth graders in Israel: The effects of learner-related variables. Educational Research and Evaluation, 11(3), 277–302. doi:10.1080/13803610500101108.
OECD (nd). First results from PISA 2003. Executive summary. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/63/34002454.pdf. Accessed 12 December 2006.
OECD (2007). PISA 2006 science competencies for tomorrow’s world. Vol. 1: Analysis. Paris: OECD.
Reyes, L. H. (1984). Affective variables and mathematics education. Elementary School Journal, 84, 558–581. doi:10.1086/461384.
Tiedemann, J. (2000). Parents’ gender stereotypes and teachers’ beliefs as predictors of children’s concept of their mathematical ability in elementary school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 308–315. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.92.1.144.
Zohar, A. (2005). Boys’ and girls’ learning in mathematics and the sciences. Unpublished internal report, Department of Gender Equality, Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Israel.
Zuzovsky, R. (2006). Capturing the dynamics that led to the narrowing achievement gap between Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking schools in Israel: Findings from TIMSS 1999 and 2003. Retrieved on 8 November 2007 from http://www.iea.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/IRC2006/IEA_Program/TIMSS/Zuzovsky.pdf.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
The 48 items on the Mathematics as a gendered domain scale are presented in Table 9.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Forgasz, H.J., Mittelberg, D. (2012). Israeli Jewish and Arab Students’ Gendering of Mathematics. In: Forgasz, H., Rivera, F. (eds) Towards Equity in Mathematics Education. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27702-3_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27702-3_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27701-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27702-3
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)