AUTHOR=Dersch Anna-Sophia , Heyder Anke , Eitel Alexander 

TITLE=Exploring the Nature of Teachers’ Math-Gender Stereotypes: The Math-Gender Misconception Questionnaire

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.820254

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.820254

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>Stereotypes of girls having weaker mathematical abilities than boys (math-gender stereotypes) are one factor reducing women’s representation in mathematics. Teachers, as powerful socializers, often hold math-gender stereotypes. Reducing math-gender stereotypes in (student) teachers thus may foster women’s representation in mathematics. Yet knowing the stereotypes’ underlying assumptions is crucial to reducing it. Do math-gender stereotypes reflect elaborate, disproven theories about gender differences in math, meaning <italic>math-gender misconceptions</italic>? And if so, which math-gender misconceptions are behind math-gender stereotypes? This is the focus of the present research. The relevant literature implies the existence of three distinct misconceptions: (1) <italic>empathizing-systemizing</italic> (“As girls think rather empathically and boys think rather systematically, boys are on average more talented in math than girls”), (2) <italic>girls’ compensation</italic> (“To achieve equally good grades in mathematics, boys have to make less effort because they are more talented than girls are”), and (3) <italic>girls’ non-compensability</italic> (“Despite their on average stronger effort, girls are normally less proficient in math than boys”). We assessed these misconceptions in a student teacher sample (<italic>N</italic> = 303) using our newly developed <italic>Math-Gender Misconceptions Questionnaire</italic>. Our results offer support for the expected three-factor structure of math-gender misconceptions. All three math-gender misconceptions showed good to acceptable scale reliabilities. On average, preservice teachers did not hold (strong) math-gender misconceptions. But a subgroup of 48.2% of preservice teachers held at least one of the three misconceptions. The <italic>empathizing-systemizing</italic> misconception was the most prevalent (32.0%) among the three misconceptions. Descriptively, endorsing the math-gender stereotype correlated most strongly with the <italic>empathizing-systemizing</italic> (<italic>r</italic> = 0.43) and the <italic>girls’ compensation misconception</italic> (<italic>r</italic> = 0.44). This may indicate that especially these two misconceptions partly underlie math-gender stereotypes. As a consequence, refutation instructions designed to reduce these misconceptions may be a promising method to weaken math-gender stereotypes. Further research is needed to investigate to what degree reducing the present misconceptions is related to reducing math-gender stereotypes. Hence, this study is the first one of a planned series of studies on the relation between math-gender misconceptions and math-gender stereotypes.</p>