Search Here

According to a recent research conducted by a team from the University of Missouri, boys' approach to solving math problems could help them perform better than girls.

Nearly 300 boys and girls were followed closely when they started grade school with different approaches to solving arithmetic problems. While the girls favored slow and accurate approach for problem solving, boys dealt with the problems faster but in a more error prone manner. 

Although the girls' approach did give them advantage in the beginning, by the end of the sixth grade, it was found that boys were performing better than girls. The study showed that in the approach adopted by boys, they preferred solving math problems by reciting an answer from memory. On the other hand, the girls were more likely to be solving the problems to compute the answers.

There is a difference in the way boys and girls understand and solve math problems. The approach of both the genders is quite different from one another and helping that could help parents and teachers to guide students better. 

"The observed difference in arithmetic accuracy between the sexes may arise from  the willingness to risk being wrong by answering from memory before one is sure of the correct answer," said Drew Bailey, a recent recipient of a Ph.D. in psychological science from MU in a press release. 

"In our study, we found that boys were more likely to call out answers than girls, even though they were less accurate early in school. Over time, though, this practice at remembering answers may have allowed boys to surpass girls in accuracy." 

 "Developing mathematical skill may be part 'practice makes perfect' and part 'perfect makes practice,'" Bailey said. "Attempting more answers from memory gives risk-takers more practice, which may eventually lead to improvements in accuracy. It also is possible that children who are skilled at certain strategies are more likely to use them and therefore acquire more practice."

"Parents can give their children an advantage by making them comfortable with numbers and basic math before they start grade school, so that the children will have fewer trepidations about calling out answers," said David Geary, MU professor of psychological science and co-author of the study, in the news release. 

"As an adult, it seems easy to remember basic math facts, but in children's brains the networks are still forming. It could be that trying to answer a problem from memory engages those networks and improves them, even if the answers aren't correct at first. In time, the brain develops improved memories and more correct answers result."

The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.