Stories can innoculate kids against maths gender stereotypes

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-08-04 04:00

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Reading stories about women and girls that engage with maths could help remove the stereotype that the subject is for boys, according to a study that looked at more than 300 six- to eleven-year-olds. Researchers found that even a brief story was enough to change children's stereotypes. Conversely, stories that affirmed the existing stereotype significantly reinforced the children's stereotyped ideas. Implicit gender bias is linked to girls' disengagement with maths-related activities, and the authors say that we need to be cautious of the messages given to young children around maths and gender, and it is important to limit exposure to stories that perpetuate the idea that maths is only for males.

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Journal/
conference: PLOS ONE

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Funder: This research was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant to A.S.B at the University of British Columbia (# 435-2013-0286 and #895-2016- 2011). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No authors received salary directly from the funding agencies. The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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