1 Differences between girls and boys in terms of mathematical achievement and emotions in the Finnish lower secondary school Marja E. Hytönen, Markku S. Hannula, Pirjo Aunio, and Erkki Komulainen University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract Emotions are strongly connected to achievement and learning in mathematics. However, out of emotions, only anxiety in mathematics has been studied more extensively. This study examines the students’ (n=1412; Mage=14.44) experienced emotions in terms of mathematics and their mathematics achievement in the Finnish lower secondary school. We have been particularly interested in determining the gender differences in mathematics related emotions and mathematics achievement. Emotions were measured via an emotion questionnaire based on the students’ personal assessments. The measured emotions were enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, hopelessness, shame and boredom. Achievement in mathematics was measured on the basis of the mathematics grades and a standard mathematics test. The conference presentation presents the results of the study. Keywords: achievement, emotions, gender differences, lower secondary school, mathematics 2 Introduction The role of emotions in mathematics has been studied relatively little. Majority of studies concerning mathematics have targeted beliefs, motivation or attitudes (e.g., Else-Quest, Hyde, & Linn, 2010; Ma & Xu, 2004; OECD, 2004). Although it has been show in qualitative studies that students experience several emotions during mathematical problemsolving (DeBellis & Goldin, 2006; Op‘t Eynde, De Corte, & Verschaffel, 2006; Op‘t Eynde & Hannula, 2006), only anxiety in mathematics has been extensively studied quantitatively (Else-Quest et al., 2010; Hembree, 1990; Kyttälä & Björn, 2010; Ma, 1999; OECD, 2004). Several studies have shown that girls experience more anxiety in mathematics than boys (e.g., Else-Quest et al., 2010; Frenzel, Pekrun, & Goetz, 2007a; Kyttälä & Björn, 2010; OECD, 2004). However, only a few studies (Frenzel, Pekrun, & Goetz, 2007) have examined the differences between the genders in a variety of emotions in mathematics. Frenzel et al. (2007) have shown that girls in the primary school experience more mathematics-related anxiety, hopelessness and shame, but also less enjoyment and pride than boys. In order to support the learning of both girls and boys in mathematics, it is important to determine the gender differences in terms of a variety of emotions and mathematics more extensively. This kind of study may also help in understanding why girls only rarely apply to mathematical or scientific careers (OECD, 2004). Even though girls experience more anxiety in mathematics, the differences in mathematics achievement between the genders have narrowed (Else-Quest et al., 2010; Hyde, Fennema, & Lamon, 1990; Hyde, Lindberg, Linn, Ellis, & Williams, 2008; Lindberg, Hyde, Petersen, & Linn, 2010; OECD, 2004; OECD, 2010). Regardless of the slight advantage of boys in terms of mathematics achievement, girls may often receive a higher grade in mathematics when compared to boys (Downey & Vogt Yuan, 2005; Kenney-Benson, Pomerantz, Ryan, & Patrick, 2006). However, differences between sexes have been found in different 3 mathematics domain and items. Boys seem to have more success in spatial ability or geometry (Else-Quest et al., 2010; Liu & Wilson, 2009; OECD, 2004), while girls perform better in computations (Hyde et al., 1990; Wei et al., 2012) and algebra (Abedalaziz, 2010; Else-Quest et al., 2010; Innabi & Dodeen, 2006). Gender differences in mathematical problem-solving seem to be very small, or this not occurs to a significant extent until high school, when boys begin to perform better (Else-Quest et al., 2010; Hyde et al., 1990; Lindberg et al., 2010). It has been interesting to notice that boys seem to perform better on mathematical items which relate to actual life, cannot be found in the textbook, and cannot be solved using familiar algorithms. Girls, on the other hand, seem to perform better in familiar mathematical items found in the textbook and solved using straight algorithms. (Abedalaziz, 2010; Gallagher & Richard De Lisi, 1994; Harris & Carlton, 1993; Innabi & Dodeen, 2006) However, these studies have often been limited to high school students. The goal of this study was to determine the emotions experienced by 8th grade students (Mage=14.44, SD=.53) in mathematics, as well as their mathematics achievement in the Finnish lower secondary school. The emotions are determined on the basis of the Pekrun’s control value theory (Pekrun, 2006), where achievement emotions are connected to both achievement outcomes (e.g., failure and success) and achievement activities (e.g., learning, studying and tests). This study examined the typical emotional experiences of students in mathematics in terms of seven achievement emotions: enjoyment, pride, shame, anxiety, hopelessness, boredom, and anger related to mathematics (Pekrun, Goetz, & Frenzel, 2005). The study laid special emphasis on potential gender differences in terms of these emotions and mathematics achievement. Success in mathematics was measured on the bases of their grade in mathematics and a standard mathematics test (Räsänen & Leino, 2005). Results 4 First, the t-test showed that girls (M=7.67, SD=1.39) had significantly higher, t(1352)=4.35, p<.001, d=.23, mathematics grades than boys (M=7.35, SD=1.37). There were no significant gender difference, t(1355)=1.93, p=.054, d= .11, in mathematics test performance between girls (M=22.23, SD=7.59) and boys (M=23.01, SD=7.24). The Chisquare test with continuity correction was used to examine gender differences in mathematics items. Boys performed significantly (p<.05) better on word problems items which included units (9 items), items which require unit or number conversion (4 items) or understanding of unit (1 item), whereas girls performed significantly (p<.05) better on computations (4 items) or equation solving items (2 items). Concerning emotions, students reported to experience most frequently pride (M=2.91, SD=.87), second most enjoyment (M=2.46, SD=.77) and boredom (M=2.46, SD=.95) in mathematics. The t-test revealed that girls experienced significantly more hopelessness, t(1409)=3.84, p<.001, d=.21, and less pride, t(1410)=3.24, p<.01, d=.17, and enjoyment, t(1410)=3.19, p<.01, d=.17. One way ANCOVA was also conducted to control for the effect of students’ mathematics achievement. In this analysis emotion was set as the dependent variable, gender was set as the independent variable, and the mathematics achievement variables (scores of the mathematics test, mathematics grades and the interaction of those variables) were controlled. Then girls experienced significantly less enjoyment, t(1300) =5.22, p<.001, d=.29, pride, t(1300)=5.42, p<.001, d=.30, and more anxiety, t(1300)=3.27, p<.001, d=.19, hopelessness, t(1300) =5.51, p<.000, d=.31, and boredom, t(1300)=2.81, p<.01, d=.16, than boys. Discussion This study revealed that girls had significantly higher mathematics grades, although there were no significant gender differences in the mathematics test. This is line with studies announcing that the gender difference in mathematics performance is very small (e.g., Hyde 5 et al., 2008), although girls have better mathematics grades (e.g., Kenney-Benson et al., 2006). Further, boys performed significantly better in word problem items and items which ask for unit or number conversion. These items connected to everyday life (e.g., taxes, travel), including units, and not directly related textbook. On the other hand, girls were slightly better on some items which assess computations or equation solving. These findings strengthen earlier studies (Hyde et al., 1990; Wei et al., 2012; Abedalaziz, 2010; Else-Quest et al., 2010). It also seems that items in which girls performed slightly better were straightforward, very textbook-like, and algorithmic. Thus our findings seem to support previous studies (Abedalaziz, 2010; Gallagher & Richard De Lisi, 1994; Harris & Carlton, 1993; Innabi & Dodeen, 2006) which investigated gender differences in mathematics items. The information found in this or earlier studies is not only important for teacher when they direct their instruction to the needs of girls or boys, it could also help the teachers to create appropriate assessments which take into account girls 'and boys' different strengths in mathematics. We also found that Finnish eight graders most frequently reported to experience pride, enjoyment, and boredom in mathematics. These results are consistent with the previous findings which relieved that boredom is often experienced in mathematics classroom (Daschmann, Goetz, & Stupnisky, 2011). Further, girls experienced significantly more hopelessness and less pride and enjoyment. When the mathematics achievement was controlled the stronger gender differences were found. Then girls experienced significantly more hopelessness, anxiety, and boredom, less pride and enjoyment than boys. 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