Today's adolescents spend considerable time using the Internet to search, chat, shop, surf, instant message, blog, socialize, and learn. They feel at home with the Internet, empowered with key computer skills, and confident (and often masterful) in their online interactions. Findings from the U.S. Census Bureau (2003) indicate that 57 percent of adolescents in the United States use a home computer and the Internet to do homework or seek assistance from peers or other sources for completing schoolwork. More than three-fourths of students indicate that they use instant messaging to talk to peers about homework, tests, or schoolwork.
Adolescent females are more likely to use the Internet for educational purposes (including homework) than their male counterparts, with 73 percent of adolescent girls and 70 percent of adolescent boys using online resources. Adolescent females demonstrate strong confidence in cyberspace. Yet, many of these same confident females retreat from computer math games, computer-aided instruction in math, computer problem-solving activities, and computer programming or design tasks.
The disconnect between young women's prowess with the Internet and their avoidance of math and math-related computer activities stem from an underlying fear females report and demonstrate regarding learning and using mathematics. Fear of math, or math anxiety, has been consistently reported as overwhelmingly more prevalent in females than in males (Lussier, 1996; Tapia & Marsh, 2004). As a result, young women in their teen years are more apt to move away from mathematics learning in favor of more social activities in school and home. Studies have shown that math avoidance in females can begin as early as age 9.
There is a positive connection between students' skill levels in using computers and achievement in mathematics (Murphy, Peneul, Means, Korbak, & Whaley, 2001). Adolescents who are comfortable using computers are more apt to have lower levels of math anxiety and demonstrate higher achievement in math. Tapping into the social environments of young women through Internet activities is one way to keep-females engaged and confident in learning mathematics.
For adolescent females facing fears in learning mathematics, the Internet may be an especially appropriate intervention tool because it enables them to discuss their concerns about math with their peers, seek help with their math homework, access fun and interesting activities in math, discuss math topics with other teenagers around the world, and receive support online from an endless number of resources.
The following suggested Internet resources represent an initial list of activities that female adolescents, confident in their searching, shopping, and blogging skills, may use to reduce their fears and difficulties concerning mathematics. These resources can be used to promote self-confidence, engagement, enjoyment, and achievement.
Searching and Surfing
- Review hundreds of school projects submitted by math students around the United States in the Math Forum Internet Mathematics Library:<LINK URL="http://www.mathforum.org/library">www.mathforum.org/library</LINK>.
- Introduce your students to math's role in their world through examples of Math in Daily Life: <LINK URL="http://www.learner.org/exhibits/dailymath">www.learner.org/exhibits/dailymath</LINK>.
- Fractals can be fun—try these downloadable activities and materials from Rice University with your middle school students to get them more engaged in learning:<LINK URL="http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/frac">http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/frac</LINK>.
- Inspire your female students with the contributions of 20th-century women to the field of physics at <LINK URL="http://cwp.library.ucla.edu">http://cwp.library.ucla.edu</LINK>.
Shopping and Statistics
- Explore the competitive dynamics of bids and purchases at <LINK URL="http://www.ebay.com">www.ebay.com</LINK>.
- Make statistical comparisons and connections between car safety ratings at<LINK URL="http://www.safercar.gov">www.safercar.gov</LINK> and prices at Kelley Blue Book, <LINK URL="http://www.kbb.com">www.kbb.com</LINK>.
Blogging and Chatting
- Join the math and technical career chat rooms available at <LINK URL="http://www.girlstart.com/learn.asp">www.girlstart.com/learn.asp</LINK>. This site also offers tutorials in HTML coding to build computer skills that enhance communication.
- Encourage your class to have an open discussion about an inspiring article—likeEngineering News-Record's “Do We Need More Women Role Models?”—by posting to a public blog: <LINK URL="http://enr.construction.com/people/blogs/galloway/070416.asp">http://enr.construction.com/people/blogs/galloway/070416.asp</LINK>.
- Sign up to blog on the many topics hosted by the Girls, Math & Science Partnership at<LINK URL="http://www.braincake.org/wehearthat.aspx">www.braincake.org/wehearthat.aspx</LINK>.
Global Challenges
- Offer extra credit for students who compete in the weekly International Math Challenge at Columbus State University: <LINK URL="http://www.colstate.edu/mathcontest/">www.colstate.edu/mathcontest/</LINK>.
- Students can compete in the Fall 2007 NASA Quest Challenge, submitting reports on new satellite photographs of Mars. Entries are due December 2007:<LINK URL="http://www.quest.arc.nasa.gov/challenges/hirise/index.html">www.quest.arc.nasa.gov/challenges/hirise/index.html</LINK>.
- Have your students take the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) math test and show them how they rank against students from almost 50 other countries: <LINK URL="http://www.edinformatics.com/timss/timss_intro.htm">www.edinformatics.com/timss/timss_intro.htm</LINK>.
Homework Help
- Math.com: <LINK URL="http://www.math.com">www.math.com</LINK>.
- MathsNet: <LINK URL="http://www.mathsnet.net">www.mathsnet.net</LINK>.
- S.O.S. MATHematics: <LINK URL="http://www.sosmath.com">www.sosmath.com</LINK>.
- The Math Forum at Drexel University: <LINK URL="http://www.mathforum.org">www.mathforum.org</LINK>.
- The University of Cambridge's NRICH: <LINK URL="http://nrich.maths.org">http://nrich.maths.org</LINK>.
- The University of Surrey's “Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section”:<LINK URL="http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/personal/r.knott/fibonacci/fib.html">www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/personal/r.knott/fibonacci/fib.html</LINK>.
