In math, RP girls outshine boys

MANILA, Philippines - An international study has revealed that Filipino women are better in math than their male counterparts.

The Science Education Institute (SEI) said two studies of the Trends in International Science and Mathematics Study (TIMSS) consistently showed that Filipina students do better in math than their male classmates.

The 2003 TIMSS Philippine Report for Grade 8 Mathematics showed that Filipino female students were “significantly better” than boys, overall and in the items of Number, Algebra, and Data.

The study also showed that in terms of average percent correct score by cognitive domain, Filipina students bested males in items involving “Knowing Facts and Procedures” and “Reasoning” by a difference of four percent and two percent, respectively.

Boys and girls performed equally on items involving “Using Concepts and Solving Routine Problems,” it said.

Male students were better by a difference of one percent in Geometry, are equal in Measurement, but the girls performed better than the boys in Number, Algebra, and Data by a difference of three, four, and two percent, respectively, the study said.

SEI, education-arm of the Department of Science and Technology, said an earlier study by TIMSS showed the same outcome in relation to performance by girls and boys.

In TIMSS-Repeat, which was done in 1999, Filipina students “performed relatively better” than the boys in all areas of mathematics.

“In three content areas and overall performance, Filipino girls did better than Filipino boys,” the TIMSS-Repeat study said.

Filipino girls performed well in Fractions and Number Sense; Data Representation, Analysis and Representation; and Algebra. In Measurement and Geometry, Filipino girls did as well as Filipino boys, the study said.

“This is in contrast to other international studies which show that male students are better in mathematics than females, except in algebra,” the study said.

SEI said last year, 118 science and technology oriented schools from the 16 regions in the Philippines took part in the TIMSS-Advanced which was aimed at gauging the performance of students in the country in relation to advanced science and mathematics.

TIMSS 2003, third in a series of studies, offers a state-of-the-art assessment of student achievement in science and mathematics at the fourth and eighth grade levels.

SEI said data provided by TIMSS are useful for participating countries to reassess their programs in mathematics and science, and to examine and revise existing practices in curricular provision, textbook design, teacher preparation, school organization, and instructional practice.

The TIMSS is an international assessment of the mathematics and science knowledge of fourth- and eighth-grade students around the world.