For years, a common belief has persisted that boys are inherently better at math than girls. However, recent research strongly suggests this isn't true. Cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Spelke, a leading expert in early learning, has been a vocal proponent of this view for two decades, and a new study she co-authored provides even more compelling evidence.
Examining the data from France
A large-scale French government initiative, which began in 2018, collected data on the math skills of over 2.5 million schoolchildren over five years. The analysis revealed almost no difference between boys and girls at the start of first grade, when formal math education typically begins. However, a gap favoring boys appeared after just four months of schooling and continued to widen in higher grades.
These findings align with earlier research conducted in the U.S., which used much smaller sample sizes. Spelke, a professor of psychology, summarized the key takeaway: "The headline conclusion is that the gender gap emerges when systematic instruction in mathematics begins." She also noted that while there are no initial differences in infants, abilities that show gender effects might emerge during the preschool years.
Insights from a leading researcher
Elizabeth Spelke is highly regarded in the field of early learning. She has collaborated with Nobel laureate Esther Duflo, an MIT economics professor, to advise the Delhi office of the nonprofit Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). This group is working with four Indian state governments to develop and test math curricula for preschoolers, kindergartners, and first-graders. Spelke also advises the French Ministry of Education's Scientific Council alongside cognitive neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene.
Spelke, Dehaene, and eight other French researchers co-authored the Nature paper. Their study specifically examined four consecutive groups of mostly 5- and 6-year-olds who started school between 2018 and 2021. In France, similar to many other countries, girls generally scored slightly higher than boys in language skills at the start of first grade. But when it came to math, the gender gap was almost nonexistent. Spelke pointed out, "That definitely connects to the earlier issue of whether there's a biological basis for these differences."
The widening gap in math
After four months of school, French first-graders were re-evaluated, and a small but noticeable math gap favoring boys had emerged. This effect quadrupled by the beginning of second grade when the children were tested again.
Spelke noted that the paper offers "only negative answers" when considering ideas about innate sex differences and social bias as reasons for the widening gender gap in math as students spend more time in school.
The 2019 cohort revealed another significant detail. Earlier that year, French schoolchildren had ranked at the bottom among 23 European countries in the quadrennial Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. This sparked a national debate about why France, the birthplace of René Descartes, was lagging behind its peers in mathematics.
The overall results of this study, which are the most conclusive to date, suggest it's time to move beyond explanations based on biology or bias. Instead, it seems that something within early math instruction itself is creating these gender disparities.
Picture: The myth of natural math ability (Gemini)
