NIU researchers work to dispel myths about women and math

by Tom Parisi

The ad in the Northern Star reads like a pop quiz. It asks: Which of the following is a woman?

A. The head of Hewlett-Packard.
B. The CEO of eBay.
C. The president of The Mathematical Association of America.
D. The inventor of the computer language COBOL.

The answer is all of the above. But the quiz isn't designed to test your knowledge of trivia. Rather, it's part of an advertising campaign that aims to reverse negative misperceptions about women's abilities in math. The advertisement is one of several that have been running weekly in the Northern Star. The campaign is part of an effort by NIU researchers Amy Levin and Diana Steele, who have set out to demonstrate that women are successful with mathematics.

Amy Levin

This past fall, Levin and Steele launched a National Science Foundation-funded project aimed at increasing women's participation in high-level math courses, where females traditionally have been underrepresented on college campuses nationwide. The project—titled "E-WOMS: Expanding Women's Opportunities Through Mathematical Sciences"—consists of the university-wide ad campaign and a Calculus I course specially designed for freshman women.

Diana Steele

"In conversations we had with women on campus, it was very clear that a lot of them shared the larger social misperception that they have less ability or interest in math, that it's a male field," said Levin, director of Women's Studies.

"Nationally, the retention rates in advanced mathematics courses are lower for women than men," she added. "Because the workplace requires increasingly advanced computational and technological skills, women who do not continue in mathematics significantly curtail their earnings potential and career options."

The ad campaign is patterned after NIU's nationally recognized social-norms program used to curb alcohol consumption among students. The point of the social-norms model is to dispel misperceptions.

Meanwhile, the special calculus course debuted this past fall. It's geared toward the ways in which women learn. The course emphasizes collaborative problem solving, relates calculus to real life, requires students to write about how they approach problems and makes use of mentors and support groups.

So far, the researchers have been thrilled with the course results.

"It's been much more successful than we even hoped it would be," said Steele, a professor in NIU's Department of Mathematical Sciences. "Nobody got below a `C' in Calculus I, and nobody withdrew from the course.

"In the past, lack of success in calculus typically ends up prompting some students to change majors in order to avoid taking more mathematics," Steele added. "Nobody in our pilot group changed their major. In fact, two students who were undecided have chosen to major in math. And we're thinking about asking last fall's students to serve as mentors when the pilot Calculus I course starts up again next fall."

Steele said that nationally about 20 percent of freshman women move on from Calculus I to Calculus II. Ten of the 13 students in the pilot program now are taking a regular Calculus II course. They continue to meet in a support and study group, led by Jill Shahverdian, a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics.

Steele said the NIU students formed a special bond with both their support group leader and their instructor, Richard Blecksmith. He said he was surprised by the program's across-the-board success. "With every test I gave, the scores on average were 20 points higher than other semesters," he said. "I actually made the class much more rigorous than I usually do, almost to the level of an honors class. By the end, the students had a better grasp of some of the concepts than any class I've seen in a long time."

Richard Blecksmith

Blecksmith said the pilot class met for an extra hour of mentoring each week. Instead of using the extra time to work through calculus equations, students participated in other math-related activities, such as discussing how to read a math textbook, going on a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry and reading a Tony Award-winning play, "Proof," about a woman mathematician.

"There was a real camaraderie among the students," Blecksmith said. "Part of the goal was to see what would happen to women if there was no competition from men in the class. Had there been male students, I think the dynamics would have been different. With a lot of the women who took on leadership roles in the class, their self-confidence was increased by the fact that we had a small group and they could feel comfortable among themselves.

"I thought we'd be successful," he added, "but not to this extent, to tell the truth. I've never had a calculus class outside of honors where everyone has passed the course with a C or better."