Study Shows Girls Like Math and Science

According to the stereotype, girls like reading and writing and boys like arithmetic and science. However, a new study of elementary schools shows that girls actually like math and science more than the language arts.

Some 2,000 girls from 4th to 8th grade were surveyed by researchers at the University of Miami in Ohio. The girls rated their feelings toward science, math, language arts, and social studies on a scale of 1 to 5. A rating of 1 was strongly dislike and a rating of 5 was really like. According to the results, the fourth grade girls preferred science the most. The averages came out to 4.11 for science, 3.85 for math, 3.5 for language arts, and 3.49 for social studies. Despite these findings, other research shows that older girls switch this trend, liking science and math less. Girls in 8th grade rated science at 3.29. However, each subject lost points among the older girls. Social studies fell to 2.91 for 8th graders. The findings show that girls lose interest in science and math at the same rate they lose interest in other subjects. This may not be due to the actual school subject but for social reasons. Researchers have not yet decided what causes the drop in interest. However, interest seems to pick back up once the girls hit college. Miami, the university that conducted the survey, has more female microbiology, zoology, and botany majors than male majors.