journal article review

JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW

1 . Literature /Hypotheses

In her article Attributional patterns and perceptions of math and science among fifth-grade through seventh-grade girls and boys , Melissa C . Gilbert presents fairly wide range of the literature related to the issues under research . It can be observed that most cited works relate to the statement that , firstly , the teachers ' and parents ' opinion influences the students ' interest and persistence in math and science and , secondly , the students ' interest in math and science influences their self-perception in these subjects . The reviewed studies imply that gender

differences in attributional patterns can result in differential attitudes about math and science among students of both sexes (Gilbert 1996

The literature review looks like somewhat deprived of objective approach . Consciously or subconsciously author has chosen the works with approximately same results and conclusions . If she had presented any works that show different or opposite result , supposedly that such works did exist , her literature review would have seemed more objective . Even if there were no researches that showed opposite results she might have noticed it in her review . That is why author 's literature review can not be regarded as absolutely objective

Further in the first section she notices that most of the studies regarding attributional patterns and gender differences in perceptions of math and science use data collected in the mid-1980s or earlier (Gilbert , 1996 ) and expresses opinion about the significance to get the information whether the increased awareness of barriers to girls educational opportunities since that time has made any difference in girls ' interest and persistence in math and science

In her presentation of the review of numerous sources the author keeps away from own comments and position on the issue . She only provides the opinions of the authors cited and the results of their researches . In the previous studies gender differences have been examined at every level of secondary school . Special attention has been paid to experiences in the middle school years , approximately grades 5 to 8 as far as the girls and boys , according to a number of researches , do not differ in their self-perceptions in math and science until age of 12 . At this point , girls begin to like math and science less and to like language arts and social studies more than boys . Gilman 's study was motivated by the question whether the recent changes in awareness of sex typing in the classroom and the increased efforts to achieve gender equity , particularly as regards girls and math and science have translated into less stereotypic experiences for girls and boys . She decides to conduct the same research but basing on newly collected data in to check the hypotheses from previous researches . Moreover , she attempts to find out how , if anyhow at all , the increased attention to gender equity in school classes has impacted children 's self-rating in math and science . Apart from quantitative analysis the author conducts a qualitative analysis of impact of classroom environment in math and science classes

2 . Participants /Instruments /Procedure...