How have five years of the National Numeracy Strategy affected Year 5 pupils’ written division calculations?

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Did boys and girls perform differently?

This study found that differences in performance between boys and girls in 2003 had increased when compared with the results of the first study. The 1998 study found no overall differences between boys’ and girls’ performance on the test, but it did find subtle differences of approach. For example, boys were less likely to use written methods than girls, preferring to calculate mentally. (This tendency continued in 2003.) Boys also guessed or omitted answers more often than girls. Girls tended to use more low-level strategies than boys (such as repeated subtraction of the divisor for large numbers) and they improved more when supported in developing a structured written method for approaching division. The 2003 study found that:

boys’ overall performance was better than the girls’, although this was not the case in all schools;
boys used informal strategies both more extensively and more successfully than girls;
boys used mental strategies (showed no working) more often than girls and reached a correct answer on about half of these occasions;
in schools where girls did better, most of the girls used the chunking algorithm at least once and they used this strategy more often and more effectively than any other strategy.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction How did pupils differ in their division methods and success rates? What strategies did pupils use in more and less successful schools? Did boys and girls perform differently? What did the researcher conclude from the study? What were the aims of the study and how was it designed? What are the implications of the study? Where can I find out more? Definitions Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader How have five years of the National Numeracy Strategy affected Year 5 pupils’ written division calculations? This digest found in Mathematics Send to a friend Word doc 60KB Printer friendly Collate for later Did boys and girls perform differently? This study found that differences in performance between boys and girls in 2003 had increased when compared with the results of the first study. The 1998 study found no overall differences between boys’ and girls’ performance on the test, but it did find subtle differences of approach. For example, boys were less likely to use written methods than girls, preferring to calculate mentally. (This tendency continued in 2003.) Boys also guessed or omitted answers more often than girls. Girls tended to use more low-level strategies than boys (such as repeated subtraction of the divisor for large numbers) and they improved more when supported in developing a structured written method for approaching division. The 2003 study found that: boys’ overall performance was better than the girls’, although this was not the case in all schools; boys used informal strategies both more extensively and more successfully than girls; boys used mental strategies (showed no working) more often than girls and reached a correct answer on about half of these occasions; in schools where girls did better, most of the girls used the chunking algorithm at least once and they used this strategy more often and more effectively than any other strategy.