Susan F. Chipman

Content Effects on Word Problem Performance: A Possible Source of Test Bias?

Gender differences in mathematics test performance that favor males are rarely found on tests of computation or other mathematical symbol manipulations. These differences appear primarily in tests that are labeled as tests of “mathematical reasoning” and consist largely of word problems. The content of the word problems’ cover stories is a possible source of gender bias. Some have suggested that students are discouraged from solving problems for affective reasons when the content of the problem is sex-typed for the opposite sex; cognitive science research on problem-solving processes suggests that familiarity of content would be likely to affect problem-solving performance. To test these hypotheses, an experiment was conducted in which underlying mathematics problems were clothed in four different cover stories: masculine, feminine, neutral familiar, and neutral unfamiliar. No effect of sex-typing was found; there was a highly significant but small effect of familiarity. Ratings of problem characteristics were also collected, primarily to guide and confirm the realization of the design intentions.

Book Reviews: Far Too Sexy a Topic:

dress issues of literacy alone, but places literacy in context with language, learning, schooling, or society. Nonetheless, the works reflect a continuing insularity, with few references crossing disciplines and with underlying concepts remaining different in intent, even when vocabulary is shared. The volumes hint of something more than they deliver; missing is the intellectual argument that is borne of a basic reconceptualization of the issues—using what is known to move forward not merely in parallel, but to engage in dialogue in a way that makes it possible to relate findings across fields. Such a dialogue might lead to identification of shared issues and problems and a group of colleagues who, while maintaining their disciplinary integrity, are able to argue with each other about shared concerns instead of talking past one another.

Still far too sexy a topic

Geary is highly selective in his use of the literature on gender differences. His assumption of consistent female inferiority in mathematics is not necessarily supported by the facts.

Language research sponsored by ONR

In contrast to DARPA, ONR has not had a defined program that is focused exclusively on language research. However, there have been some clusters of projects concerned with language that have been supported within the Cognitive Science Program and its prior incarnation, the Personnel and Training Research Program. The ONR program is a basic research program, but a mission-oriented one which seeks to generate results that will prove applicable to significant Navy applications. Traditionally, as the earlier name indicates, those applications were sought primarily in training; more recently, the targets have been broadened to include human factors applications, especially in human-system interaction. Originally, the program was a psychological research program, but it evolved into a cognitive science program, the first government research program to be so labeled. The ONR Cognitive Science Program emphasizes the use of Al techniques to model human cognitive performance, and it has also emphasized the special sub-field of Al concerned with artificially intelligent computerized instruction or tutoring systems (ICAI or ITS). Thus, the ONR Cognitive Science Program also contrasts with the DARPA Human Language Technology Program in being concerned with understanding how human language actually is produced and processed by humans. (There is also an Al program within the Computer Science Division of ONR.) The management style of the program might be best described as dynamic coherence . That is, a degree of coherence or focus is necessary in order to enhance the likelihood of identifiable impact on application areas, but the focal clusters do evolve over time, partially in response to promising proposals that are received. New proposals are judged partially by the extent to which they cohere with and enhance the current portfolio of projects, not merely on isolated merit and inclusion in the broad area of cognitive science. Two salient clusters of language-related research that emerged have been the currently active emphasis on tutorial discourse and an earlier interest in improving the readability of instructional texts and documentation. Both have had significant natural language Al aspects, but not all projects have involved computation.

Foundations of Cognitive Science

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