Gender differences in a technology-based numeracy intervention in a developing country

Abstract

Traditionally it has been assumed that female students in primary and secondary schools do not perform as well as their male counterparts in mathematics. However, recent research shows that females tend to do just as well or better in mathematics. While technology-based educational interventions have been used in developing countries to improve numeracy outcomes, little data is available on how and if females respond differently to these interventions than males. This is especially important because, unlike teachers, content and pedagogies used in such interventions often do not take into account gender differences. This paper presents a detailed analysis of one year technology-enabled educational interventions in public schools of a developing country to explore if there were any differences in how female students responded. The results are that despite the fact that the content and pedagogical design did not explicitly incorporate gender differences, no significant differences in learning gains or variability were found between males and females for grade II or grade V children with or without the technology-intervention. Teachers' gender, however, resulted in medium learning effects.