Mathematical self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief in their ability to successfully perform tasks and solve problems in mathematics. This Snapshot examines gender differences in mathematical self-efficacy and the levels of confidence that students feel in doing a range of formal and applied mathematics tasks. It also examines the extent…

In Turkey, the special education population has steadily increased since 2006. By generating a 16-year period of data obtained from the National Education Statistics (NES) published annually by the Presidency of Strategy Development of the Ministry of National Education, we synthesize the gender odds ratios and trends by special education…

Over the past decade, reforms to principal evaluation systems have sought to incorporate formal feedback structures as a lever for principal improvement. However, we know little about the feedback that principals receive. Using statewide administrative data from Tennessee, including principals' written feedback from evaluators, we use sentiment…

More and more research is showing how different environments can lead to greater or lower creative skills. The purpose of this concept paper is to introduce a novel application of the optimal-level of arousal model that could address inconsistencies present in the literature. After introducing possible definitions of creativity, I discuss the…

As the gender disparity increases yearly within art--with substantially more girls choosing to continue with the subject into asessed years than boys at secondary school--this essay explores a handful of the influencing factors for this gender imbalance, before exploring the ways in which we might begin to remedy such an unacceptable polarisation…

The educational mission of most western schools today includes the nurturing of children's sexual upbringing, which many scholars see as a way of controlling their sexuality and forming them into "sexual citizens." This article examines how official Swedish school guidelines and textbooks have mediated sexuality norms through education…

As the importance of 'excellence' increases in higher education, so too does the importance of indicators to measure research productivity. We examine how such indicators might disproportionately benefit men by analysing extent to which the separate components of the Norwegian Publication Indicator (NPI), a bibliometric model used to distribute…

Our official mathematics subject curricula are full of names next to rules, laws, theorems and results. Usually, most of these names refer to male mathematicians whose works had a high impact in the history of mathematics. However, there is the possibility of giving a more coeducative view to this science, achieving a less unequal curriculum with…

Perceived parenting is a crucial and complex factor for the psychological well-being of adolescents. The Adolescent Family Process Short-Form (AFP-SF) investigates the perception of adolescents' maternal and paternal parenting across six dimensions: closeness, support, communication, monitoring, peer approval, and conflict. This was the first…

It is wildly held belief that one way to interest students in mathematics is to use real-world examples. Mathematics teachers are aware of the lack of interest in mathematics by many students and seek ways to improve their motivation. It seems reasonable to suggest that demonstrating to students the ubiquitous nature of mathematics may help…

It is generally agreed upon that most individuals who acquire a college degree do so in their early 20s. Despite this consensus, we show that in the US from the 1930 birth cohort onwards a large fraction -- around 20% -- of college graduates obtained their degree after age 30. We explore the implications of this phenomenon. First, we show that…

Growing evidence has underscored the importance of female students' relationships and interactions in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs as crucial factors influencing their thriving within these programs. However, the discourse has seen a dearth of literature, especially in low-middle-income countries where…

The fall 2023 and spring 2024 undergraduate enrollment increases, marking the first growth since the COVID-19 pandemic, show signs of a post-pandemic turnaround for higher education. However, a significant share of current undergraduates will eventually disengage from college before earning a degree or other credential. They will join tens of…

Spatial ability has long been regarded as important in STEM, and mental rotation, a subcategory of spatial ability, is widely accepted as the cognitive ability with the largest gender difference in favor of men. Multiple meta-analyses of various tests of spatial ability have found large gender differences in outcomes of the mental rotation test…

Previous work on individual differences has revealed limitations in the ability of existing measures (e.g., working memory) to predict language processing. Recent evidence suggests that an individual's sensitivity to detect the statistical regularities present in language (i.e., "chunk sensitivity") may significantly modulate online…