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Biomedical subjects

R De Lisi

Publications and source records attributed to R De Lisi.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Gender differences in advanced mathematical problem solving.

Strategy flexibility in mathematical problem solving was investigated. In Studies 1 and 2, high school juniors and seniors solved Scholastic Assessment Test-Mathematics (SAT-M) problems classified as conventional or unconventional. Algorithmic solution strategies were students' default choice for both types of problems across conditions that manipulated item format and solution time. Use of intuitive strategies on unconventional problems was evident only for high-ability students. Male students were more likely than female students to successfully match strategies to problem characteristics. In Study 3, a revised taxonomy of problems based on cognitive solution demands was predictive of gender differences on Graduate Record Examination-Quantitative (GRE-Q) items. Men outperformed women overall, but the difference was greater on items requiring spatial skills, shortcuts, or multiple solution paths than on problems requiring verbal skills or mastery of classroom-based content. Results suggest that strategy flexibility is a source of gender differences in mathematical ability assessed by SAT-M and GRE-Q problem solving.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Student gender and teaching methods as sources of variability in children's computational arithmetic performance.

An experimental study of the effects of a didactic teaching approach and a constructivist teaching approach on 3rd- and 5th-grade boys' and girls' performance on arithmetic computation problems was conducted. Two groups of children, matched on the basis of initial computation performance as well as grade and gender, were taught how to solve arithmetic problems using one of these two instructional approaches. Analysis of subsequent computation test performance revealed that 5th graders scored higher than 3rd graders, and there was a significant interaction between gender and instruction group. After instruction, girls in the didactic group outperformed boys in both instruction groups and girls who had been taught using constructivist approaches. Gender differences in computation performance can appear relatively early, by 3rd grade, if didactic instruction strategies are used to teach computational rules. The pattern of gender differences suggests that didactic teaching does not handicap boys. Rather, it appears that didactic instruction enhances computational performance in girls.

Achievement↗
PubMed1995

Measuring grade-school children's ability to represent the Euclidean horizontal coordinate.

Seventy-five grade-school children were administered three tasks that measured their ability to represent the Euclidean horizontal coordinate: a traditional water-level test (WLT) that used a square-shaped vessel, a WLT that used a spherical vessel, and a task that used a crossbar apparatus. The latter two tasks differed from the traditional task in terms of the degree to which the apparatus presented a frame of reference that conflicted with environmental Euclidean coordinates. Performance was analyzed according to Piaget and Inhelder's (1956) stage-scoring system; that is, the testing procedures (a) allowed children to inspect the apparatus when it was rotated to discrete orientations; (b) corrected initial errors; and (c) included 0 degrees, 30 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees trials. Age-related stages were identified on each task. Levels of performance on one task were significantly correlated with levels on each of the other two tasks. Performance was less accurate on the traditional WLT than on either of the other two measures. These results provide evidence of the validity of the alternative tasks to measure children's horizontality representation. The findings suggest that horizontality assessment procedures should include orthogonal and oblique rotations and contain an inspection phase. Use of apparatuses with conflicting frames of reference renders tasks more difficult but is not necessary to observe age-related developmental progress during the grade-school years.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1989

Age and sex differences in representation of horizontality among children in India.

Girls and boys from Grades 4 (ns = 15) and 9 (ns = 15 and 16) in Bombay, India were individually administered water-level and crossbar assessments of horizontality representation. Ninth graders were more successful than fourth graders, especially on trials in which the apparatus was obliquely rotated. Ninth graders, however, did not perform at ceiling levels, and a sex difference with a moderate effect size favoring male over female adolescents was obtained for the water-level task. These findings of both developmental and individual differences in horizontality performance replicate previous findings in Western cultures.

Adolescent↗