Girls and math

I have heard for years that girls are not supposed to be good at Math. Hmph .... can't tell it by me! I am a girl and I am good at Math. And I was a teacher for 22 years and saw just as many girls excel in Mathematics as boys. I also saw just as many females fail in Mathematics as males. I believe the sexual divide no longer exists in the area of success (or failure) in Mathematics.

Still .... there does exist a barrier to being smart .... it is just not considered to be "cool". Stupid is "cool". Acting like an idiot in class is "cool". And "cool" is what you want to be in Middle School. Even if you are smart or really good at something, you don't want to let too many people know about it. People might call you a "geek" or a "nerd" and that is not "cool".

Enter Winnie Cooper of the old TV show The Wonder Years. Winnie Cooper was played by an actress named Danica McKellar. Danica, in real life, went on to college and received a degree in Mathematics from UCLA. Danica is decidedly "COOL". And she has decided to make mathematics cool for others .... particularly for middle school girls.

Danica has written two books .... Math Doesn't Suck and her most recent book Kiss My Math .... two middle-schooler attractive titles for sure! I have not read these books yet, but I did just place an order for them, and I will let you know what I think when I do get them read. You can read reviews of the books on those Amazon.com links I supplied.

Thanks, Danica, for caring about this misunderstood and difficult age-group. Anything that you can do to make math and learning cool for middle-schoolers is okay by me!

Here is a link to a video of Danica being interviewed on the TODAY show ... Danica and Roker. Al Roker kind of missed the point .... but welcome to the way the world works.

If you have read the books, let me know what you think. I'll keep you posted on what I think.