The Effects of Mentor Gender on Mentee Attitudes towards Mathematics
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2015-05
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes of Algebra I students who were
being mentored to see if there was a difference between the attitude of students with a
gender concordant (n = 18) or discordant (n = 18) mentor pairing. This is important
because if a way can be found to improve student attitudes toward mathematics through
the structuring of mentoring programs, then students will be better prepared for success in
mathematics. The students’ scores on the questionnaire were used to evaluate each
student’s attitude towards math and their personal math capabilities. There was also a
total math attitude score. The mean Attitude Toward Math score of the Gender
Concordant group (Mean = 27.28, SD = 2.95) did not differ significantly from that of the
Gender Discordant group (Mean = 28.94, SD = 4.80) [t (34) = 1.23, p = .22]. The mean
Attitude Toward Personal Math Capabilities score of the Gender Concordant group
(Mean = 27.06, SD = 3.26) did not differ significantly from that of the Gender Discordant
group (Mean = 26.67, SD = 5.67) [t(34) = .25, p = .80]. The mean Total Math Attitude
score of the Gender Concordant group (Mean = 54.33, SD = 5.14) did not differ
significantly from that of the Gender Discordant group (Mean = 55.61, SD = 9.70) [t(34)
= .49, p = .63]. Results did not indicate that adjusting mentor and mentee pairings based
on gender will impact math attitudes. Implications of the findings and ideas for future
research are discussed.