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ERIC Number: EJ1138992
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0882-4843
EISSN: N/A
A Critical Look at Danica McKellar's "Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail"
Ray, Amy Elizabeth
Feminist Teacher: A Journal of the Practices, Theories, and Scholarship of Feminist Teaching, v26 n1 p89-91 2017
According to the author's website, Danica McKellar's first book is meant to serve as a resource for middle school girls to help them understand math concepts that are commonly confusing. This review will explore McKellar's use of mathematical contexts for presenting mathematical content and consider how these contexts may or may not limit the ways in which girls are portrayed as knowers and doers of mathematics. This review shows that, by including a limited scope of mathematical contexts for mathematical content, McKellar's book may actually sustain the deficit view and limited presence of females in mathematics McKellar is trying to overcome. It is important for textbook and resource writers to consider not only the representation of males and females in the text but also the types of activities and interests characters engage in and how these experiences may either sustain or help overcome gender bias related to females as knowers and doers of mathematics.
University of Illinois Press. 1325 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820-6903. Tel: 217-244-0626; Fax: 217-244-8082; e-mail: journals@uillinois.edu; Web site: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals.php
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Book/Product Reviews; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A