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Women and the maths problem






 

Women's underachievement in maths may not be due to their poor self-image in the subject, a new report suggests. Researcher Dr. Gijsbert Stoet at the University of Leeds says that the so-called " stereotype threat" theory – which holds that women perform worse than men because they expect to do badly – " does not stand up to scrutiny".

Earlier research had serious flaws, he says, with improper use of statistical techniques and methodology. Clearly, those who carried out this research need to review their own competence in maths. Stoet believes the gender gap may simply be that men and women have different interests from an early age, and says the answer to getting more women into maths and engineering is probably a matter of motivation.

According to last year's results, even though girls perform as well as boys in their maths GCSEs, 60% of A-levels in the subject are taken by boys, who achieve 60% of grade As.

I am an engineer, who has worked in the chemical industry for most of my working career. When I graduated in the 80, I assumed we were at the start of a new era for women in science: I studied alongside intelligent and motivated women, opportunities seemed aplenty, in-roads had been made.

But 20 years down the line, only 8.7% of British engineers are women, the lowest proportion in Europe, compared with 25% in Sweden. So what has happened?

One of the main problems is that careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (known as Stem) are not sufficiently promoted in schools, with fewer children taking up these subjects at GCSE and A-level. Year in, year out, we are told that Britain has a skills shortage. The general lack of interest among schoolchildren in maths and science subjects, together with the underlying social conditioning that still remains – that science subjects " aren't really for girls" – has led to a double-whammy effect, reducing female entrants even further.

Over the past few years, I have been involved in Stemnet, an organization dedicated to promoting these careers by getting people who work in jobs from biologists to builders to talk to schoolchildren about what they do. It's an attempt to debunk the myth that maths and sciences are too difficult or too boring. I was amazed to see hundreds of schoolboys and girls at a recent event at the Science Museum, presenting a range of experiments and projects they had prepared. And the ones prepares by girls were equally challenging and sophisticated.

I agree with the new study that rather than focusing on the problems of stereotyping, we should devote more time to encouraging girls into science and technology: they clearly respond.

But encouraging schoolgirls into university and careers is not all. As is typical in most sectors, I see a number of female engineers at the entry and mid-levels of companies, but precious few at the top. This is a huge waste of talent. It also raises the issue of certain professional inequality and a biased attitude towards women. The report has done well to challenge the myths behind women's underachievement in schools, but more work still needs to be done to address the problem of women's lack of achievement in the workplace. At least in the spheres closely related to science and engineering.

 

 

Dr. Gijbert Stoet claims that women do worse than men at maths because they …
  1) are not encouraged to do the subject.
  2) do not believe in their own competence.
  3) use improper methods in problem-solving.
  4) employ wrong stereotypical techniques.
Last year’s A-levels maths results show that …
  1) more girls take the subject.
  2) girls do better than boys.
  3) boys get more A grades.
  4) boys are more likely to fail.
Which of the following statements is NOT true, according to paragraphs 5 and 6?
  1) The author has worked in engineering for over 20 years.
  2) The prospects for women in science are best in Sweden.
  3) The author’s expectations about women in science have not come true.
  4) Britain has fewer women engineers than other European countries.
According to the author, social conditioning taking place in Britain implies that …
  1) boys are smarter than girls.
  2) science could be interesting.
  3) science is for boys.
  4) math is an optional skill.
“They” in “to talk to schoolchildren about what they do” (paragraph 7) may refer to …
  1) scientists.
  2) schoolchildren.
  3) careers.
  4) experiments.

 

According to the final paragraphs, which of the factors discouraging girls from careers in science appears to be most important?
  1) Lack of opportunities in career growth.
  2) Academic underachievement.
  3) Social stereotypes.
  4) Lack of encouragement.
The author’s attitude to the problem may be called …
  1) impartial.
  2) biased.
  3) negative.
  4) interested.
1. Presents begin to enrich the collection
2. Reason for extension
3. First famous exhibits
4. One on the basis of two  
 
5. Shift towards history
6. Location of the museum
7. New collections for the new building
8. New field for the old museum
A. The present Ashmolean Museum was created in 1908 by combining two ancient Oxford institutions: the University Art Collection and the original Ashmolean Museum. The older partner in this merger, the University Art Collection, was based for many years in what is now the Upper Reading Room in the Bodleian Library.
B. The collection began modestly in the 1620s with a handful of portraits and curiosities displayed in a small room on the upper floor. In the 17th century there were added notable collections of coins and medals later incorporated into the Ashmolean coin collection. The objects of curiosity included Guy Fawkes’ lantern and a sword given by the Pope to Henry VIII, and a number of more exotic items.
C. In the 1660s and '70s, the collection grew rapidly and, in 1683, the Bodleian Gallery was left to develop as a museum of art. At first, it was a gallery of portraits of distinguished contemporaries, but from the mid 1660s, it began to acquire a more historical perspective with the addition of images of people from the past: college founders, scientists, soldiers, monarchs, writers and artists.
D. In the eighteenth century, several painters donated self-portraits. They also added a number of landscapes, historical paintings and scenes from contemporary life. Other donors, former members of the University, added collections of Old Masters so that by the early nineteenth century, it had become an art gallery of general interest and an essential point of call on the tourist map. The public was admitted on payment of a small charge. Catalogues were available at the entrance and the paintings were well displayed in a large gallery.
E. It was only with the gift of a collection of ancient Greek and Roman statuary from the Countess of Pomfret in 1755 that the need for a new art gallery became urgent. The marble figures were too heavy to be placed in an upstairs gallery and were installed in a dark ground-floor room in the library pending the creation of a new museum.
F. Before the new museum was finished, a major group of drawings by Raphael and Michelangelo was purchased by public subscription for the new galleries, establishing the importance of the Oxford museum as a centre for the study of Old Master drawings. The new museum also attracted gifts of paintings. In 1851, a collection of early Italian paintings, which included Uccello’s “Hunt in the Forest”, one of the museum’s major works of art was presented.
G. In the 1850s, the University established a new Natural History Museum, which is now known as the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. And all the natural history specimens from the Ashmolean were transferred to the new institution. Having lost what had become the most important element in its collection, the Ashmolean was to find a major new role in the emerging field of archaeology.

 

 

Number of teenagers with Saturday job drops The number of teenagers with Saturday jobs has dropped. Young people do not acquire any experience for their CVs – a crucial step towards getting full-time work. The proportion of teenagers combining part-time jobs with school or college has slumped from 40% in the 1990s to around 20% now, according to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), a government agency. Latest figures show that only A__________ in 1997. The trend is not just recession-related, but the result of an increasing expectation B__________ well as a falling number of Saturday jobs, according to the report. Many of the jobs that young people do, such as bar work, are in long-term decline, and are forecast to decline further over the next decade. " Recruiters place significant emphasis on experience … C__________, " the report says. Word of mouth is the most common way to get a job, D__________ young people are unable to build up informal contacts, it adds. Ms. Todd, a commissioner at the UKCES, said: " There's more emphasis on doing well at school, young people are finding less time to do what they would have done a few years ago. " I think it's also the changing structure of the labour market. Retail is still a big employer, E__________. As a consequence, we need to think about how we get young people the work experience they need." A new initiative to send employees into state schools to talk about their careers was also launched recently. The scheme, Inspiring the Future, is meant to give state schoolchildren access to the kind of careers advice that private schools offer. The deputy prime minister said: " The power of making connections F__________ and can be life-changing."  

 

 
1. that young people should stay on at school, as
2. that inspire young people is immeasurable
3. but an increasing shortage of work experience means
4. but a lot more of it is being done online
5. 260, 000 teenagers have a Saturday job compared with 435, 000
6. that it was researching the system of funding education after 16
7. but young people are leaving education increasingly less experienced

 

 

The Difference Engine: No more addresses

REMEMBER the panic over the “millennium bug”, when computers everywhere were expected to go haywire on January 1st, 2000, thanks to the way a lot of old software used just two digits to represent the year instead of four? Doomsters predicted all sorts of errors in calculations involving dates when the clocks rolled over from 99 to 00. In the event, the millennium dawned without incident. That may have been because of the draconian preparations undertaken beforehand. Or perhaps, as many suspected, the problem was grossly exaggerated in the first place, as it often happens. Certainly, the computer industry made a packet out of all the panic-buying of new hardware and software in the months leading up to the new millennium. And who would blame them for this? Business is business.

Well, something similar is about to happen in the months ahead. This time, the issue concerns the exhaustion of Internet addresses – those four numbers ranging from 0 to 255 separated by dots that uniquely identify every device attached to the Internet. According to Hurricane Electric, an Internet backbone and services provider based in Fremont, California, the Internet will run out of bulk IP addresses sometime next week – given the rate addresses are currently being gobbled up.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) will then have doled out all its so-called " slash-eight" blocks of addresses to the five regional Internet registries around the world. In turn, the registries are expected to have allocated all their remaining addresses to local network operators by October at the latest. After that, any organization applying for new addresses will be told, “Sorry, none left”.

The issue is real and has been a long time in the making. The Economist first warned about it ten years ago. The problem concerns the address space of the existing version of the Internet protocol (IPv4), which is only 32 bits wide. The total number of binary addresses possible with such an arrangement is 4.3 billion. Back in the 1980s, when the Internet connected just a couple of dozen research institutes in America, that seemed like a huge number. Besides, the Internet was thought at the time to be just a temporary network anyway.

But with the invention of the Web in 1990 came an explosion in popular demand. It was soon clear that it was only a matter of time before the Internet would exhaust its supply of addresses. Work on a replacement for IPv4 began in the early 1990s, with IPv6 finally being made available around 1998. By giving the new internet version an address space of 128 bits, the designers pretty well guaranteed that it would not run out of unique identifiers for decades, or even centuries, to come.

Two raised to the 128th power is an astronomical number. That will come in handy when the " Internet of things " becomes a reality. Already, some two billion people have access to the Internet. Add all the televisions, phones, cars and household appliances that are currently being given Internet access – plus, eventually, every book, pill case and item of inventory as well – and a world or two of addresses could easily be accounted for. And yet, the solution of any problem begins with its verbalization. We are forewarned and it means – forearmed.

 

The fears of the users about the “millennium bug” were …
  1) justified.
  2) unrealistic.
  3) overestimated.
  4) suppressed.
Which of the following was NOT the reason why the “millennium bug” didn’t work?
  1) The users took necessary precautions.
  2) The manufacturers had improved software.
  3) The new hardware had been installed.
  4) The problem never existed.
The number of available IP addresses is limited by …
  1) address space of the Internet protocol.
  2) the Internet protocol version.
  3) the number of organizations applying.
  4) the number of computers connected to the Internet.
The solution of the problem with the lack of IP addresses is to …
  1) restrict the number of users.
  2) improve the current Internet protocol.
  3) add a temporary network.
  4) speed up research.
The existing version of the protocol was believed appropriate because …
  1) the net was not popular.
  2) the addresses were not permanent.
  3) no one expected the demand to grow.
  4) another network was being developed.
The phrase “Internet of things” refers to …
  1) personal computers of the users.
  2) appliances with access to the Web.
  3) things ordered through the Internet.
  4) a new network replacing the current Internet.
Speaking of the future of the world-wide web, the author appears to be …
  1) doubtful.
  2) hopeful.
  3) overexcited.
  4) pessimistic.

 

 

1. Back from the seas
2. A museum of popular drinks
3. Magic as attraction
4. One tool museum
 
5. Not a bank but …
6. Still moving along
7. A brand new shore museum
8. To play any tune
A. The Salem Witch Museum brings you back to Salem of 1692 for a dramatic overview of the Witch Trials, including stage sets with life-size figures, lighting and a narration. There is also a possibility to go on a candlelight tour to four selected homes. The museum is open all year round and closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Salem is also famous for its Haunted Happenings, a 24-day Halloween festival.
B. The Discover Sea Shipwreck Museum opened its doors in 1995, and has one of the largest collections of shipwreck and recovered artifacts in the Mid-Atlantic. It contains about 10, 000 artifacts from local and worldwide locations, including an intact blown-glass hourglass from a 200-year-old shipwreck, which is also the world's deepest wooden wreck at the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.
C. The Seashore Trolley Museum is the oldest and largest electric railway museum in the world. It was founded in 1939 with one open trolley car, No. 31 from the Biddeford & Saco Railroad Company. The Seashore Trolley Museum contains over 250 transit vehicles, mostly trolleys, from the United States, Canada and abroad. Visitors can even take a trip along the Maine countryside aboard a restored early-1900s electric streetcar.
D. American Hop Museum is dedicated to the brewing industry and located in the heart of the Yakima Valley's hop fields, which gather the best harvest for producing beer. It chronicles the American hop industry from the New England colonies to its expansion into California and the Pacific Northwest, and includes historical equipment, photos and artifacts that pay tribute to hop, the everlasting vine that is still an integral part of the brewing industry.
E. The Money Museum in Colorado Springs is America's largest museum dedicated to numismatics (the study of collecting coins and metals). The collection contains over 250, 000 items from the earliest invention of money to modern day, with items including paper money, coins, tokens, medals, and traditional money from all over the world. Highlights include the 1804 dollar, the 1913 V Nickel, the 1866 no motto series, a comprehensive collection of American gold coins, and experimental pattern coins and paper money.
F. The Kenneth G. Fiske Museum of Musical Instruments in California has one of the most diverse collections of musical instruments in the United States. This museum is home to over 1, 400 American, European and ethnic instruments from the 17th–20th centuries. Selections from all parts of the world also include keyboards, brass, woodwind, stringed, percussion, mechanical and electronic instruments. Other highlights are rare pieces from the violin and viola families, reed organs and instruments from the Orient and Tibet.
G. The Hammer Museum in Alaska is the world’s first museum dedicated to hammers. The Museum provides a view of the past through the use of man’s first tool. You will find over 1500 hammers on display, ranging from ancient times to the present. The museum does not have any paid staff, and it is run by volunteers. This quaint and quirky museum is an interesting and informative stop for the whole family.

 

 

Saturday jobs: memories of weekend working Research has shown a sharp fall in the number of teenagers who do Saturday jobs. It seems such a shame – my Saturday job as a kitchen porter was something of a rite of passage. I'll never forget long hours A__________, scouring grease off huge saucepans and griddles. Working atmosphere there helped me grow a thicker skin, develop quicker banter and, most importantly, taught me the value of hard work. It also resulted in a steady supply of cash, B__________. I'm not the only one who has strong memories of weekend work. DJ Trevor Nelson said everyone should be able to have a Saturday job: " It taught me a lot, C__________." The link between the type of Saturday job a celebrity performed and their later career is sometimes obvious. Dragon's Den star and businessman Peter Jones, for example, showed early promise by starting his own business. " I passed my Lawn Tennis Association coaching exam, D__________, " he explains. " At the start I was coaching other kids, E__________, for which I could charge £ 25–30 an hour. While my friends on milk rounds were getting £ 35 a week, I was doing five hours on a Saturday and earning four times as much." Skier Chemmy Alcott got a job working for the Good Ski Guide, on the advertising side. " It became clear to me what my personal value to companies could be. It led directly to me finding my head sponsor … and it offered me an eight-year contract. That gave me the financial backing F__________." As part of its response to the Saturday job statistics, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills said a lack of early work opportunities makes it harder for young people to acquire experience for their CVs.  

 

 
1. but soon I got adults wanting to book lessons
2. which I would happily spend as I liked
3. which let me know he approved of me
4. and things would be different if everyone was given the chance
5. which I needed to become a professional skier
6. that I spent in the kitchen of a busy country pub in East Sussex
7. and I persuaded my local club to let me use a court on Saturdays

 

 


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