Title: Stereotypes Lower Test Scores
Producer: Emily Halevy
Feed: CWKN #441, June 10, 2008
Time: 1:33


SUGGESTED LEAD: WHEN STUDENTS TAKE A TEST IN SCHOOL, HOW WELL THEY PERFORM DEPENDS ON HOW SMART THEY ARE… HOW HARD THEY HAVE STUDIED… AND SOMETHING ELSE: HOW THEY SEE THEMSELVES… AND HOW OTHERS SEE THEM. MORE ABOUT THE POWER OF STEREOTYPES ON TODAY’S CONNECT WITH KIDS.  
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NARR: WHY DO GIRLS THINK THEY DO WORSE IN MATH THAN BOYS?  (:04)

SOT: Mia Williams, 17 years old  (:05)
“I guess because it’s very confusing.”

SOT: Simone Brooks, 15 years old  (:09)
“Maybe because they were under pressure or they felt like they weren’t as good as everybody else.”

NARR:  IN A RECENT STUDY BY INDIANA UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE STUDENTS TAKING A MATH TEST WERE DIVIDED INTO GROUPS. IN ONE, THE STUDENTS WERE REMINDED OF HOW SMART THEY MUST BE TO ATTEND A UNIVERSITY THAT’S NOT EASY TO GET INTO.

BUT ANOTHER GROUP WAS REMINDED OF THE STEREOTYPE … THAT FEMALES AREN’T AS GOOD AT MATH.  (:20)

SUPER: Ken Carter, Ph.D., Psychologist  (:34)
“When we introduced the idea that there might be gender differences in the exam, we saw some dramatic decreases in the women’s performance.”

NARR: IN OTHER WORDS … WHEN THE GIRLS THOUGHT ABOUT GENDER … THOUGHT ABOUT STEREOTYPES… THEY BECAME ANXIOUS… AND THEIR MATH SCORES WENT DOWN.  (:08)

SOT: Ken Carter, PhD, Psychologist
“And because they’re fighting with that anxiety and distraction, sometimes even at an unconscious level, having to compete with that and do the task decreases their performance.”

NARR: HE SAYS PARENTS CAN WARN THEIR DAUGHTERS ABOUT STEREOTYPES… EXPLAIN THAT THEY ARE OFTEN FALSE AND THAT THEY ARE ALWAYS GENERALIZATIONS. (:09)

SOT: Ken Carter, PhD, Psychologist
“You’ll hear this, that sometimes women don’t do well in math or there are no women in sciences, um, but, you know … you’re learning for you. You like math, you like sciences, it’s fun for you and encourage them in that way.”

NARR: I’M STACEY DEWITT FOR CONNECT WITH KIDS.  (:03)

SUGGESTED TAG:  EXPERTS FOUND STUDENTS WHO WERE REMINDED OF POSITIVE STEREOTYPES OUTPERFORMED THOSE REMINDED OF NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES. FOR MORE INFORMATION LOG ONTO WWW.CONNECTWITHKIDS.COM