Tackling the Gender Gap in Mathematics with Active Learning Methodologies

Gender gaps in mathematics are at the root of gender differences in human capital accumulation, but the role of teaching practices on such gaps has been underinvestigated. We implement a teaching methodology to improve children’s mathematical skills and evaluate the causal effect of the intervention on the gender gap in mathematics in Italy with a randomised controlled trial. The methodology, grounded in active and cooperative learning, focuses on peer interaction, sharing of ideas, learning from mistakes, and problem-solving. The treatment significantly improves girls’ math performance (0.14 standard deviations), with no impact on boys, and reduces the math gender gap by about 40 %. The effect is stronger for girls with high pre-test scores.