Math performance gap between genders widened during the pandemic, as schools grapple to recover lost educational ground.

In the wake of the pandemic, a concerning trend emerged: girls reported higher levels of anxiety and depression, shouldered more caretaking burdens than boys, but the dip in academic performance did not extend beyond STEM subjects. This shift in academic performance has sparked a renewed effort to close the gender gap in STEM classes.

One such school leading this charge is de Zavala Middle School in Irving, Texas, a choice school focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The school's innovative approach to education is making waves, with a focus on building curiosity, resilience, and problem-solving across subjects.

In a third-grade classroom in Washington, D.C., girls rarely describe themselves as good at math. However, at de Zavala, a workshop table was crowded with four girls who were building a Lego machine. The lesson involved kinetic energy, and fifth graders learned about genetics by building dinosaurs and their offspring with Lego blocks.

Teacher Tenisha Willis, at Irving's Townley Elementary School, helped students build a machine that pushed blocks into a container. Willis was patient with students who struggled, encouraging them to adjust their solutions when necessary. The teacher at de Zavala emphasised that mistakes in the building process are referred to as iterations.

The girls used a purple card and an orange card to test the Lego machine, and it reacted differently to each color. This hands-on learning approach, combined with the school's focus on problem-solving, is helping to bridge the gender gap in STEM.

The Irving Independent School District, the organization dedicated to developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills among students, piloted a new science curriculum from Lego Education in 2021. This new curriculum is part of a push to rebuild the culture of critical thinking and problem-solving in Irving schools.

Janine Remillard, a math education professor at the University of Pennsylvania, suggests that girls may have been more sensitive to changes in instructional methods during the pandemic. By providing a consistent, engaging, and interactive learning environment, schools like de Zavala are helping to mitigate these effects.

Efforts to close the gender gap between boys and girls in STEM classes have picked up after losing steam during the COVID-19 pandemic. The school recruited a sixth-grade class that is half girls, with the hope that they will continue to pursue STEM fields.

Teacher Raphael Bonhomme finds it concerning when girls say they are "not a math person" at such a young age. By providing a supportive and engaging learning environment, schools like de Zavala are helping to dispel these stereotypes and encourage girls to embrace their potential in STEM.

A separate study by NWEA found gaps between boys and girls in science and math on national assessments favouring boys around 2022. However, the success of schools like de Zavala suggests that with the right approach, these gaps can be closed.

The pandemic upended progress toward closing the gender gap in math test scores, with boys outscoring girls in nearly nine out of 10 districts in 2023-2024. But with schools like de Zavala leading the way, there is hope that the future will see a more balanced landscape in STEM education.