Question

Going to school means learning new skills and facts in different subjects. Teachers teach and students learn, and many scientists are interested in finding ways to improve both teaching and learning processes.

Sian Beilock and Susan Leving, two psychologists at the University of Chicago, are trying to learn about learning. In a new study about the way kids learn math in elementary school, Beilock and Levine found a surprising relationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn: If a female teacher is uncomfortable with her own math skills, then her female students are more likely to believe that boys are better than girls at math. “If these girls keep getting math-anxious female teachers in later grades, it may create a snowball effect on their math achievement,” Levine told Science News. The study suggests that if these girls grow up believing that boys are better at math than girls are, then these girls may not do as well as they would have if they were more confident.

Just as students find certain subjects to be difficult, teachers can find certain subjects to be difficult to learn—and teach. The subject of math can be particularly difficult for everyone.

The new study involved 65 girls, 52 boys and 17 first-and second-grade teachers in elementary schools in the Midwest. The students took math achievement tests at the beginning and end of the school year, and the researchers compared the scores.

The researchers also gave the students tests to tell whether the students believed a math superstar had to be a boy. Then the researchers turned to the teachers: To find out which teachers were anxious about math, the researchers asked the teachers how they felt at times when they came across math, such as when reading a sales receipt. A teacher who got nervous looking at the numbers on a sales receipt, for example, was probably anxious about math.

Boys, on average, were unaffected by a teacher’s anxiety. On average, girls with math-anxious teachers scored lower on the end-of-the-year math tests than other girls in the study did. Plus, on the test showing whether someone thought a math superstar had to be a boy, 20 girls showed feeling that boys would be better at math—and all of these girls had been taught by female teachers with math anxiety.

According to surveys done before this one, college students who want to become elementary school teachers have the highest levels of anxiety about math. Plus, nine of every 10 elementary teachers are women, Levine said.

1.Sian Beilock and Susan Levine carried out the new research in order to ___________.

A．know the effects of teaching on learning      B．study students’ ways of learning math

C．prove women teachers are unfit to teach math D．find better teaching methods for teachers

2.The underlined part in paragraph 2 most probably means that girls may ___________.

A．end up learning math anxiety from their teachers

B．study the ways their female teachers behave

C．have an influence on their math-anxious female teachers

D．gain unexpected achievement in such subjects as math

3.In the study, what were the teachers required to do?

A．Prepare two math achievement tests for the students

B．Tell their feelings about math problems

C．Answer whether a math superstar had to be a boy

D．Compare the students’ scores after the math tests

4.What is the finding of the new study?

A．No male students were affected by their teachers’ anxiety

B．Almost all the girls got lower scores in the tests than the boys

C．About 30% of the girls thought boys are better at math than girls

D．Girls with math-anxious teachers all failed in the math tests

5.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A．117 students and teachers took part in the new study

B．The researchers felt surprised at the findings of their study

C．Beilock and Levine are interested in teaching math

D．Men teachers are better at teaching math than women teachers

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.B

2.A

3.B

4.C

5.B 

【解析】

試題分析：文章介紹了兩位心理學家對數學的教與學進行的一項研究報告。

1.細節題。根據第二段第2行In a new study about the way kids learn math in elementary school可知這一研究是想了解學生學數學的情況的，B正確。

2.推理題。根據劃線的前一句If a female teacher is uncomfortable with her own math skills, then her female students are more likely to believe that boys are better than girls at math.可知女學生對自己越來越沒有自信，那么成績會變差，最終和她們的老師一樣，對數學失去信心。

3.細節題。根據倒數第三段的3,4行the researchers asked the teachers how they felt at times when they came across math, such as when reading a sales receipt.這項研究要求老師說出他們的想法。

4.計算題。根據第四段可知65個女孩參加了測試，在倒數第二段倒數第二行20 girls showed feeling that boys would be better at math可知大約百分之30的女孩認為男孩子在數學方面更擅長。故C正確。

5.細節題。根據第二段3,4行Beilock and Levine found a surprising relationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn可知他們很驚訝的發現兩者間的聯系。B正確。

考點：考查教育類短文

點評：本文主要還是考查了細節題和推理題，注重綜合語言能力的運用，需要根據段落大意，結合語境，做出準確的判斷。還有計算題，英語的計算題都是很簡單的，只要初級的數學知識就可以完成。