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】

试题分析：文章介绍了两位心理学家对数学的教与学进行的一项研究报告。

1.细节题。根据第二段第2行In a new study about the way kids learn math in elementary school可知这一研究是想了解学生学数学的情况的，B正确。

2.推理题。根据划线的前一句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.可知女学生对自己越来越没有自信，那么成绩会变差，最终和她们的老师一样，对数学失去信心。

3.细节题。根据倒数第三段的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.这项研究要求老师说出他们的想法。

4.计算题。根据第四段可知65个女孩参加了测试，在倒数第二段倒数第二行20 girls showed feeling that boys would be better at math可知大约百分之30的女孩认为男孩子在数学方面更擅长。故C正确。

5.细节题。根据第二段3,4行Beilock and Levine found a surprising relationship between what female teachers think and what female students learn可知他们很惊讶的发现两者间的联系。B正确。

考点：考查教育类短文

点评：本文主要还是考查了细节题和推理题，注重综合语言能力的运用，需要根据段落大意，结合语境，做出准确的判断。还有计算题，英语的计算题都是很简单的，只要初级的数学知识就可以完成。