Educators Revisit Girls’ Loss of Math, Science Interest

Some Suggest Employing Varied Teaching Strategies to Motivate Students

Researchers, psychologists, and educators have spent years trying to decipher the riddle of nature vs. nurture, and when the topic is male and female students’ abilities in math and science, the arguing never stops.

Girls’ seeming loss of interest in the subjects as they move from elementary school through graduation—even as their overall achievement in those areas has risen—has long vexed administrators, teachers, and others. Now, many educators are re-examining the issue, as the fallout persists from comments by Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers on the relationship between gender and aptitude.

In a speech at a conference on women and minorities in science and engineering in January, Mr. Summers addressed the issue of the dearth of tenured women professors in those areas at top universities. He speculated that differences in “intrinsic aptitude” between males and females, particularly among the highest-achieving performers, could be a potential cause for that...