Gender difference in mathematics performance is one of the subjects that have been studied intensively. It was found that the gender differences in mathematics performance are particularly apparent on high cognitive level questions and for high-achieving students (Fennema & Carpenter, 1981). Gallagher and De Lisi (1994) pointed out that gender differences favoring high-ability male students over high-ability female students may be due in part to differences in solution strategies, since males and females use different strategies in response to mathematical problems. For example, researchers examined males and females' solution strategies in solving number facts, addition/subtraction, and non-routine problems found that females tended to use more concrete strategies and boys tended to use more abstract strategies (Fennema, Carpenter, Jacobs, Franke, & Levi, 1998). Others examined the gender differences between male and female high-ability students on a set of difficult conventional and unconventional SAT-M items and found a gender differences in success patterns and in strategy use on conventional and unconventional problems (Gallagher & De Lisi, 1994). However, there is lack of research about male and female students strategy use in geometric proof questions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the strategies 10th grade students use in geometric proof questions, regarding their gender.

The sample of the study was 224 tenth grade students from four Anatolian High Schools. 126 participants were female and 98 participants were males. Data was collected at the end of the academic year 2005-2006 through the use of Geometry Proof Test (GPT) as a data collection instrument. GPT, included eleven open-ended questions on triangle concept, was developed by first researcher to investigate strategies student use in geometric proof question. The proof schemes reported by Harel and Sowder (1998) were used as a framework while categorizing the students’ strategies. To analyze data, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with gender (male, female) as independent variables and three proof schemes use scores (externally-based, empirical, analytical) as the dependent variables was employed.

Regarding to gender, it was found that there was a significant difference in the empirical proof schemes use. Particularly, females used empirical proof schemes significantly more than the males. However, there was no statistically significant mean difference between the means of externally based proof schemes and analytical proof schemes use scores of males and females. This result revealed that although, females’ and males’ ability to write correct and complete proof is similar, they can use different strategies to write a proof. Particularly, females tended to use concrete strategies (examples and drawings) in proofs to concretize the proof situation. The significant differences in strategies suggest that gender is important individual differences and should be taken into consideration in mathematics instruction. Teachers should use appropriate methods and tools to meet the needs of students with different gender.