BOYS AND GIRLS LEARN DIFFERENTLYKarri MinksKatrina Craig

DIFFERENCES IN BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

Ever notice that smart boy who doesn’t do his homework, fidgets all the time, and is getting low grades? Or the girl who uses the computer to IM her friends but steers clear of the more essential computer skills?

DIFFERENCES IN BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

PET scans and MRI’s show structural and functional differences that profoundly affect human learning.

Culture does affect gender roles, costume, and nuances…

but new brain imaging technologies confirm that genetically templated brain patterns play a far larger role than once thought.

DIFFERENCES IN BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

Gender and education research shows a mismatch between boys’ and girls’ learning brains and how education is being delivered.

DIFFERENCES IN BRAIN DEVELOPMENTRecognizing the

differences can help educators find solutions to some of the challenges we face in classrooms.

Remember: Generalized gender differences will not apply in every case.

THE MINDS OF GIRLS• A girl’s corpus callosum is up to 25% larger than a boys by adolescence,

enabling more cross talk between hemispheres in the female brain. • Cross talk is important, maybe even necessary, for creativity (Begley,

n.d.).

• Girls have stronger neural connectors in their temporal lobes than boys do:• More sensually detailed memory storage• Better listening skills and better discrimination among tones of voice• Greater use of detail in writing assignments

THE MINDS OF GIRLS• Girls’ hippocampus is larger

• Increases girls’ learning advantage, especially in language arts• Prefrontal cortex more active and develops earlier

• Means girls make fewer impulsive decisions• Cortical areas used for verbal and emotive functioning

• Boys use that for spatial and mechanical functioning

THE MIND OF GIRLS• On the whole, the complexities of reading and writing come easier to the

female brain. • The female brain tends to drive itself towards stimulants (like reading and

writing) that involve complex texture, tonality, and mental activity.

THE MINDS OF GIRLSFemale brain doesn’t activate as many cortical areas of the brain for abstract and physical-spatial functions – one reason for their discomfort with complex computer design language.

THE MINDS OF GIRLS

Though some girls excel in these areas, more males than females gravitate towards physics, industrial engineering, and architecture.

THE MINDS OF GIRLSShould we leave girls out of classes or careers that use spatial-mechanical skills? Duh – of course not!

Educators should provide girls with extra encouragement and gender specific strategies to successfully engage them in spatial abstracts including computer design.

THE MINDS OF BOYSBoys dedicate more cortical areas to spatial-mechanical functioning. This makes boys want to move objects through space - like balls, model airplanes, or even their arms and legs.

THE MINDS OF BOYS• Boys have less serotonin and oxytocin, the primary human bonding

chemical, than girls do. This makes them:

• More likely to be physically impulsive• Less likely that they will neurally combat their natural impulsiveness to sit

still and chat with a friend.

• Boys lateralize brain activity, making it harder for them to multi-task, transition quickly, and pay attention.

THE MINDS OF BOYS• The boy brain needs to enter a rest state in order to recharge, renew, and

reorient itself. • This rest state looks like:

• Falling asleep in class• Tapping pencils or fidgeting in order to try to keep self awake

• The more words a teacher uses during the lesson the more likely a boy is to “zone out” or go into rest state. • The male brain is better suited for symbols, abstractions, diagrams, pictures, and objects moving through space than for the monotony of words.

THE MINDS OF BOYS• These differences illustrate:

• why boys learn higher level math and physics more easily than girls when those subjects are taught abstractly on a whiteboard

• and why more boys than girls play video games that involve physical movement

• and why more boys than girls get in trouble for impulsiveness.

STARTLING (OR NOT SO STARTLING) STATISTICS

• Boys earn 70% of D’s and F’s and fewer than half of the A’s. • Boys account for two thirds of learning disability diagnosis. • Boys represent 90% of behavior referrals. • 80% of high school dropouts are male. • Boys dominate brain related learning disorders such as ADD/ADHD, with

millions medicated in schools today.

These statistics hold true around the world.

OKAY, THEY’RE DIFFERENT. NOW WHAT?

• If possible, allow boys ample space to spread out. Boys tend to need more learning space than girls do. Allow boys to stand when answering/asking Q’s.

• Have a variety of seating options: desks, tables, even rugs for sitting on the floor. Though this may lead to a classroom with a little more movement and noise, boys can actually stay more focused with just a little bit of movement.

• Boys are better able to verbalize when they are doing something. Have stress balls for boys to play with during class.

• Put boys to work after giving them an abbreviated bulleted list of instructions. Have them answer questions after 10 minutes.

• For girls, take more time to explain instructional processes and answer their questions.

For boys, use problem based learning.Start units or lessons with an essential question that involves decisions or choices.

For girls, use project based learning; embed units or lesson with connections to the real world and show relationships between skills and lives of people.

STRATEGIES TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM

• Increase experiential and kinesthetic learning opportunities by creating task oriented opportunities for debate, discussion, and interaction and competition that involve physical movement, increased learning orientation in space and that keep boys (and girls) energized and attentive.

STRATEGIES TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM

Support literacy through spatial-visual representations by addressing the need for nonverbal planning tools, especially in males, to help bridge the gap between what students are thinking and what they're able to put down on paper, by assigning tasks that require other forms of spatial and visual representation like storyboards.

STRATEGIES TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM

Let boys and girls choose topics that appeal to them by • Giving students greater choice in what they read and write • Recognizing that action, competition, and heroism is of interest to

males, while using this interest as an opportunity to teach lessons on character, nonviolence, and civility.

STRATEGIES TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM

Help boys with homework by requesting that parents sign homework assignments,and follow up with parents when they don’t.

Offer single-gender learning environments by using single-gender groupings for different purposes in coeducational classes.

Competition and the opportunity to earn public respect have helped motivate many under motivated students—especially boys.

STRATEGIES TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM

• Seek out male role models for literacy by partnering with parents and by actively encouraging men to visit classrooms to share their own writing and speak about their work.

REFERENCESBegley, S. (n.d.). When is a brick not a brick? Retrieved from http://www.sharonlbegley.com/how-to-make-yourself-more-creativeChadwell, D. (2007). Engaging the differences between boys and girls. Middle Matters, 15(4). Gurian, M., & Stevens, K. (2004). With girls and boys in mind. Educational Leadership, 62(3), 21-26. Mawhinney, H.B., et al. (2006). Design principles for learner centered schools: Improving student learning through differentiation. Council of

Educational Administrative & Supervisory Organizations of Maryland.