February 2015CARS Convention

Ginna Guiang-Myers

Ginna Guiang-Myers-20 years of teaching-2 years teaching an all-boys class-10 years in the Philippines and 8 years in the U.S.-Mother of 1 boy and aunt to 14 nephews

• Academic performance:

Boy Crisis?

• Brain Differences: Do they exist?

• Effects of culture and societal

expectations

• Classroom Implications: Are there

boy-friendly ways of teaching?

1. Science is a dynamic field and scientific evidence is

cumulative in nature. Educators must always be

cognizant of the limitations of Science.

2. The debate about nature vs. nurture is alive and

well! Biological and environmental factors

synergistically influence the development of the child.

What is being argued is the relative degree of

influence.

3. Differences are averages.

I am more likely to dislike school and to believe that school dislikes me. I am more likely to be below grade level in reading and to never catch up. I am more likely to be labeled mentally delayed and less likely to be labeled gifted. I am more likely to be on medication to get me to sit still. I am more likely to be checked out, dropped out or kicked out. My literacy scores are depressing the rankings of every school where I attend. You will find me in every racial, linguistic and economic subgroup. Who am I?

1.Sex2.Gender3.Gender

Identity4.Sexual

orientation

A. Refers to the sex of those to whom one is sexually and romantically attracted.B. The attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture bestows, it is a social constructC. Biological status, XX or XY, external genitaliaD. “one’s sense of oneself as male, female, or transgender.”

APA, 2011

Males and females are

equal in common

membership of the same

species, humankind, but to

maintain that they are the

same in aptitude, skill, or

behavior is to build a

society based on a

biological and scientific

lie.” -Anne Moir and David Jussell

“Our actual ability differences

are quite small. Although

psychologists can measure

statistically significant

distinctions between large

groups of men and women or

boys and girls, there is much

more overlap in the academic

and even social-emotional

abilities of the genders than

there are differences.”

-Lise Elliott

1. Read the message.

2. Add your thoughts.

• Biological sex is highly predictive of gender (Mikhalevich & Powell, 2016).

• Gender is an outcome resulting from psychobiosocialprocessess.

Boys get the majority of Ds and Fs in most schools- in some, as high as 70 percent.

Boys make up 80% of our discipline problems.

Of children diagnosed with behavior disorders, 80 percent are boys.

Over 80% of school children on Ritalin or similar medications are boys. As of 2004, the number of boys on Ritalin approached five million.

From: Gurian and Stevens (2005)

According to the U.S. Department of Education, our sons are an average a year to a year and a half behind girls in reading and writing skills. (Girls are behind boys in math and science but to a lesser degree).

Of high school dropouts, 80 percent are young males.

Young men now make up less than 44% of our college population.

From: Gurian and Stevens (2005)

In Special Education (NEA, NASP, 2007):• Nearly 75 percent of students with specific learning disabilities are male. • Seventy-six percent of students receiving special education services under the category of emotionally disturbed are male. • More than 50 percent of students receiving speech/language therapy services are male.

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Males

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2012 ELA CST-% A and P MALES 2012 ELA CST-% A and P FEMALES

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State LAUSD TRUSD Davis JUSD Piedmont USD

SBAC Results: M x F

ELA- F ELA- M Math - F Math - M

GENDER-Related

Behavior

BiologicalSex

Image source: www.ucsf.edu

Blakemore et al. (2008), Ngun et al. (2011)

BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS

Proximal causes

Distal causes

Image source: www.phys.org

Sex chromosomesGenesHormones

Evolutionaryprocesses

Blakemore et al. (2008)

• Berenbaum and Beltz (2016) argue for the critical role of prenatal androgens on certain aspects of gender development.

• Early developmental exposure to androgens have been linked to gender-typed toy preferences and certain cognitive abilities (spatial reasoning).

• Evidence from OS and SS twins

-Gender developed as a function of adaptive pressures. Gender-related behaviors that increased chances of survival and reproduction are selected for. -Sexual selection allowed for human males and females to evolve to facilitate reproductive success (Blakemore et al.,2008).

Image source: www.hngn.com

1. Prefrontal cortex – larger in females, mature faster in females.

2. Anterior cingulate cortex – smaller in men than in women (“worry wart” center, fear of punishment area)

3. Ventral tagmental area – more active in the male brain (intiates movement, motivation, and receptive to rewards).

4. Rostral cingulate zone – larger in males than females (registers social approval and disapproval).

5. Amygdala – larger in males than females (emotion-center of the brain)

6. Temporal parietal junction – more active in the male brain (“problem solving, take charge” center)

Male monkeys, like boys, showed consistent and strong preferences for wheeled toys, while female monkeys, like girls, showed greater variability in preferences. Thus, the magnitude of preference for wheeled over plush toys differed significantly between males and females (Hassett, Siebert & Wallen, 2008).

"One of the largest and most persistent differences between the sexes are children's play preferences (Geary, 2012)."

Girls with CAH

Girls Unaffected

Boys with CAH

Boys Unaffected

Plays with Girls’ Toys

Plays with Boys’ Toys

Sex-Typed ChildhoodActivities and Interests

• Boys show higher levels of ‘rough and tumble’ play across species- humans, primates, goats, puppies, colts, rats, etc.

• Dependent on hormone

• Prediction, not a determination of behavior.

98% of the girls

drew people and

flowers.

Boys drew a

moving object.

Boys, had no

horizon, lots of

kinetic energy.

Girls used flesh

colored palette.

One-day old infant boys also show greater attention to mechanical crib mobiles than girls do (Connellan et al. 2000).

Girls show greater attention to faces by 12 months old (Lutchmaya & Baron-Cohen 2002, 2004).

Mutual gazing

• Spatial Ability

• Ability to see patterns and

abstract relationships

• Males find it easier to

disentangle a hidden geometric

figure from a larger pattern.

This ability is astonishingly

hormone-mediated.

Testosterone Mental Rotation Tasks

The average male is better at these tasks than

80% of females.

1 2 3 4 5

Verbal fluency Communication skills Girls learn to speak earlier

Girls are better at mastering the

subtleties of sophisticated grammar

At the age of three, 99% of the

speech of girls is comprehensible

Girls and women hear better than

men

Females of all ages outperform

males on tests requiring the

recognition of emotion or

relationships among other

people.

Sex differences in empathy

emerge in infancy and persist

throughout development.

On Average:Men are better than women at rotating images

mentally…

While women are quicker at spotting when 2 images are alike…

Women are better at generating words…

Men are more accurate at targeting tasks…

Women can recognize missing objects…

Spotting when a particular object is embedded in a more complex pattern is done more easily by men…

1. Each member reads a section.

2. Each member distills main idea.

3. From main idea, all members identify a

teaching take-away.

In humans, the 2D: 4D ratio, or the ratio of the second digit to the fourth is a sexually dimorphic trait?Males, on average, exhibit lower 2D:4D ratios than do women. It is hypothesized that this ratio is a reflection of prenatal androgen exposure (Hone & McCullough, 2012).

…Now you know!

Image source: www.buffalo.edu

Reflective Walk.Find a walking buddy.Reflect on what you have just learned.Walk twice around the room.

Strategies

1. Make movement a regular

part of your instructional

routine.

e.g. outdoor activities,

games

How about stand up note-taking and reading?

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/graphing-linear-equations-lesson

Movement + Content = Engagement

Teachers should also

move around their

classrooms too as they

teach.

-Use quick classroom

energizers.

From: http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/604-gurian.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ea2GmBqFo

2. Integrate more projects into units of study.

Products that goProducts that have a purposeProducts that illustrateProducts that engage

3. Teachers increase the use of

graphics, pictures, and storyboards in

literacy-related classes and

assignments. When teachers use

pictures and graphics more often (even

well into high school), boys write with

more detail, retain more information, and

get better grades on written work across

the curriculum.

From: http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/604-gurian.aspx

4. Approximately 50 percent of reading

and writing choices in a classroom are

left up to the students

themselves. Regularly including

nontraditional materials, such as graphic

novels, magazines, and comic books,

increases boys' engagement in reading and

improves both creative and expository writing.

From: http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/604-gurian.aspx

Reconsider reading lists! Think “non-traditional.”-fiction, non-fiction-graphic novels, comics-music lyrics-texts with pop culture appeal-action-oriented books-sports cards-superhero themes-newspapers-magazines of high interest

5. Teachers provide competitive

learning opportunities, even while

holding to cooperative learning

frameworks. Competitive learning

includes classroom debates, content-

related games, and goal-oriented

activities; these are often essential for

boy-learning and highly useful for the

life success of girls, too.From: http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/604-gurian.aspx

6. Classroom curricula include skills

training in time, homework, and

classroom management. In order to feel

competent, engaged, and motivated,

many boys need help learning how to do

homework, follow directions, and succeed

in school and life; classrooms are the

primary place these boys come for that

training.

• Appreciate the range of skills and talents• Strengthen spatial awareness• Add movement to your instruction• Engage boys with words• Build on the visual• Incorporate student interests and choices• Avoid stereotyping and be aware of

stereotype threat

Ginna Myersgmyers@eurekausd.org