Gender Differences In Learning

1
Gender Differences In Learning

• Katisha Moton
• October 26, 2006
• EDCI 5300 Dr. Beth Morton Christian

2
Introduction

• Educating children is a difficult job. As an
  educator you must not only have knowledge of your
  subject area but also find a way to teach the
  subject in a way that is understandable to all
  students.
• What if you knew a child had an individual
  characteristic that would prevent a child from
  learning? In most cases you would work to make
  sure the child felt included or spend extra time
  with the student.

3
Overview

• This presentation will discuss research
• on how females and males learn and
• whether these differences really do
• influence their success in school. The
• topics of how both genders are treated in the
  classroom, specific gender differences in
  learning and the arguments for single sex
  schooling will be examined.

4
Classroom Treatment

• It may seem incredible that teachers
• may reinforce some of the gender stereotypes
  in the classroom. This type of stereotyped
  behavior is not limited to just one particular
  gender of teacher.

5
Classroom Treatment

• Both male and female teachers may exhibit the
  following behaviors.

• Boys often get more attention from the teacher in
  class.
• Boys receive more attention in class but receive
  stricter punishment than girls for the same
  offense.
• Boys get asked more complex questions in the
  classroom.

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Classroom Treatment

• Although it seems that boys have an advantage
  in the classroom because more time is used for
  their instruction, there is some evidence that
  boys are falling behind girls in academic
  performance.
• Mulrine (2001) reports that boys are making
  failing grades more often and labeled as having
  learning disabilities.
• Also studies conducted in British Columbia show
  that girls perform better on reading and writing
  on standardized testing.

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Classroom Treatment

• But girls still lag behind boys in the
  classroom in the way girls are socialized.

• Girls are socialized to be feminine (such traits
  as being quiet and popular are reinforced
  although boys are expected to be speak up and
  think on their own).
• Being assertive as a female is not encouraged or
  seen as disruptive in the classroom.
• Boys are more likely to be referred to be tested
  for gifted programs (although they represent a
  larger number in the special education classrooms)

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Classroom Treatment

• Ready, LoGerfo, Burkam and Lee (2005) studied
  differences in male and female kindergarten
  students. Teachers were more likely to rate the
  behavior and academic skills of the girls as
  favorable. Female students had better social
  behavior than the male students
• According to research findings from the National
  Center for Education Statistics (NCES) female
  students entered kindergarten with better
  literacy skills. Even though girls and boys have
  the same skill sets in kindergarten, girls have
  slightly higher reading proficiency. Boys have
  more learning and/or developmental delays and
  problems with attention and communicating with
  others.

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Learning Differences

• Now that we have discussed some of the
  attitudes that girls and boys face in the
  classroom we are going to examine whether their
  distinct learning differences may have some
  influence on how teachers approach each gender.
• Some male learning characteristics are
• More areas in the brain for spatial reasoning
• Have more type M ganglion cells in their visual
  system. These cells detect movement.
• Male brain enters a rest state several times a
  day. Often during these rest states in order to
  stay alert boys may fidget or act out.
• Are seen as more aggressive and impulsive than
  girls
• Engage in aggression nurturance or rough
  housing and insults with other males
• Take more time than girls to transition between
  activities and/or topics
• Feel less compelled to comply with the orders of
  teachers

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Learning Differences

• Female learning characteristics
• Brain has more cortical areas devoted to verbal
  emotive processing
• Have more P ganglion cells for vision which
  detect color and finer sensory movement
• Have more active prefrontal cortex than males and
  frontal lobes develop faster (areas responsible
  for reading, writing, speech)
• When brain is in a rest states more areas stay
  active
• Brains have more communication between the
  hemispheres of the brain. Females have the
  ability to multitask better.
• Seen as less competitive than males
• Girls are supposed to have much better hearing
  than boys. Studies suggest that maybe from two
  to four times better than boys depending on the
  frequency. So a teacher may be able to talk at a
  normal level for a classroom full of girls but
  once boys are added may need to raise his or her
  voice significantly to get every boys attention.
• So female students may feel that a teacher is
  yelling but really the teacher is simply trying
  to make sure that everyone is listening.

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Learning Differences

• Girls are more critical of their performance
  in school even though it has been reported that
  they do very well in academics. Boys seem to
  overestimate their ability to achieve.
• A study done by Pomerantz, Alterman and Saxon
  (2002) stated that girls will feel that they are
  disappointing a parent and/or teacher. Girls
  place more emphasis on pleasing others. Boys do
  not generalize their failures but contain them to
  the specific area in which they failed. As
  stated before boys do not necessarily concern
  themselves with pleasing others.

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Single Sex Schooling

• With all the arguments on how different boys
  and girls are as students would it be better to
  separate the sexes? Would this result in a
  better learning environment?

13
Single Sex Schooling

• In single sex classroom girls are encouraged to
  pursue non-traditional subjects such as math,
  science and computers. An example would be that
  in a classroom with both genders a girl would
  most likely choose the class with less males so
  as not to be intimidated in a subject area that
  is perceived to be male dominated.

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Single Sex Schooling

• No Child Left Behind Act also sites regulations
  that would allow single sex schooling in
  co-educational institutions

• There must be reasonable rationale for a single
  sex class in the subject
• There also must be a co-educational class in the
  subject
• Must be reviewed periodically to determine if the
  single sex is still necessary after a time period

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Conclusion

• It is obvious that there are several
  differences in female and male students. It does
  seem that a solution would be to separate the
  genders in order to individualize the classroom
  environment. This solution also seems to be a
  problem. The separation of the sexes would not
  mirror the real world in which males and females
  have to work together. In a way the classroom is
  preparation for what students would encounter in
  the real world. Educators need to be aware of
  each childs individual needs and encourage
  students that they need not follow stereotyped
  roles and also not reinforce these roles in the
  classroom.

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Websites

• The Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium
  (http//www.maec.org) focuses on creating
  classroom materials that are free from all types
  of discrimination. The report used in this
  presentation Title IX Gender Equity in Schools
  discuss bias in the classroom but also offers
  questions to ask yourself whether you actually
  exhibit these biases (http//www.maec.org/beyong.h
  tml)
• This site is useful for teachers and
  psychologists to identify problems in the
  classroom. It also offers questions to ask
  yourself whether you actually exhibit these
  biases (http//www.maec.org/beyong.html
• EdChange Multicultural Pavillion (EdChange.Org)
  report by Amanda Chapman, Gender Bias in
  Education (http//www.edchange.org/multicultural/
  papers/genderbias.html) focuses on the problems
  girls still face in the classroom. The site in
  general offers
• research regarding multicultural
  education. This site can be a good resource for
  teachers and psychologist interested in what
  obstacles they have in order to achieve a
  multicultural class environment.

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Websites

• Association for Supervision and Curriculum
  Development (ASCD)
• (www. ascd.org) offers information for all
  educators regarding school policy.
• This sites has access to survey and data
  collection for several studies regarding
  education from the elementary school to college.
  There is also a section on the site for children
  that contains several learning games. A good
  resource for teachers with elementary school age
  students. There is also plenty of research for
  psychologists to use.
• National Center for Education Statistics
  (http//www.nces.ed.gov) is a department within
  the U.S. Department of Education and the
  Institute of Education Sciences. This
  organization is responsible for collecting data
  related to education.
• This site has access to survey and data
  collection for several studies regarding
  education from the elementary school to college.
  There is also a section on the site for children
  that contains several learning games. A good
  resource for teachers with elementary school age
  students. There is also plenty of research for
  psychologists to use.

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Websites

• National Association for Single Sex Public
  Education (NASSPE) (http//www.singlesexschools.or
  g) is an advocate for single sex schools and
  classrooms for girls.

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Journal Resources

• Mulrine, A. (2001) Are Boys the Weaker Sex? U.S.
  New World Report, 131 (4), 40-48. Provides
  viewpoints for educators on whether boys are
  receiving and adequate education.
• Pomerantz, E., Altermatt, E. and Saxon, J.
  (2002). Making the grade but feeling distressed
  gender differences in academic performance and
  internal distress. Journal of Educational
  Psychology, 94, 396-404 A study that details
  academic performance in females.
• Ready, D., LoGerfo, L., Burkam, D., and Lee, V.
  (2005). Explaining Girls Advantage in
  Kindergarten Literacy Learning Do classroom
  Behaviors Make A Difference? The Elementary
  School Journal, 106, 21-38A useful study to
  explain the literacy skills in children.
• Sax, L. (2006). Six Degrees of Separation What
  Teachers Need to Know to Know about the Emerging
  Science of Sex Differences. Educational Horizons,
  84, 190-200
• A commentary on the advantages of
  single-sex schooling.