What do you see?

1. What do you see?

3. The Facts • The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports that in elementary and secondary schools across the U.S. girls consistently outperform boys in reading and writing. Girls outscore boys with an average of 24 points higher on writing assignments. • Boys take the lead in math and science. However, the gap in male and female achievement in these areas has been shrinking. • 70% of special education students nationwide are male. • High school graduation rates indicate that 72% of girls graduate compared to 65% of boys. • This trend continues into college, of every 100 men earning BA degrees, 133 women do.

4. Why Girls Outperform Boys in the Classroom By: SakinaBrik• Norda Kittrie • Erin Lamont • Anna Siegal

5. Gender-Based Physical Differences in the Brain…

6. Brain Development Controversial studies can be interpreted to suggest that boys’ brains develop differently than girls’ brains in several ways: • Development of hearing and vision • Development of small and gross motor skills • Activation of cross-brain pathways related to language • Effects of estrogen and testosterone • Interpersonal and empathetic skills.

7. “Given that there may be sex differences in the brain, what do they actually mean for differences in the mind?” -Dr. Cornelia Fine Size Differences in M/F Brains

8. • It has been claimed that girls’ hearing is up to 12 times as sensitive as that of boys. • Thus, boys may have trouble hearing the teacher clearly. • Girls may be more easily distracted than boys. • Boys may unintentionally distract their female counterparts, and be viewed as disruptive. Hearing Differences between Boys and Girls

9. As early as the day of their birth baby girls choose to focus on human faces, while baby boys choose to focus on mobiles. • As they go through school, boys continue to focus on moving images, girls take their visual cues from facial expressions and static images. Vision Differences Between Boys and Girls

10. Key Players… Dr. Leonard Sax, Dr. Cornelia Fine, Dr. Mark Liberman

11. Questions to Ponder… • Could physical differences between boys and girls explain the imbalance of autism, ADHD diagnosis? • How do differences within groups of boys (or girls) compare to differences between boys and girls? • What about boys and girls who don’t conform to the gender norm? • How does this difference manifest itself in my life inside and outside my classroom?

12. Explaining Girls’ Advantage in Kindergarten Literacy Learning:Do Classroom Behaviors Make A Difference? Variety of explanations exist to support reasons why girls outperform boys in ECE: • biological differences in cognitive development and physical maturation • disparate cultural expectations • contextual factors such as strong organization in the classroom • differences in school behavior Answers three questions: • Are there gender differences in literacy skills as children begin their formal education? YES • Does the gender gap widen during the kindergarten year? YES • Are any gender differences in literacy learning explained by boys' and girls' classroom behaviors? YES

13. How Can We Help Boys to Achieve Higher Results in Early Childhood Education? • Change teachers’ attitudes and perception towards boys and their behavior? • Have a higher percentage of male teachers in ECE? • Give them tasks that appeal to them in order to increase their “time-on-task” and reduce disruptive behavior? • Can we change the “Student Role”? • Any thoughts? Are we blaming the victim? To what degree do pedagogical approaches to learning tasks and teacher expectations favor girls? Early Childhood Learning

14. Gender Learning Styles FEMALE Tendencies • Linguistic learners (excel in reading, writing) • Auditory and visual learners • Inductive learners & more efficient sensory intakers (gather more information before drawing conclusions– advantage on essay tests) • Efficient at multitasking • Interested in real world applications. • Literature preferences: fiction. • Girls´ brains also experience this rest state, however they are still able to gather information and take in more than boys. MALE Tendencies • Spatial-mechanical learners and abstract thinkers (excel in science, math, computers) • Kinesthetic, hands-on learners (need to move around and act things out) • More deductive, better at quick decisions (advantage on multiple choice tests- SAT) • Need more space to work, variety and stimulation • Difficulty multitasking • Literature preferences: adventure, mystery, sport-related or non-fiction. • Boys´ brains go into a rest state several times during the day, causing them to “zone out” during instruction.

15. Connect classroom learning to the real world outside. Apply concepts to real life examples. • Highlight the social aspects and usefulness of activities, skills and knowledge. • Offer independent contracts. When a student shows great understanding of a concept, rather than doing 25 problems of the same, offer a related project with an interesting goal. Teaching Strategies – Math & Science

16. • Include manipulatives and hands-on learning opportunities. • Look for alternative ways for boys to engage in literacy activities (ex. audiobooks, literacy based computer programs and games) • Take a look at the class library and make sure there is a variety of reading material (fiction, non-fiction, etc.). • Ask all students higher order questions and encourage discussion. Teaching Strategies –Language Development

17. Benjamin Bloom´s6 Cognitive Domains of Learning Higher order questioning

18. • Increase wait time • Time tasks differently: work in shorter chunks of time • Offer choice of assessments • Organize single-sex group activities • Peer support for learning. (Paired writing, Pair sharing prior to group discussion) Teaching Strategies – Class Management & In General

19. So, why DO girlsoutperform boys in the classroom?

20. Real-World Opinions fromthe BBC GCSE RESULTS Equality is a fantasy as far as I'm concerned - males and females are fundamentally different both physically and mentally and it would be better if people accepted that. GCSE exams do not mean a lot later in life where you have to think on your feet and cope under pressure, without the blanket of having revised weeks before. Quite simply, they open a door into society, nothing more. Ask the average 30 or 40 year old how much they can remember of their exams. 
Peter, UK Maybe the girls are cheating. 
Bubba, USA Who expects boys and girls to perform the same at the same age? Perhaps curiculla should respond to needs differently.
Dan , USA ex-pat I didn't have a male teacher until I was 12. Perhaps without realising it at that age, us boys thought school was a girls' thing. 
Mark, England Girls now outperform boys at GCSE because of the 'feminisation' of the examination process. 
Whereas before a typical history question might have read "give an account of the key events during the reign of Queen Victoria, and explain why they are significant", the question now reads "Describe what it might have been like growing up in a Manchester poor house during the reign of Queen Victoria.” Instead of fact-retention and recall, in which girls and boys are roughly equally proficient, the question now requires empathy, something that females excel in, and at which males are useless. 
Simon, London, UK

21. Your Turn: • What do you think? • Why do girls have better grades than boys? • What experiences have you had as a student? Parent? Sibling? • What have your experiences been as a teacher? • What do you do (or not do, or wish you could do) in your classroom to manage gender differences in learning?