I have spent the day researching about best practices for boys and girls in the classroom. While you would think that there would be much readily available information and research on this, it would seem that it is still guarded by those that want to make a profit from their research... I did learn this though.
Boys are more likely to see moving objects, while girls see color and texture.
Boys hear differently than girls and should have sound come into the right ear.
Boys learn speech and writing later than girls.
Boys are much more interested up-to-date information that is presented graphically, and in abbreviated forms like magazines and graphic novels.
Boys brains go to rest as many as three times a day, and especially when board....
As a science teacher, this all makes sense. Early human experiences meant that hunters that could shut down and rest when nothing was happening, and spring to aggressive, calculating movement when alerted to prey will have greater opportunity to pass these genetic variations that make them superior to their offspring. Likewise, females that can better distinguish the sometimes minimal differences between edible and inedible foods, would more likely survive to reproduce.
The problem is how does knowledge of this translate to my classroom? How do I design academic experiences that entice young boys to engage in my classroom? I am lucky that I teach science, as the very nature allows them the tactile and direct outcomes my young males seek in academics. But there are still those times where direct instruction is needed. There are still times that we need to read, to write, to test....
Boys are more likely to see moving objects, while girls see color and texture.
Boys hear differently than girls and should have sound come into the right ear.
Boys learn speech and writing later than girls.
Boys are much more interested up-to-date information that is presented graphically, and in abbreviated forms like magazines and graphic novels.
Boys brains go to rest as many as three times a day, and especially when board....
As a science teacher, this all makes sense. Early human experiences meant that hunters that could shut down and rest when nothing was happening, and spring to aggressive, calculating movement when alerted to prey will have greater opportunity to pass these genetic variations that make them superior to their offspring. Likewise, females that can better distinguish the sometimes minimal differences between edible and inedible foods, would more likely survive to reproduce.
The problem is how does knowledge of this translate to my classroom? How do I design academic experiences that entice young boys to engage in my classroom? I am lucky that I teach science, as the very nature allows them the tactile and direct outcomes my young males seek in academics. But there are still those times where direct instruction is needed. There are still times that we need to read, to write, to test....