Transcript PowerPoint Presentation

Gender Differences and Student Learning
Yi Du, Christine M. Weymouth, and Kenneth Dragseth
Presentation by Tara Newfield, Emily Muller, Joe Rowling, Susan Bush
Definition of Terms

Gender Role Identity: Beliefs about
characteristics and behaviors associated with
one sex as opposed to the other

Gender Bias: Different views of males and
females generally favoring one over the other

Gender Schemas: Organized networks of
knowledge about what it means to be male and
female
Purpose







Collect evidence on gender difference and its impact on student
learning.
Are there gender differences that have an influence on student
development and learning?
Can we find hard evidence of gender differences in the classroom
and school?
What are the perceived and real learning differences or
developmental differences between males and females?
Does the school enterprise include behaviors, expectations, and
systems that appear to influence student learning and growth?
Is student learning influenced by specific behavior and actions of
adults and other students during the schooling process?
How can we ensure the education systems customizes the
instruction delivered in the classroom and school at large to best
meet the needs of both girls and boys?
Methodology

K-12 over 4 years

Data on enrollment, participation in
programs (special education, gifted,
remedial), grades, standardized tests,
student surveys on perceptions of
academic performance (administered to
6th, 9th, and 12th graders)
Findings
Enrollment and programs:
Two to three times as many boys than girls in special ed
and ADHD data.
 More males in remedial programs.
 Negligible gender difference in gifted classes.
 More females on honor role and slightly more girls are

National Merit Scholars.
Findings
Standardized Tests:




Females better in reading, writing
Math is the same in elementary, more male achievement
in secondary
More males enrolled in math, science, computer, and
economics AP courses
More females in history and languages and more females
took advantage of resource centers and study halls
Findings
Survey:
Asked students to identify their general grade
(A, B, C), amount of time they spent on
homework, whether they liked school or feel
encouraged at school.
 Girls said they had better grades, spent more
time on homework (after 7th grade), liked
school more, and felt more encouragement from
school

Conclusions

Adolescence is a time of epistemological crisis when
issues of interpretation come to the fore. The authors
said that girls suffer from depression and eating
disorders while boys are moody and aggressive. These
have an affect on academic performance.

Classroom environment and discipline are currently
gendered towards girls. Teacher needs to recognize this
and focus on discipline techniques for boys and
encouragement for boys. They need role models in
different subject areas of both sexes (gender role
identity.)
Reflections




Administration of survey (perhaps verbal, oneon-one)
Focus the purpose (questions and data)
towards one area
Use students from different district,
geographical areas
Future study involves changing environment
and re-testing
FIGHT ON TROJANS!
beat the sun devils!