Nature-based theory & Brain-Based Learning. Single Sex Education Female and male learning styles

Transcription

1 Nature-based theory & Brain-Based Learning Single Sex Education Female and male learning styles

2 The Gurian Institute The Gurian Institute, co-founded by Dr. Michael Gurian, is a training organization focused on providing schools with crucial understanding of how boys and girls learn and grow, differently.

3 Dr. Daniel Amen Neuroscience and Behavioral Psychiatry

4 The Minds of Boys & Girls How s the brain wired for gender?

5 The Minds of Boys & Girls

10 The Minds of Boys & Girls 7,000 per day 20,000 per day

12 The Brain from Top to Bottom

13 How Brain-Based Differences Affect Boys and Girls The gender of the brain is set in the womb, then socialized by culture. The male brain solving a problem is less active than a female brain at rest (There is less ability to multi-task in the male brain one thing at a time). The male brain relies more heavily on visual-spatial-mechanical stimulation (diagrams, pictures, moving objects, etc.) for understanding. Boys speak in sentences much later than girls and generally have weaker language and communication skills, as well as finemotor skills during development. Girls tend to prefer fiction reading, while boys non-fiction. Because of the sex hormone, testosterone, boys tend to have higher levels of aggression and are more physically competitive than girls.

14 How Brain-Based Differences Affect Boys and Girls Less data moves through a young man s parietal lobes- -boys take in less sensory data than females. The right hemisphere, the seat of spatial and movement activity, develops more quickly in boys than in girls. The male brain secretes more dopamine and less serotonin in the bloodstream than the female, therefore boys tend to exhibit more impulsive, aggressive and risk behavior than girls. Girls tend to self-monitor high-risk and immoral conduct better than males. Girls are capable of quicker and more immediate empathic response to others pain and needs. A sixteenyear-old girl is often more mature, in moral terms & in being able to put herself in another s place empathically.

15 How Brain-Based Differences Affect Boys and Girls Boys engage in report talk, and spend more time talking in order to report events and to position themselves within events with respect to rank, status and power. Girls engage in rapport talk, and tend to form social bonds characterized by egalitarian alliances. Boys are less able to translate their emotions to as quickly as girls. Boys generally need to move around more than girls during learning. The Thalamus, which regulates emotional life & our sense of personal safety, processes data less quickly in males than in females (This partially explains why more men than women put themselves in harm s way -- testosterone also plays a role). There are stronger neural connections in the young woman s temporal lobe, leading to greater memory storage & better listening, especially for tones of voice.

16 How Brain-Based Differences Affect Boys and Girls Males have a lower blood flow to the brain than females yielding a lower attention span than girls. The Hippocampus, whose biggest job is memory storage, is smaller in males. Boys have more difficulty following multi-step directions and tend to need more reminding than girls do. Less data moves through a young man s parietal lobes, which handles perception of bodily sensations such as touch & pain, to which the male is less sensitive. Boys tend to feel pain less fully than girls and to enjoy long-term tactile contact less than girls do). The brains of teens continue to change years after reaching full size and more closely resemble the brains of younger children.

17 How Brain-Based Differences Affect Boys and Girls Amygdala - located in the midbrain (limbic system). Connected to the hippocampus. Plays a role in emotionally-laden memories. Contains a huge number of receptors for strong emotions. Mature at birth. Never forgets stored emotions, stored trauma. Activated when "your buttons are pushed." Surges of testosterone in both sexes swell the Amygdala during adolescence, causing a rise in aggression and irritability. The limbic system is in hyper-drive in adolescence.

18 How Brain-Based Differences Affect Boys and Girls The teen years are as important as the first 3 years of life in setting patterns for adult behavior. Even troubled teens can learn restraint, judgment, empathy. In mid-teens the gray matter can double in one year. The overproduction of neurons and subsequent connections (synapses) in infancy has a second occurrence in adolescence. This is a second window of opportunity, a second chance.

19 How Brain-Based Differences Affect Boys and Girls More than children or adults, teens are motivated by the pleasure of novelty and danger (thrill-seeking). By age 18, the brain has a decline in plasticity but an increase in power, as a result of pruning - the loss of neurons which have not been hardwired by experience. USE IT OR LOSE IT! The brain nourishes what is useful. Pruning allows the brain to think more efficiently.

20 How Brain-Based Differences Affect Boys and Girls Hormones critical to growth and sexual maturation are released during sleep. Sleep is food for the brain. Teens need more sleep than adults - an average of 9 hours and 15 minutes. Most teens are sleep deprived. The Corpus callosum is ~ 25% smaller in boys -- This results in less efficient cross talk, where boys are less able to read emotions well -- they discern emotions less effectively than girls.

21 How Brain-Based Differences Affect Boys and Girls In teens, the emotional centers (limbic system) are revved up, in hyper-drive, under the influence of sex hormones. The emotional centers are the seat of raw emotions, like anger, fear, and elation - gut reactions. The frontal cortex is one of the last parts of the brain to mature. It is the CEO of the brain, in charge of executive functions like planning, organizing, setting priorities, making sound judgments, handling ambiguous information, putting on the brakes by calming unruly emotions. The cortex is the seat of civilization, the "brain police". In adolescence, the cortex is asleep at the wheel.

22 The Boys Crises For every 100 girls suspended 250 boys are suspended. For every 100 girls expelled 335 boys are expelled. For every 100 girls diagnosed with a special education disability 217 boys are diagnosed. For every 100 girls diagnosed with a learning disability 276 boys are diagnosed. For every 100 girls diagnosed with emotional disturbance 324 boys are diagnosed (80% of children on Ritalin boys) For every 100 females ages 15 to 19 that commit suicide 549 males in the same range kill themselves. For every 100 girls ages 15 to 17 in correctional facilities there are 837 boys behind bars. For every 100 women enrolled in college there are 77 men enrolled. Tom Mortenson, Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY, 4/26/2006

23 African-American Boys Crisis Increasingly black boys are indoctrinated by sociopathic male models leading to the following unhealthy behaviors: 1. Use and abuse the female gender 2. Shun marriage 3. Shun and mock education 4. Harbor deeply seated anger 5. Secretly question their manhood 6. Become perpetual underachievers 7. Constantly seek instant gratification

24 African-American Boys Crisis Increasingly black boys are indoctrinated by sociopathic male models leading to these additional unhealthy behaviors: 8. Effortlessly abandon children they sire 9. Display glaring misogynistic tendencies 10. Mock God and embrace unrighteousness 11. Have no respect for their elders or authority 12. Embrace and glamorize the thug/criminal life 13. Eagerly wrought crimes against their communities 14. Energetically subvert other males from true manhood

25 African-American Boys Crisis Only 42 percent who enter ninth grade graduate from high school (80% of dropouts are males). Boys get 70% of D and F grades. Homicide is the leading cause of death among African American Men between and 5 times higher. African American males are 9 times as likely as Caucasians to die from AIDS. Young African American males are the faces of hiphop culture which is obsessed with hypermasculinity.

26 Different Types of Smart Visual-Spatial: Doing puzzles, drawing, visual arts, having a good sense of direction, designing objects, fixing things Verbal- Linguistic: Speaking, storytelling, writing, listening, using humor, remembering information, using language cleverly Logical-Mathematical Problem solving, categorizing classifying, working with geometric shapes

27 Different Types of Smart Bodily-Kinesthetic: Dancing, sports, acting, anything requiring physical coordination, creating with hands Musical-Rhythmic: Singing, playing musical instruments, composing music Interpersonal: Able to see others point of view, listening, able to pick up on cues from others, good at forming close relations with other people, conflict resolution; good leaders Intrapersonal: Figuring out their own strengths and weaknesses, analyzing, understanding themselves and how they relate to others

28 Single Sex Schooling! Does it Work? At Capitol Academies: Both boys and girls showed an increase in test scores for English. Boys showed a decrease in scores for Mathematics, while girls showed an increase in average test scores in this subject. In Science and Social Studies girls showed an increase over the baseline year while boys showed increase only in the 2nd year of the academy.

29 Scatterplots Horizontal x-axis Key: 1=English; 2=Mathematics; 3=Science; 4=Social Studies Vertical y-axis Key: Percentages successfully passing GEE in core content areas BOYS GIRLS

30 Educational Issues Why are so many boys lost in videogames and can we better channel their technological passions (Video games involving physical and spatial movement are played predominantly by males)? School environments are thought to be more accommodative to the female learning style. How can we make schools more boyfriendly? Why are boys falling so far behind in literacy and what can be done? Why are girls typically behind boys in math and science and what can be done? Are boys confused about what it means to be "manly"? What genetic and hormonal differences occur between boys and girls and what are the educational implications?