The Myth of Pink and Blue Brains PDF

The Myth of Pink and Blue Brain Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars ▪What does this statement mean? ▪How do you understand this? Activity: Debate ▪Who is smarter? Men or Women? ▪Defend your stand ▪ Public Forum...

The Myth of Pink and Blue Brain Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars ▪What does this statement mean? ▪How do you understand this? Activity: Debate ▪Who is smarter? Men or Women? ▪Defend your stand ▪ Public Forum Debate Public forum debate is considered as audience friendly and a current events debate. It includes two teams of debaters that argue on monthly controversial topics. ▪ The round begins with a coin toss between the competing debate teams. It is required to determine which side, either Pro or Con, will present their argument first. Each debate team will be given 3 minutes to prepare the topic. How do Boys and Girls differ? ▪In what ways are boys better? ▪In what ways are girls better? Do you think Boys are smarter in math than girls or vice versa? Do you think Girls are better in Reading than Boys or vice versa? ▪Boys and girls differ in many ways ▪Physical activity level ▪Self control ▪Performance levels in reading, writing, and math ▪Interests ▪ Neuroscientists have identified very few reliable differences between boys and girls brains ▪ Boys’ brains are about 10% larger than girls ▪ Boys’ brains finish growing a year or two later during puberty ▪ These differences reflect physical maturation more than mental development ▪Who do you think is better in self-regulatory behaviors? ▪Self-regulation is the ability to understand and manage your behaviour and your reactions to feelings and things happening around you. ▪Boys and girls differ in self regulatory behavior ▪Girls showing better ability to sit still, pay attention, delay gratification and organize a take-home folder ▪Prefrontal cortex ▪Neuroscientist have been unable to show that this area develops earlier or is more active in girls ▪Women do not have a larger corpus callosum, process language in a more symmetrical fashion or have higher circulating levels of serotonin compared with men ▪There is more overlap between average males and females’ brains than differences So What’s Behind Gender Gaps? ▪ Society cannot ignore the striking gender gaps in academic performance ▪ Girls have outperformed boys in reading ▪ Boys have outscores girls in math (by a smaller margin) on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in every year ▪ This suggests there is something different about boys’ and girls’ academic abilities ▪ Gaps vary by age, ethnicity and nationality ▪For example ▪Reading gap is twice as large in some countries- Iceland, Norway and Austria as in others- Japan, Mexico and Korea ▪In math, the gap ranges from a large male advantage- Korea and Greece to no gap in other countries or reversed in girls’ favor- Iceland and Thailand ▪Higher female performance in math correlated with higher levels of gender equality in individual nations ▪What does this tell us? ▪ Environmental factors are important in shaping gender gaps ▪ No mental ability or ability difference is hardwired into the brain ▪ Abilities develop in socio-cultural context- child’s opportunities, relationships, sense of identity and more ▪ Biologists call such development epigenetic ▪ Environmental factors ranging from diet and chemical exposure to parenting styles- known to alter DNA structure, gene expression and behavioral function ▪When it comes to gender gaps ▪Boys and girls start out a little bit different but these differences become magnified by culture that sees them and encourages them to see themselves as different creatures Three Little Differences – and How They Grow ▪Three small early biases appear to be programmed by prenatal hormone exposure or sex-specific gene expression a. Baby boys are modestly more physically active than girls b. Toddler girls talk one month earlier than boys c. Boys appear more spatially aware ▪What were your toys when you were younger? ▪Such differences contribute to each gender’s well-known toy preferences which surface in the second year of life ▪Boys prefer active playthings- trucks and balls ▪Girls choose more verbal relational toys- especially dolls ▪Boy-girl differences are magnified through parental treatment ▪How do parents influences these differences? ▪ Boy-girl differences are magnified through parental treatment ▪ Parents encourage more physical risk-taking in sons than in daughters ▪ Mothers generally talk more to preschool-aged daughters than sons ▪ Parents discourage gender-inappropriate play- boys showing too much interest in sister’s Barbie Collection ▪This is important because children develop skills they bring to the classroom through early play ▪Girls spend more time talking, drawing and role- playing in relational ways ▪Boys spend more time moving, targeting, building and role playing as heroes ▪Each activity is important ▪But because of the potency throwing, catching, constructing, and playing high speed driving and targeting games, their spatial skills grow disparate ▪Boys scoring higher in this area ▪The ability to visualize three dimensional objects, their orientations, distances, trajectories is important in higher math, science and mechanical work- domains in which boys pull ahead ▪Who has better verbal skills? ▪ Verbal skills ▪ Extra conversation with peers and parents ▪ Girls’ small verbal advantage balloons by kindergarten into a significant gap in phonological awareness ▪ Stepping stone to learn how to read ▪ By 3rd grade, 20 percent more girls than boys score in the proficient range as readers ▪ Gap that grows to 38% by 8th grade ▪ 47% by the end of high school ▪ The reason boys don’t read and write as well as girls has little to do with innate brain wiring and everything to do with the reality that girls engage more than boys with words: talking, reading, journal writing or text-messaging ▪ Only 25% of teenage boys around the world cite reading as one of their favorite hobbies ▪ 45% teenage girls ▪If we want to tackle academic gaps between boys and girls ▪We need to start early, nurturing skills and attitudes that will better prepare both genders for the modern classroom ▪Combination of cognitive and emotional talents Activity: ½ crosswise ▪What do you think should be done to address the gap in certain skills because of Gender? Navigating Gender Differences ▪ Attempt at gender equity make a difference ▪ Students develop a more stereotyped attitudes in classrooms that emphasize gender and more egalitarian attitudes where it’s deemphasized ▪ Respect and honor differences ▪ We would never try to guess a student’s math skill on the basis of skin or eye color ▪ We must avoid prejudging any student’s verbal, athletic, scientific, artistic, leadership, analytical or social ability on the basis of chromosomes ▪We must challenge gender stereotypes for both sexes ▪In U.S. culture, girls are rewarded for behaving like boys more than the other way around ▪Great for girls’ math and athletic skills ▪But not for boy’s verbal and relational abilities ▪“Girls can do anything” ▪Boys get boxed into smaller corners by their presumed limitations ▪Boys are less verbal ▪No running ▪Art is gay ▪Boys success is shrinking to sports and few select curricular zones How to reduce opportunity gaps between boys and girls? 1. Avoid stereotyping ▪Gender stereotyping- refers to the practice of ascribing to an individual woman or man specific attributes, characteristics by reason only of his her o her membership in the social group of men or women ▪In what ways do we perform gender stereotyping? ▪What are some gender stereotyped statements said to you or you have heard? ▪ Girls are more fragile ▪ Girls are interested in fashion, art and boys ▪ Girls are more perfectionists ▪ Girls are good at language ▪ Girls should play with dolls ▪ Boys don’t cry ▪ Boys like video games and sports ▪ Boys are disorderly and less meticulous ▪ Boys are good at math ▪ Boys should play with trucks ▪ Gender stereotyping- refers to the practice of ascribing to an individual woman or man specific attributes, characteristics by reason only of his her o her membership in the social group of men or women ▪ Single-gender programs – guiding students into stereotyped activities ▪ Girls are given quiet spaces to sit and discuss their feelings ▪ Boys- extra opportunities for competition and physical play ▪ Both sexes need physical exercise, both need to be comfortable blending competition and cooperation 2. Appreciate the range of intelligences 3. Strengthen Spatial Awareness ▪Formally teach spatial and mechanical skills using puzzles, map reading, targeting sports and building projects 4. Engage boys with the word ▪ Parents and educators ▪ Start early with verbal and literary immersion ▪ Builds vocabulary, phonologic skills and love of books ▪ Language in = language out ▪ Engaging boys in one-on-one dialogue, word play, stories, songs and every kind of text ▪ Emphasize mark-making- use vivid markers, crayons, charcoals, paint on large surfaces like appliance boxes ▪ Symbolic expression and fine-motor practice 5. Recruit boys into nonathletic extra-curricular activities ▪School newspaper, and student council- all-female clubs? ▪Unmasculine to join the chorus or run for class president ▪We should not accept boys absence from a wider variety of campus activities 6. Bring more men into the classroom ▪We need to increase the ranks of young men who enter teaching and bring more fathers and adult males into preschool and elementary classrooms 7. Treat teacher bias seriously ▪Girls are good at reading, boys are good at math? ▪Teacher expectations on student performance ▪We must train teachers about potential bias ▪Boys deserve protection from efforts to root out antifemale bias