Diversity Course

1. Gender Differences in the Classroom

2. The corpus callosum, which connects
the left and right hemispheres of the
brain, is generally 25% larger in a girl's
brain.

3. This means girls are better able to cross back
and forth between their left brain and their
right brain. When boys listen, they tend to
use one side of their brain. When girls
listen, they tend to use both sides of their
brain. This translates to girls following
directions better.

4. The hippocampus, which is a memory storage area, is
usually larger in a girl's brain.

5. This helps girls with a learning
advantage especially in literacy.

6. The prefrontal cortex in a girls brain is usually
more active and it develops at an earlier age. Girls
also tend to have more serotonin in the blood and
brain than boys do. From about ages 9-17 the girls
quit using their amygdala for emotional decisions
and begin using their prefrontal cortex. Boys do
not. They continue using their amygdala which
tends to result in primal thinking instead of logical
thinking.

7. Therefore, girls are less impulsive in both their actions
and their decision making. This means boys enjoy risk
taking more than girls and respond more to
challenges. Boys tend to make decisions based on
emotions, especially those involving fear and rage.

8. For the most part, girls have more neurons in their
brains especially in the temporal lobes.

9. These give girls more detailed memory storage,
better listening skills, and the ability to
discriminate between smaller differences.

10. The left side of the brain develops faster in
girls than boys. By middle school, girls have
about a 4 year advantage.

11. Right-brain students have many advantages. With
that said, they also struggle with organization,
sequencing, memory, spelling, time management
and structuring information.

12. Boys and girls tend to use the cortical areas
of their brains for different functions.

13. Girls use this part of their brain for verbal and emotive
processing. Boys tend to use this part of their brain for
spatial reasoning. Hmmm... maybe some of the
stereotypes have a little truth behind them. This
doesn't mean both can't be developed in each gender.

14. The way the brain develops and
when it develops differs between the
genders. Generally speaking, girls come to
school more ready to learn and with a
greater ability to sit still and pay
attention. This difference impacts
classroom behavior and learning.