Research
Brainsex – a new way of
learning for boys and girls
Sophisticated scanning
2001
techniques are revealing the
differences between how the
202–07,
sexes process information. Mary
,
220:
Salmon investigates how some
Radiology
headteachers are applying this
Source:
knowledge to teaching boys and
girls differently
I
t is well documented that boys are having
a hard time at school. Girls are outper-
forming them, and are also more likely to
go on to university.
So far the finger of blame for boys’ lack of
achievement has mostly been pointed at a
coursework-heavy marking system which
favours girls’ style of learning (boys do better
under the pressure of an examination) and not
enough male teachers in the classroom, leaving
Brain scan showing sex difference in organisation. This scan shows men and women
boys without role models.
listening to a reading from a John Grisham novel. Men (M) are using only the left
While these may be two sound reasons why
side of the brain. Women (F) are using both sides of the brain
boys aren’t doing as well as girls, they may only
be the tip of the iceberg. more often than girls. In contrast, four-year-old dency to play rough and tumble in childhood,
In the past 10 years, thanks to sophisticat- girls prefer to play with dolls and play-act ver- and it seems to be the same with young boys.
ed scanning techniques, an explosion of new bal stories. With a longer attention span, they After the seminar, what struck Dave most
information has been discovered about the also spend twice as long on one task as boys. was how his perception of the children he
internal workings of the human brain. What it Other differences are seen in social play, teaches changed so much. ‘All of the teachers
reveals is that there are big differences in how with boys preferring competitive games and who attended now have an increased aware-
boys and girls, and men and women, process girls co-operative ones. Spatial differences are ness of how boys and girls learn differently, and
information. Because of these brain differences, also obvious, with boys being better at three- as a school it has helped us to move away from
boys and girls perceive the world differently, dimensional puzzles, geometry and higher thinking that there is a “right” way for every
and learn differently. ‘Boys and girls enter the mathematical problem-solving. However, girls child to do things. For instance, after learn-
classroom with different needs and abilities, are as good, if not better, at arithmetic and ing that boys’ brains mature later than girls’,
and different goals,’ says Dr Anne Moir, a neu- numeracy, as they call on their superior verbal it neatly explains why most teachers notice
skills to solve problems. Verbal differences are
“Society is failing both
also seen, so that, on average, girls talk and
read earlier than boys.
“Sex differences in the
boys and girls with a
While there are social influences at play as
brain underpin most
well as biological ones, research suggests that
gender-neutral education
sex differences in the brain underpin most of
differences”
these differences.
policy” After attending Anne’s seminars, called
Understanding Brainsex, several headteach- a gap in reading and writing ability between
ropsychologist and author of several books on ers are making changes at their schools. After the sexes. On average, girls pick up these skills
the differences between male and female brains. learning that boys need physical play to thrive much sooner than boys. However, we believe
She has recently begun to apply her knowledge and that they love competition, Dave Strud- that each gender can learn the same things, but
of gender differences to the classroom by deliv- wick, headteacher at the mixed-sex Blackaw- they might prefer to learn them in a different
ering seminars on how to bring out the best in ton Primary School in Devon, has introduced way.’
each gender. mock sumo wrestling so that the boys can let Although Dave Strudwick hasn’t introduced
‘At the moment, society is failing both boys off steam. He has also introduced sword fights this to Blackawton Primary, Anne Moir sug-
and girls with a gender-neutral education pol- for boys using foam swords. He says, ‘We gests that when learning to write, young boys
icy,’ says Anne. ‘Yet, the knowledge we have always intervene if the play-fighting gets out pick the letters out of a container and stick
gained from brain studies gives us a power- of hand, but we feel it is very valuable for the them on a board, rather than trying to write
ful tool to help develop both boys’ and girls’ boys to play-fight when supervised by an adult, them by hand. This is because that part of the
potentials.’ as they are taught that there is a limit to the brain that deals with fine motor skills matures
Although there is often some overlap, the dif- amount of aggression that they can show dur- four to six years later in boys. ‘Not being good
ferences between males and females can be seen ing play. Hopefully this will translate to the real at something discourages boys, especially if a
early on. For example, by the age of four, boys world when they are adults.’ little girl sitting beside them has no trouble with
play rougher than girls, they prefer mechanical Studies on young male chimps show that it,’ adds Anne.
toys and they need more space to play. They they are more likely to be aggressive as adults if Another change that Dave Strudwick has
also interrupt what they are doing four times they aren’t given an outlet for their natural ten- made is to put boys at the front of the class-
17
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