Dr. Leonard Sax, a physician and psychologist and leading proponent of single-sex education, published a compelling book on this subject in 2005 entitled Why Gender Matters. He writes, “female and male brain tissue are intrinsically different, genetically programmed and present at birth.” He goes on to state the differences between what girls and boys can do are not large. But the differences in how they do it can be very large indeed.

Researchers at Virginia Tech found that the areas of the brain involved in language, spatial memory, motor coordination, and interaction with others develop on separate timetables for girls compared to boys. Hence the reason boys and girls mature and develop at different rates. Teachers who understand these differences can kindle real enthusiasm for learning in the classroom.

In another study done at Cambridge University, researchers confirmed there are fundamental differences in what captures the interest of young children. When it comes to vision, girls are born pre-wired to show interest in faces, texture and colour – answering the question, “What is it?” Boys tend to be more attentive toward moving objects, location, direction and speed – answering “Where is it going, and how fast?” This is one reason why young girls prefer to draw nouns, such as families and flowers, and boys prefer drawing verbs – such as fast cars, flying spaceships and anything that displays action.

Lessons are frequently taught in lecture format in co-ed classrooms. Dr. Sax argues that this style of teaching often places boys at a disadvantage. With an average attention span that is dramatically shorter than a girl’s, boys can often become distracted and resort to unfocused behaviour. While the girls choose to sit in the front rows and absorb the lesson, the boys may quickly label the subject as uninteresting, or even worse – typecast themselves as “not good at” it. This is one of the biggest barriers for boys to overcome.

When teaching girls, Dr. Sax’s research suggests teachers not raise their voices and attempt to eliminate outside noise from the classroom. When teaching boys, however, he says it is best to have the boys seated at the front of the room and the teacher project his or her voice throughout the classroom. He goes on to stress the importance of varied instructional methods for boys and offering hands-on tactile lessons.

According to Sax’s research, the process of capturing young people’s imagination through reading requires different approaches as well. Boys are more likely to enjoy reading nonfiction – descriptions of battles or adventures, while girls gravitate toward fiction, both short stories and novels. Girls are very content expressing their feelings and answering the question, “How would you feel if you were this character?” and engaging in role playing exercises after reading a book. Sax suggests these types of exercises dealing with “emotional literacy” are guaranteed to make most boys uncomfortable, and therefore prove to be ineffective teaching techniques for boys.

Young males tend to thrive in an academic atmosphere where activity and tactile lessons are the norm. For example, assigning an all-boys class an action-oriented book, such as The Hobbit and then asking them to build a Hobbit board game requires a lot of attention to detail. The boys must really read the book in order to recreate the story through the construction of the board game. It is a wonderful way to harness their attention and imagination and get them excited about a classic.

Professor Tracey Shors and her colleagues at Rutgers, Princeton, and Rockefeller University have demonstrated the effect of stress on test performance among boys and girls. Their research shows moderate stress actually improves boys’ performance, and degrades girls’ performance. Girls on average do not perform quite as well as you would expect on standardized tests, relative to their grades in school. Conversely, boys often do better than you would expect because there are elements of stress, competition and time-limitations to deal with. However, girls tend to apply themselves far more in the classroom and score higher than boys on report card grades.

In his book, Dr. Sax suggests that understanding these intrinsic gender differences is the key to making subjects appealing to both boys and girls. While girls often outperform boys in school, they can sometimes lack confidence in their abilities. Parents and teachers need to encourage them and help to increase their self-esteem. Boys, on the other hand, who achieve B’s and C’s may think they are top of the class. We need to provide a reality check and challenge them to do better.

Recent studies have reinforced the merits of a single-gender education: boys who attend single-gender schools are more than twice as likely to study art, music, drama, and foreign languages, in addition to the traditional maths and sciences. Girls who attend single-sex schools are more likely to study advanced math, computer science and physics. Both are empowered according to how they respond best.

At an all-boys school for grades 6-12 in Aurora, Onatrio Canada it is not uncommon to see the star of the football team tryout for a lead role in the school play. Eliminating girls from the classroom setting has allowed the boys to really discover the joy of learning without the distractions. They no longer feel the need to exert their masculinity and channel their attention toward learning and expressing themselves without inhibitions. Teachers incorporate role-playing, humour and an element of competition into the lessons to further engage their students. The end-result is an engaged student who applies himself and wants to succeed.

All photos used with permission of St Andrews College in Aurora Ontario.