1. SINGLE-GENDER EDUCATION Margaret M. Ferrara, PhD Peter J. Ferrara, EdD AND You

2. BUILDING ON THE RESEARCH What Happens When a Teacher’s Teaching Style Matches Students’ Learning Styles?  Students Acquire More Knowledge  Students Remember More Content  Students Learn Skills More Effectively

3. WHAT DOES THIS MATCH MEAN?  There is a “Goodness of Fit”  Students Become “In Sync”  If the Goal is Immediate Change, Then the Fit Needs to be More Closely Matched  Good Fit = Comfortable Learning Environment

4. ANOTHER HURDLE -- MATCHING Matching Students’ Learning Styles with Teachers’ Teaching Styles Teaching Style with Specific Course Gender of Teacher with Gender of Students

5. STEREOTYPING  Is it Really Boys’ Preferences?  Four Year Olds Prefer Male Teachers Because Their Teachers are Usually Involved in Sports and Physical Games – Male Stereotype  African American Women Teachers Seem To Be More Effective in All Boys’ Classroom – Racial and Gender Stereotype

6. ANOTHER OBSTACLE More Difficult in Elementary and Middle Schools  Few Male Teachers (2010: 19%) Fewer Male English Teachers in Secondary Schools Few Female Math & Science Teachers in High Schools Changing - Last Census 6.2 Million Teachers – 81% Women

7. QUESTION: HOW CHOOSE SINGLE-GENDER TEACHERS? We Developed a Survey Instrument  26 Questions  Survey Takes into Account Three Variables:  Learning Environment  Social Support  Instructional Strategies

8. LEARNING ENVIRONMENT QUESTIONS Engagement Between Teacher & Students Students’ Learning Noise and Other Noise Levels Students’ Energy Levels Movement of Students and Teacher

9. SOCIAL SUPPORT QUESTIONS Positive Teacher Comments Teacher Asking Students Personal Questions The Use of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards The Teacher’s Use of Humor

10. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY QUESTIONS  Directed Learning  Questioning Strategies  Cooperative and Competitive Learning  Timed Learning Activities  Group Work

11. YOU TOOK A TEACHING STYLES SURVEY 26 Statements Scale: 1 = Least likely reflects your preference. Scale: 6 = Most likely reflects your preference. AND YOU CIRCLED ONLY ONE NUMBER

12. THE SURVEY 26 Statements o 13 “Boy” Statements o 13 “Girl” Statements

13. SURVEY RESULTS As of March 1, 2012 Responding: 711 – 16 Different Groups  Males 22.4% -- 159  Females 77.6% -- 552

14. RESPONDENTS 711 Elementary : 417 Secondary: 220 University: 74 Administrator: 89 Teacher: 565 Teacher Aide: 18 University Students: 28 None Given: 10

15. OUR FINDINGS (March 2012) Returned Surveys (711) Indicated These Preferences: Mixed Gender: 328 (46.1%) Boys’ Classroom : 203 (28.6%) Girls’ Classroom: 180 (25.3%) Most Respondents Indicated a Choice for Mixed Gender Classroom As Their Intuitive Preference as Corroborated by the Survey Results

16. Learning Environment Total Survey Scores  1. Boys Resourceful Completing Assignments 3425 (80.3%)  2. Boys Assignments that Involve Creative Projects 3305 (77.5%)  3. Boys High Energy in Classroom 3184 (74.6%)  4. Girls Comfortable Using Longer Wait Time 3116 (73%)  5. Girls Quiet Student Discussion 2792 (65.4%)  6. Boys High Student Noise Level Acceptable 2603 (61.%)  7. Girls Often Change Configuration of Classroom 2601 (61%)  8. Girls Groups in Equal Numbers 2577 (59.9%)

17. LET’S LOOK AT YOUR ANALYSIS SHEET Teacher Preference BOTH Results of Survey AnalysisLEARNING ENVIRONMENT – BOYS SOCIAL PRAISE – GIRLS TEACHING- BOYS

18. YOUR DATA Respondents: Males – 14 Females – 27 School Experience 1-10 Years: 32 11+ Years: 9 Respondents’ Gender Preference: Gender Survey: Boys: 7Boys: 14 Girls: 8Girls: 27 Mixed Gender: 26

19. VARIABLE ANALYSIS – RIGHT SIDE Boy StatementsLE16 GirlG/BBoySS10 Scored 1, 2Scored 3Scored 4Scored 5, 6TS24 Totals 1372TTL50 Girl Statements LE 13 BoyB/GGirl SS 13 Scored 1, 2Scored 3Scored 4Scored 5, 6 TS 25 Totals 1363TTL51

20. LEXIMANCER Entities:

21. LOOK AT PERCENTAGE BAR BELOW NOTE HOW GIRL TS COMPARES TO BOY TS – IS THERE A DIFFERENCE? NOTE HOW GIRL LE COMPARES TO BOY LE – IS THERE A DIFFERENCE? NOTE HOW GIRL SS COMPARES TO BOY SS – IS THERE A DIFFERENCE? WHAT IF THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE?

22. DIFFERENCES AND SO WHAT? LET’S SAY YOUR CHART SHOWS YOU ARE HIGHER WITH YOUR PREFERENCES FOR GIRLS GIVING SOCIAL PRAISE AS COMPARED TO SOCIAL PRAISE FOR BOYS WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? IT MAY MEAN THAT YOU USE MORE REFERENCES THAT ARE LINKED TO THE STUDENT – MORE PERSONAL COMMENTS IT MAY MEAN THAT YOU USE MORE FREQUENT COMMENTS IT MAY MEAN THAT YOU USE PRAISE FOR STEPS IN THE TASK

23. SO, DO YOU NEED TO CHANGE? FIRST POINT IS TO JUST RAISE YOUR AWARENESS SECOND POINT IS TO LISTEN TO HOW ABIGAIL JAMES GIVES A MORE THOROUGH PERSPECTIVE OF BOYS AND GIRLS AND THEIR LEARNING STYLES THIRD POINT IS TO KEEP EVERYTHING IN PERSPECTIVE ABOVE ALL – AVOID STEREOTYPED THINKING

24. LET’S LOOK AT THE LITERATURE  Valerie Lee (1990) reports that in many all- girls’ classrooms  there is a high level of sexist behavior on the part of the teacher  (comments about hand-holding for girls)

25. AND WHAT ABOUT THE BOYS?  Lee found boys in all–male schools engaging in serious sexist comments about women.

26. OVERALL…  Overall, research findings that are available show that girls are more successful academically and socially in single gender learning arrangements.

27. A GOOD QUESTION YOU SHOULD ASK ME? Why are our teachers not prepared to teach boys AND girls more awareness about gender?

28. WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND IF YOU WERE GOING TO SELECT TEACHERS FOR SINGLE GENDER CLASSROOMS? Why?

29. IN TEACHER PREPARATION COURSES, PRESERVICE TEACHERS READ: Joel Spring, 2009 in American Education “The academic gains made by women might mean little in a world dominated by sexist males.” Or the issue of Spring (2010): “In a classroom of only girls, teachers would not tend to push girls aside and focus their instructional efforts on boys.”

30. SO WHAT ARE NEXT STEPS? What not to do – use the gender survey as another gimmick – like what has happened to learning styles Understand that teaching styles are not fixed entities Understand that teachers are powerful teachers for each other in terms of understanding teaching styles Embrace the reality that teaching is a contact learning process about self – situated learning

31. SITUATED LEARNING  We know that professional development is not always effective  Teachers learn and implement what is important to them and what works in their classroom  So…if a teacher studies self through a systematic way, the teacher can gain a self- ah-ha  And if a teacher uses a peer to gain more information (triangulation), the teacher gains a deeper ah-ha

32. YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS There are the generalized "boy" learning styles. What about the few boys who are more like the "girl" learning styles? I find those boys struggle with the motion, noise level, and interaction of the more "boy" friendly classroom. At what age are single gender classes most beneficial to students? (High School, Middle School, Elementary) Does the research support elementary gender specific classrooms?

33. In an all-girls’ school, do male teachers treat their students differently than female teachers? Boys tend to be more "active" in their learning and girls tend to be more "passive." If you have single gender classrooms that cater to those styles how do we make sure that "active" girls and "passive" boys are not overlooked or considered troublesome? YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

34. What's the research indicate about the benefits of cross gender classrooms? RESEARCH I've seen articles citing research that supports and research that undermines the value of single-sex education Is there any scientific consensus out there? RESEARCH

35. What learning styles tend to be successful or best practices when teaching only females? What learning styles tend to be successful or best practices when teaching only males? What are some "blind spots" to keep in mind when teaching mixed-gender classes? YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

36. So much of education seems to be more passive than active. Students sit back and take it in. How do we break that pattern and encourage students to take a more active role in their education? How would this be different for males and females? YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

37. How would we use technology to engage student learning and how would that be different for males or females provided there is a difference? We all have assumptions that we unconsciously allow to impact our judgments and actions. Identifying assumptions, like a student of Asian descent being "white-washed," changes one's understanding of self and society. How do we identify and challenge these assumptions in students and would this process be different for males and females? YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

38. Is it really best to teach to a certain style if the real world will not always support that style? Would it not be best to provide varying experiences "of style" so that a student may learn best how they will adjust themselves to the experience? At what age group does our priority shift from meeting them where they are and helping them adjust to what may be? I struggle a lot with teaching boys (we have single sex classes at my school) and really understanding what works best for them in terms of learning style and what their needs are in order to learn. I'm pretty sure that I should be teaching the boys classes differently than the girls, but how to do that is the challenge. YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

39. Best strategies for teachers to employ in teaching the same curriculum in single gender classrooms. Strategies to use for discipline in single gender classrooms. The dynamics between male teachers and female students; female teachers and male students. What are the social impacts of single-gender education? I've observed girls to be more "catty" in single sex schools. YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

40. THANK YOU!