Gender Differences

Gender issues in learning create a controversy about the best way to teach to girls and boys. The gender gap in math and science was discussed in a presentation in class today. I thought the video of the girls classrooms compared to the boys classrooms were interesting in the way that they were fit to address the child's individual needs based on gender. The girls sat quietly at their desks to accomplish tasks, as boys were on the floor, sitting on stools, or in the classroom tent. I am torn on this issue of seperating boys and girls in the classroom. I feel that in the elementary level this may be more beneficial to the students so they are allowed time to figure out who they are and their particular learning styles without comparing themselves to the opposite gender. In the high school level I think it is important for student's to be working together as a community of learners and for both genders to become comfortable working together. This was a very interesting topic and I'm interested to see what more comes of this.