According to the text, the gap between girls and boys has narrowed in math. Boys seem to do better in math and science, while girls do better in reading and writing. I like the assignment of "Draw a scientist." Maybe this is because I'm an art teacher, but I do think it is a great way to see how people view scientists. I myself would have drawn an older white man. I didn't even think to draw one of various ethnic diversities or a woman. I also didn't think to draw a person doing "everyday experiments" such as cooking and gardening. Also I learned that the marriage percentage is huge in math and science faculties. "43% of married female physicists are married to other physicists, while only 6% of male physicists have physicist spouses." (pg.196). I think this would be because there are many more male than female physicists, so a female in the field is rarer. Also work relationships are pretty common as well, and at that type of work, those people would seem to have a lot in common. In all computer science, math, agricultural science, environmental science, chemistry, geology, physics, and astronomy, women represent less than 15% of the workforce. Many have attributed the low numbers of women in math and science to teacher attitudes, peer influence, and parental involvement. Boys and girls have been socialized different ways from when they are younger and given different types of toys. Not only are there a small number of females in these careers, there are also a small number of African American and Hispanics.
What was interesting to learn was that "females tend to attribute success with effort, while males tend to attribute success with ability. On the other hand, males tend to attribute failure with effort, while females attribute it to ability." (pg. 198) I don't know how I feel about success and failure and if it's internal or external. But it is interesting to know that boys view it differently than girls.
When it comes to literacy, the difficulty becomes greater in boys as they move from elementary to middle school. They often use self-protective strategies such as avoidance and resistance. Also boys and girls tend to be drawn to different types of literature.
I like your observation about how boys are drawn to different types of literature than girls. As a teacher of English, I can frequently anticipate a student's reaction to a text based upon the gender of the student. It often seems that boys shy away from books with female protagonists; however, the young adult novel The Hunger Games has definitely altered this generalization. Even though this novel features a teenage girl as the heroine, this text seems to appeal to boys and girls equally. When examining the literature that is included in an English curriculum, I think it is important for teachers to anticipate and account for potentially different levels of interest from boys and girls.
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