USA Science and Engineering Festival: The Blog

Re-engaging boys in learning

Posted by Joanna Pool on February 16, 2011
(3)
More »

From lack of role models in the elementary classroom to a learning culture that isn’t engaging boys in the learning process, meet Nifty Fifty Speaker Ali Carr-Chellman who talks about how to change these things.

–For every 100 girls suspended from school there are 250 boys suspended from
school.

–For every 200 girls expelled from school there are 350 boys expelled

–For every 100 girls in special education there are 217 boys in special ed

–For every 100 girls with a learning disability there are 276 boys with such a
disability (Boys are four times as likely as girls to be diagnosed with ADHD in
classrooms (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder)

–60 percent of all university baccalaureate degrees in the U.S. today are awarded
to women

Discover from this innovative educator and instructional designer why boys are falling behind academically in our nation’s schools today, and what can be done to turn this disturbing trend around.

Keywords: ,
(3)
More »

Comments

  1. #1 Joseph
    February 16, 2011

    Thank you for posting this! It’s disturbing to watch the rapid decay of boys’ performance and seeing so few care about it!

  2. #2 Joseph
    February 16, 2011

    Some good points in the video that resonated with me:
    1) Poetry and High Literature. I still vividly recall a specific high school teacher’s disdain for my short story (science fiction). I got the message: the stuff I preferred wasn’t Literature. (I still was a rebel, as boys are required to be, as my poetry reflected science fiction, e.g. my haiku described the first humans landing on mars. I’m still proud of that one. :)
    2) The “compression” is not quite right; it’s perhaps the lack of engaging the boys. I recall my first grade teacher hated me and as I recall tried to put me in special ed (finally sequestered me in the back of the room away from the other students) because I wouldn’t just happily write the sentences she wrote on the board. I could do it; I was a pretty advanced kid actually. I was just beyond bored with it. Fortunately, my parents were very supportive. I don’t really agree that compression is the problem; boys can do just as much as girls (the flip side of “girls can do just as much as boys); we just do it *differently*. This is perhaps a second side effect of having fewer male teachers.

  3. #3 orjin krem
    March 7, 2011

    I don’t really agree that compression is the problem; boys can do just as much as girls (the flip side of “girls can do just as much as boys); we just do it *differently*. This is perhaps a second side effect of having fewer male teachers.