Garret, Micah, and Ryan

Annotations:

• Use the Note Area to cite sources of information you found. Click the upper right corner of the box to make the note pad appear, then type.

1. Level 2: Sources Before 2010. In the bubbles below, record the main idea of each of the five articles we read for the discussion posts. Use dates in APA style.
   1. 'How Schools Short Change' Girls discussed how studies typically used ambiguous language pertaining to sex. Schools were not meeting girls needs and girls were "invisible."

      Annotations:

      • Wellesley College, 1992
   2. 'Sexism in the Schools' wanted to remove the traditional molds that children are placed in. It focused on allowing kids to build their ideas based on their "spontaneous" preferences.

      Annotations:

      • Note the citation here - it is APA style.  The author's last name and the date of the article/book.  Then at the end, you would have a list of references in APA style that would include the name of the article/book - like what most of you did for your biography project.
      • Greene, Maxine, 1962
   3. 'The Problem with Gender-Based Education' discredited gender-specific education. It asserted that gender was simply to general or crude to base educational methodology.

      Annotations:

      • Sara Mead, 2008
   4. 'Pay Closer Attention: Boys are Struggling Academically' claimed that society and educational policies had changed in such a way to favor girls. Boys struggle with reading and verbal skills which are now commonly favored in schools.

      Annotations:

      • Whitmire, 2004
   5. 'The Truth About Boys and Girls' revealed that the "boy crisis" was mostly exaggerated. Both girls and boys were performing better on average, but girls simply improved at a much faster rate.

      Annotations:

      • Sara Mead, 2006
2. Level 2: Sources After 2010. Choose 5 of the 8 new articles I provided, or search the web for others. Any combination is also fine. In the bubbles below, record the main idea of each.
   1. General studies showed that science teachers unintentionally favor boys. There was no difference in capacity for learning but the star students were generally boys.

      Annotations:

      • Liana Heltin (2014)
   2. Study across 75 nations showed that boys outperformed girls in math and girls outperformed boys in reading.

      Annotations:

      • Erik Robelen Math, Reading Gaps By Gender Persist, Global Sudy Finds. (2013)
   3. Girls are generally more anxious about math but newer reports show that real time anxiety is the same.

      Annotations:

      • Erik Robelen Math Anxiety Gets Fresh Look, Different Twist in New Research (2013)
   4. In Florida a new study attributes a gender gap in college enrollment to the choice girls make about what highschools to attend.

      Annotations:

      • Caralee Adams (2013)
   5. Despite girls pulling ahead academically, boys significantly outnumber girls at New York City's elite exam based public schools.

      Annotations:

      • Sara Mead (2013)
3. Level 1: At least three connections go in bubbles on this level. What have you found to remain the same throughout both time periods (before 2010 and after 2010) concerning girls' and boys' ed? Write these connections in boxes/bubbles on this level.

   Annotations:

   • Here is where you show evidence of your thinking. Connect the pieces about boys and girls' education that you have found to be the same in sources before 2010 (which we read for the discussions) and in sources you found dated after 2010.
   1. Girls college enrollment used to be less than that of boys, but as time has gone on girls have begun to enroll in college at higher rate than boys.
   2. The testing gaps in each subject area have stayed consistent between guys and girls.
   3. Girls performed better in language skills and boys performed better in math/science.
4. Level 3: What differences in the updated information did you find? Compare articles dated after 2010 to those dated before 2010. Record at least three.
   1. Pre-2010 articles discussed how boys education was on the decline, but articles released after 2010 revealed that testing gaps remained consistent. The boys have not, in fact, fallen further behind.
   2. The articles released before 2010 stated that general education had changed to favor girls. Yet post 2010 articles suggested that science teachers typically gave more attention to boys.

      Annotations:

      • David Sadker 2005
   3. One article released before 2010 stated that neuroscientists did not like to make any concrete conclusions based on gender alone as the date was still unclear. However, one article released after 2010 continued to use this research and claimed that girls were generally more anxious in math.
   4. Level 4: Look at sources dated after 2010 that your group found for this week's discussion posts. On this level, show at least two likenesses (to the right) and two differences(to the left) you found as you studied these and ANY other works we have studied in the course. Cite your findings.
      1. We found an article that gave tips for non-sexist practices in the classroom. It was similar to Whitmire and the article written by Wellesley College that discussed the necessity to acknowledge that boys and girls learn differently.

         Annotations:

         • Classroom Tips for Non-Racist, Non-Sexist Teaching (David Sadker 2005)
      2. Why boys are falling behind discusses how boys are falling behind in school because of their behavior, not because of a lack of motor skills like the articles we read suggest.

         Annotations:

         • Why boys are falling behind (Kay S. Hymowitz, 2013)
         1. How Can Gender-Based Classes Be Bad for School suggests that gender-based education is a bad idea, for reasons including stereotyping, possible discrimination, lack of gender-balanced preparedness, and false structure (or sense of how the world works).

            Annotations:

            • How Can Gender-Based Classes Be Bad for School? (Neil Kokemuller, 2014)
      3. The Gender Gap: Boys Lagging reinforces the idea that girls are surpassing boys in many ways academically. It says girls make up 70-80% of AP classes.

         Annotations:

         • The Gender Gap: Boys Lagging (David Kohn, 2002)
      4. Level 5: What conclusion(s) have you drawn about girls and boys' education as a result of synthesizing all you have read for this assignment?
         1. Based on the readings that we have looked at in class up to this point it seems that everyone worries about the education of our youth, and many are actively seeking a way to improve public schools. Focusing on sex and gender in education is simply another way to worry and should not be such a large focus for education reformers when there are so many other areas that can be critiqued.

            Annotations:

            • http://www.hereiswhereifound.com.  A notation needs to be on each of your bubbles in this area - support what you believe!  For example, you could refer to something in "Savage Inequalities", in which case you would write: (Kozol, 1991)
         2. Although it seems that girls have made a majority of the strides over the last several years when it comes to education this does not mean that boys are doomed to play second to girls for the rest of eternity. When you look at where girls started it is not suprising that they have been able to make such great strides. All the evidence from these articles show that girls are finally being accepted as being equal to men and education and that is the way it should be.
            1. Typically girls perform better in reading and language while boys excel in math and science. This trend has held true though many decades of research and data.
            2. There is certainly a difference in the way that boy and girls learn, but these differences have not yet been explored enough to draw any significant conclusions. Further studies are a necessity.
         3. In regard to improving academics, the minority groups of America are still facing great challenges in academic environments and because of this should hold a greater amount of focus than they do in comparison to gender based issues.