My publication manuscript will be based on the impact of gender on learning. There are two prominent peer-reviewed journal articles I intend to leverage in my research. The first article entails a study of gender matters in elementary learning aimed at identifying research-based strategies for meeting the distinctive learning needs of boys and girls (Bonomo, 2010). Several research studies have shown that gender influences how children learn. While these findings do not necessarily imply that there is a variation between how the two sexes learn, it is worth noting that there is a significant difference in brain development between girls and boys. Even though researchers have not been able to attribute these gender differences to any single area of development, most authors concur that they can be attributed to a myriad of developmental differences, which affect the brain, physical and sensory motor development.

Bonomo (2015) acknowledges these differences and adds that cognitive differences between boys and girls are brain-based while behavioral differences can be brain-based or result from brain-based responses. Furthermore, the architecture of the brain and the resultant differences in physical skills and sensory perception differ remarkably between sexes in the classroom and the society. Educators should appreciate these differences in order to promote learning among students with respect to their gender differences.

The second article discusses students’ perceptions of single-gender science in mathematics classroom experiences. To this end, Brown & Ronau (2012), examined academic self-efficacy, self-concept, and school climate perceptions among ninth grade urban high school students. The Patterns of Adaptive Learning and Fennema-Sherman Mathematics scales were used to quantitatively measure the perceptions of these students. The authors identified five factors including anxiety/performance-avoidance, climate, utility, efficacy/confidence, and instruction from each instrument.

The initial discussion of this study was founded on six hypothesized statements. For their first hypothesis, the authors found no significant difference in attitude among male and female students towards classroom climate with respect to instruction. Moreover, with regard to differences in learning mathematics, the authors found no significant differences. Nonetheless, they found significance concerning disposition in science. Additionally, the authors addressed attitudes dispositional differences towards science and mathematics and students’ attitudes towards classroom climate as a whole. No significant differences were found in male and female students regarding attitudes towards learning science or mathematics when separated by single-gender or mixed gender class types. The only notable differences were with regard to science confidence when all the students were combined. Finally, in a bid to address instrument reliability, the authors found that students perceive mathematics as a necessity in their life irrespective of their confidence to do the subject. On the other end of the spectrum, students who have confidence in their ability to do science responded positively to using science in future and vice versa.

References

Bonomo, V. (2010, Summer ). Gender Matters in Elementary Education: Research-based Strategies to Meet the Distinctive Learning Needs of Boys and Girls. Educational Horizons, pp. 257-264.

Brown, S. L., & Ronau, R. R. (2012). Students’ Perceptions of Single-Gender Science and Mathematics Classroom Experiences. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

PUBLICATION MANUSCRIPT

PUBLICATION MANUSCRIPT