Differences in the Brain with Boys and Girls

Week 2, Chapter 1, Natalie Gianvecchio, Roles: Creative Connector and Literary Luminator

Connections: 

1.) On page 27, I had a connection to myself while reading Boys and Girls Learn Differently. The section was talking about the differences between when a woman hears a baby crying and when a man hears a baby crying. In a woman's brain, there is a stimulation of Oxytocin which "make the female capable of quick and immediate empathic responses to others' pain and needs."  I notice this often in my home with my fiance and my 5 month old daughter. When I hear her cry I immediately get up to see what is wrong, whereas my fiance will wait it out and continue to do what he is doing. Many times I will ask him if he is going to see what our daughter wants and then he will go. I would definitely not wait when I hear her cry.

2.) On page 34, there was a detailed chart on infancy between boys and girls. I notice many of the details with my 5 month old daughter in the female category and the differences in the male category. Bullets such as "Prefers soft, cuddly toys" and "At four months of age is able to recognize faces of known people in photographs" are definitely true with my daughter. I also noticed in the male category, "Gazes at mother half as long as girl does." This seems to be true with my daughter as well because I always catch her starring at me for long periods of time. 

3.) On page 35, there was another detailed chart based on Preschool and Kindergarten age boys and girls. I worked as a Pre-K/Kindergarten teacher at a day care last year and noticed many of these bullets to be true in my experiences with the students. In the female category, ideas such as "Playground games are quieter and less active, more cooperative" and "Congregates in groups of other girls in smaller spaces, often huddling together" were both very evident in my classroom with the girls. I also noticed that they boys in my class played rough and involved body contact which was stated in the male category as well. 

Important ideas in the text:

1.) On page 25, the second paragraph discussed physical maturity in males and females. "Myelination continues in the brain until physical maturity is reached....." I thought it was important and interesting that females are usually fully mature in their early 20s whereas males are not until they are in their 30s. 

2.) On page 31, the second paragraph discussed how males and females differentiate in emotion. Males are more likely to keep things inside whereas females let their emotions out and talk about it with others often. The sections states that males are often "fragile because he cannot guide his own emotions ...." Alot of the time, males are "not often as tough as we think." I feel this is important to keep in mind in the classroom because something could be bothering a male student which would affect his learning abilities. 

3.) On page 41, the second paragraph talks about memory differences between males and females. Michael Gurian states, "The hippocampus in girls grows larger than it does in boys......"  This quote describes how females are able to remember things easier than males as well as multi task. This can also affect the classroom with different instruction methods for males versus females.