For years, the issues involving nature vs. nurture have been discussed and argued. Many aspects of humans’ lives can be changed by genetics or the environment the individual was brought up in. One thing both of these influence is the way gender affects individuals’ learning styles. An article written by Kelley King, Michael Gurian, and Kathy Stevens discusses how boys and girls have developmental differences that are deep enough to merit distinct educational practices. While a second article, by Lise Eliot, explains more on the side of the environment being the main factor as she explains gender stereotypes within cultures cause differences in learning styles. Although both articles present on opposite sides of the nature vs. nurture debate, they both mention that, no matter what the cause is, there is a problem in our school systems relating to gender. Another reading by Richard A. Lippa, extends on this topic by providing solutions to the gender gap. Lippa also explains how these differences come to be through nature and nurture.
When discussing how nature and genetics affect genders’ learning styles, we can look at the article, “Gender-Friendly Schools” by Kelley King, Michael Gurian, and Kathy Stevens. This article talks about how certain genetic factors make separating classrooms beneficial. Specifically, the article mentions a few schools who increased their test scores, specifically for boys, when they tried separating classrooms by gender. Also, it is mentioned
1. Some people have argued that the Johns Hopkins psychologist used this opportunity as an experiment to test his nurture theory of gender identity. What are the expected results of this experiment, assuming that the nurture theory is valid?
There are generally two sides to the nature versus nurture debate of gender. The nature side of the argument states sex and gender is for the most part, biologically determined and that the two sexes think and act differently, often in opposing ways. Also that gender is fixed and not much changing across cultures and time periods. On the other side of the debate is nurture. The nurture side of the debate states that gender which is the way that sex is shown in the outside world, is socially manufactured. They believe that men and women are taught explicitly and implicitly how to be men and women.
Whilst there are factors outside school, internal factors also impact gender differences in educational achievements hugely. According to Tony Sewell, boys fall behind in education because schools have become more 'feminised', as indicated in Item A. This means that feminine traits such as methodical working and attentiveness have
There are multiple reasons why Kelley King, Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens are on the pro side. For one reason, they believe that the differences exist due to boys being more interactive with certain topics and methods that don’t usually interest girls or vice versa. For example, the Wamsley Elementary School in Rifle, Colorado has both boy and girl students. However, in the past, the girl students over accomplished the boy students due to the school staff being more experienced in understanding how to teach girls than understanding how to teach boys. So, the school focused on teaching the boys with their own learning styles that are also girl friendly such as online courses. The result of this was successful as boys became more accomplished than they were from before. (Pages 147 – 148).
The concepts of Nature vs Nurture, are major concepts in social science. Nature is the hereditary pattern of physical features in a human being 's development. These features include, but are not limited to, our personality, usual and unusual appearances and the general measurements of how humans hold the attributes of being sociable, hostile behavior, their emotions, and the usage of alcohol and drugs. On the other hand Nurture is slightly different. Nurture is the influence of the environment that plays upon the behavior and characteristics in a human. The idea of nurture is that humans will grow up to form their personality on the way they are raised and life experiences. Culture is defined by the people in the environment, however, the environment helps shape and form human personalities in order to forge a culture. Culture is created by religions/beliefs, clothing/foods, language/social habits as well as the humanistic discipline; such as music, paintings, literature, and many more. Culture is generated by humankind, because humans hold their belief systems and patterns that was passed down by generations; by humans passing down what they have learned from their families this begins to create a culture. Personality plays a central role in both nature vs nurture and culture. Furthermore, personality is stated “the total organization of inherited and acquired characteristics of an individual as evidenced by the individual 's behavior (Hunt 119). Personality is either
Erickson’s psychosocial theory adds perspective to why identical twins, Linda and Lydia, turned out differently (Feldman 2010). Linda was raised by a family in the rural west, while Lydia went to a family in the urban south. These are two very different situations filled with different socioeconomical environments (Feldman 2010). The differences in the girls’ social environment could have had huge influence on their cognitive development (Feldman 2010). We need to analyze what Erickson’s psychosocial theory says about the way our social interactions with other people can test and outline our development (Feldman 2010). We can also take a look at the
When it comes to the classroom, there are several differences between girls and boys. There are physical differences in the way their brains work, differences in the room temperature that is best for boys and girls, and differences in how girls and boys respond to various tones of speech (Sax, 2006). While girls prefer soft-spoken teachers, Sax (2006) notes that boys prefer to be spoken to “loudly and in short, direct sentences with clear instructions” (p. 195). According to Sax (2006), “the ideal ambient temperature for boys is about 69 degrees and about 75 degrees for girls” (p. 193-194). Further differences involve how boys and girls learn. McNeil states that “boys may learn better under pressure and when allowed to move around...while girls may perform better in group situations and with a lot of encouragement” (McNeil, 2008). Because of these many differences, it would stand to reason that boys and girls would benefit from being in separate classrooms. According to Hughes (2007), “the teacher would be able to concentrate on the learning-styles of each sex and use the styles to bring out the academic best in each students. Lessons and activities could be designed with a single-sex in mind” (p. 11). As Principal John Fox states, “the single-sex environment enables you to actually focus on the particular needs of each gender, and those needs socially and
Gender reveal day. A blue middle is exposed by the slice of a cake. Dad perches on a ladder and lathers the nursery with the same sky-blue paint, Mom standing in the middle, rubbing her belly, “He’ll play football just like you, our little man.” So when the little man grows into a big one, will he play football because of the sports mobile turning above his crib, or because something in himself innately gravitates toward masculine activities? The mechanisms of what creates someone’s gender identity doesn’t have an easy answer. While gender is something that is self-identifiable, most people live their lives being told what it should look like or be. Scholars and scientists debate over the heaviest influences on an individual’s gender;
The nurture argument can also explain cultural variations in gender-related behavior. What distinguishes one culture from another is the fact that they have their own set of beliefs, values and norms. There is evidence that people’s behavior is influenced by the standards
Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick, the famous identical twins from the movie The Parent Trap, were separated at a young age by their divorcing parents. Sharon grew up in Boston to a socialite mother while Susan grew up in California on her father’s ranch. Sharon had structure while Susan’s life was very laid back. They looked the same and liked many of the same things, yet their personalities were very different. What is responsible for these differences? Is it simply that they are two different people with different interests and preferences? Or did the environments that they grew up in play a part in making who they are? In the nature vs. nurture controversy, nature proclaims that our genetic make-up plays the primary role in human
The nature side of the argument is basically what we are born with, our heredity. The main idea of this is that we are born with predetermined traits that may or may not create psychopathic tendencies in us. Dr. Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison published a report in 2000 that compared brain scans of five
Over time there has been a change in gender success throughout education “coming into the late 1980’s girls were less likely than boys to obtain one or more A-levels and were less likely to go on to higher education however 1990 's there was a sudden reversal girl were doing better than boys and In 2006 10% more females were obtaining 2 or more A-levels than males (Trueman,2016)”. In today’s society feminist’s doubt that the topic in school want girls to achieve less like the model also considers that gender stereotyping may still be in society as boys are believed to fit better in the workforce than girls. The distinction between girls and boys are often sketched on sex and ideas of biology Dr Zuleyka mention that “Sex are the biological traits that societies use to assign people into the category of either male or female, whether it be through a focus on chromosomes, genitalia or some other physical ascription." (Zevallos), Gender does not depend on biological personality it is an idea that describes how societies determine and manage sex categories also determined by what an individual feels and does. Girls are more conscientious and mature while boys are seen as a liability student. A parent who spends less time reading to their son impact their son to achieve a lower grade. Many jobs tend to be dominated by one gender for example nursing which is seen as a female job. Girls do consistently better than boys at all levels and likely to get higher grades
Does the environment that one grows up in contribute to alcoholism or is alcoholism determined by genetics? It wasn’t until 1991 that alcoholism was considered both a medical and psychiatric disease by the American Medical Association. Alcoholism is defined in the dictionary as a chronic disorder characterized by dependence on alcohol, repeated excessive use of alcoholic beverages, the development of withdrawal symptoms on reducing or ceasing intake, morbidity that may include cirrhosis of the liver, and decreased ability to function socially and vocationally. (dictionary.com). It is also defined as an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness
The Nature vs. Nurture has been a long never ending debate for some time now. Nature vs Nurture has been so profoundly debated, that now it’s unclear whether what makes us who we are and what we do, nature or nurture. For purposes of this essay Nature is going to be defined as characteristics we acquire through our genetic and biological factors, while that Nurture is going to be defined characteristics we acquire through our interactions and influences with the environment. There are endless ways of taking an approach to the Nature vs Nurture conflict, thus the reason that it’s truly unclear if its Nature or Nurture or even both what makes us who and what we are.
Gender differences occur in many aspects of a person’s life whether it is culture, politics, occupation, family and relationships, or the economy (just to name a few). One major difference in gender occurs in learning and education in the elementary and secondary levels. Research has found that males and females learn differently in many aspects of education. First of all, female and male brains are constructed differently affecting the way they learn; this leads to basic differences in learning and also gives an introduction into why the way one learns differs according to gender and how males and females learn subjects and tasks differently. Second, males and females are treated differently, sometimes unconsciously, in educational