Customer Reviews

Boys and Girls Learn Differently!: A Guide for Teachers and Parents

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I'm truly astounded at the ignorance of the reviewer cc, who clearly has an agenda of her own (just click on her profile).
Any mother who has a son and a daughter CLEARLY understands that you can put a doll in a little boys hand for the rest of your life and all he will do with it is twirl it around by it's hair or launch it in a rocket blaster.
I too believed that nonsense of nurture when I learned that in college and encourage my first born son to play with all types of different toys. My son was obsessed with balls from day one, in fact, his first word was ball, not mama or dada. Any doll was quickly ditched for a chance to throw something, build something or bulldoze something.
Having my son start kindergarten was an eye opener for me as well. Schools are set up for girls, not boys. My son does not want to sit still all day, my son does not want to sit and read books like my daughter will do all day long. My son wants to be physical, wants to conquer, wants to be busy doing... he wants to learn by doing. Unfortunately, schools want him to sit and act nice. Teachers at this stage in education do not understand the differneces and consistantly recommend drugging boys well into adolecence to get them to "behave". My son is a perfectly well adjusted very sweet kind young boy. He does not have any emotional problems, he just wants to do other things that girls do not want to do.
I praise Gurian for writing the books that he has. They have given me tremendous strength and wisdom to know what's "normal" for a boy. And yes, boys and girls are different. I don't believe that is politically incorrect to say. It's a fact.

The age-old battle between Nature and Nurture has been brought by the politically correct of the recent past to a premature and lopsided conclusion. Hence gender is widely viewed as wholly a social construction. With more than enough evidence to back him up, Gurian wisely dissents from such simplicity. While retaining full awareness of the role of culture in shaping us, he restores attention to our anterior hard-wiring by nature, which we ignore, he argues, only at our peril. Gurian's latest work is a healthy corrective to certain biases which flourish within the educational establishment; it should be read with seriousness by parents and teachers who have no agenda other than wanting the best education for children of both sexes.

This book resonates with "a ha's"-those rare moments when something you've just read makes such perfect sense you can actually feel it. What I like is the way Gurian blends brain-based research & classroom observation so the reader really can understand the neurological differences in boys & girls that drive their learning & behavior patterns. The extraordinary value in the book is that Gurian provides dozens of suggestions & real-life examples for teachers & parents to nurture a child's intellectual, emotional & creative development. Gurian's book offers valuable & practical insights spanning preschool through high school so I suspect my copy will be dog-eared from frequent use over the next 10 years. Do yourself -and your child-a favor: give this book to your child's teachers & encourage your school district to develop teaching standards that recognize & reflect the fact that boys & girls learn differently. Teachers, kids & parents will all benefit.

This book is a MUST for current teachers, parents, and anyone working with children of ALL ages.

This book will help the reader understand how brain research has and should be included in every certified teacher curriculum materials. This "textbook" should be provided for in-service instruction for current teachers, child care workers, parents, guardians, mentors, tutors, and ANY one working with children.

The MI (Multiple Intelligences) approach is still valid and is in fact relied on by many to answer the age old question: "How do Boys and Girls Learn? What are the differences in learning styles." By taking your knowledge regarding MI and include the latest reserach on brain research, the child in your life will benefit and you too will feel like you are making the difference in the life of a child.

Go get the book, read it, then apply that knowledge within the classroom, home, church, day care, and anywhere/anyone working with children.

DG

An excellent resource for parents and teachers in understanding the difference in how boys and girls learn. In Elementary grade classrooms, many particle applications are provided. However, I feel that the training sessions through the Gurian Institute needs to trickle down from a Lead Assessor to teach the teachers.
Prior knowledge of Multiple Intellegencies, brain research, and how students learn as they develop from K-12 is required to get the most of this material.

Good resource may be Cynthia Tobias's tape series and book entitled "The Way They Learn: Understanding Learning Styles" and a book about Brain research.

Brain research is key to this book, but may be very confusing as to how to Apply the learning into the home, classroom and everyday life. Instead of instilling sterotypes Boys vs. Girls, Teachers may refere to students as class, friends, team names if group work anything but "boys and girls." Anything to help remove the sterotypes the teachers, parents and society place on young children since that is how they grow up. Boys play sports, like to be leaders. Girls like close friendships with their peers, fluffy toys, play house, etc.

Enjoy the book! I did. I took notes and found that useful towards moving in the direction of implementation of Gurian's suggestions.
DG

Educator, Family Therapist and Author, Michael Gurian has put together a great resource for teachers and parents. Boys and Girls Learn Differently goes inside students' brains and tells the reader how and why boys and girls process information differently. The author writes as if he was speaking directly to the reader. The book, which is separated into two sections, is clearly focused on an audience of educators and parents. The first section goes into full detail about the neurological differences between boys and girls and howy they learn differently. In the second part of the book, the author provides concrete examples of how to incorporate the knowledge learned in part one into the classroom setting. Gurian suggests steps that should be taken to maximize learning for all students from Kindergarten through High School.
This book is an exceptionally helpful resource for teachers and parents in understanding the differences in learning between boys and girls and compliments my philosophy on education. The one subject that I would have liked to see addressed is the notion that each and every student is a unique individual and therefore learns in his or her own distinct manner. As educators, it is our responsibility to make the learning environment well rounded so all students are cultivated to their maximum learning potential. I recommend that every educator and parent, interested in learning about how boys and girls process information differently, enjoy this informative and enjoyable book.

This author has much to say, but the limitations of a 2-cassette abridgment make it difficult to learn much from this audiobook. Consequently, it is just an introduction, an overview, and lacks enough concrete examples to make significant changes to your teaching.

Still, because I know there is much value here, I would recommend that either you buy the book instead of the audiobook or try the audiobook first and then read the book.

Not to say I agree with everything here. The suggestion to improve teaching calculus to girls with journaling is laughable. I do notice that when I was teaching algebra to girls, it helped if I said the equations in plain speech; that is, instead of saying y=x, I said y is the same as x, and the light dawned.

As for the reader, I recognized the dulcet tones of Jonathan Marosz immediately. He must have to use an alias when he records for different publishers. He does an excellent job, and his voice carries a lot of authority.

If you know an inovative teacher who tries new startegies to reach all students this book is the perfect gift. Michael Gurian describes how 'brain based research' has been combined with practical teaching, mentoring, and parenting techniques and applied in classrooms over a two year period in Missouri. Chapters 1 and 2 clearly describe how male and female brains differ depending upon hormonal, biological, developmental, and structual change. Once this premise is accepted, practical techniques for educating both boys and girls within the ultimate classroom are explained complete with documented annecdotes. Chapters 4-6 delve into specific grade levels from pre-school through high school graduation. Yes, boys and girls learn differently. Yes, we can use this difference to our and their benefit. An educator will enjoy reading this very practical book.

I found 'Boys and Girls Learn Differently" to be a useful and fascinating introduction to the general strengths and weaknesses of males and females in the classroom.

Some reviewers may laugh or poke fun at the relatively old ideas that he is presenting as new in the areas of male/female brain differences. These may be old ideas in the biology lab, but someone needs to walk over to the schools of education across the country because the 'tabla rasa' theory (the mind is a blank slate and gender differences are entirely a product of culture, not nature) is alive and still kicking hard.

The only complaint I have is that Gurian refers a lot to seminars and ongoing experiments in school designs that will be helpful in teaching to the strengths and weaknesses of girls and boys. However, he comes up a bit short in providing concrete examples of how to help both boys and girls.

Where this book excels is in offering advice on how to best organize the K-6 classroom. I think that makes sense. By the time of junior high, a student's individuation process starts, and by the time of high school it's really hard to offer teachers advice on how to best structure their classroom because the students are all so different -- by the time of high school, it's really less about teaching manuals and more about a teacher's experience and rapport with the student.

This book does a remarkable service to society by reminding us that the very structure of education today heavily favors girls over boys, and that's why nowadays almost 60% of college students are female. Unless we make a concerted effort to address this imbalance then this imbalance will just get worse and worse, leading to unpredictable educational and social consequences.

Where I think this book could be improved is in how it applies brain science to education. First, the writers are not neuroscientists, and their application of the latest neuroscience to explain and support just good pedagogical common sense comes across as gimmicky and trite. Second, we really don't know that much about brain science, and because it's just a vast and controversial field I don't think it's a good idea to use it as the ultimate authority on what is good pedagogical practices.