There are plenty of theories as to why girls tend to outperform boys in the classroom. That boys and girls are made differently isn’t in question but when it comes to education, is it possible to unlock the mysteries of the sexes to find the answer? Are girls and boys brains wired differently? Could this determine they way they learn? Educational consultant, Charlotte Raby, gives us her take on the debate.
Bigger versus better brains?
Boys’ brains are bigger than girls’ brains and weigh 10% more which might suggest a greater capacity to hold information. However, women have more intricate and extensive connections between their brain cells than men. This interconnectedness may be the reason why women’s brains have a higher rate of blood flow and why their brains are more efficient, especially at the higher order ‘executive’ functions of judgement and reason.
There is no doubt that the male and female brains are wired differently and neuroscientists believe that they may even use different parts of their brains to do the same tasks. But does this result in different learning patterns?
Children’s brains have two ‘sensitive periods’ where major reorganisation occurs. The first is during the first five years of a child’s life and the second is puberty, usually aged 11-15.
For boys there is an added dimension to brain growth - testosterone. In a boy’s fourth year, the year he starts his education, there is a huge surge of testosterone in his body just as the front of his brain is laying down new connections.
Testosterone inhibits the connections made between the left and right hemispheres of the brain – so what happened to the embryo in the sixth week of its development is mirrored here. Testosterone also affects boys’ behaviour, making them rowdy and fidgety, just at the point we ask them to sit down and learn. The difference between the sexes is never more apparent than in a reception class!
At puberty the brain tailors itself, trimming the neural connections in the pre-frontal cortex. This continues for all children throughout their secondary schooling but for boys the increase in testosterone changes the way their brain works and how they behave.