Innate Gender Differences and Influence on how Children Learn

Innate Gender Differences and Influence on how Children Learn

Abstract

Students often have individual styles of learning differences. Such differences can be examined using the VARK questionnaire. VARK stands for visual, auditory, read-write, and kinesthetic. VARK questionnaire was administered to undergraduate physiology majors, who were enrolled in a physiology class at Michigan State University. Out of 86 students, 48 of them offered gender information voluntarily. These responses were then tallied and assessed to get the gender differences that were in the learning style preferences. The results indicated that approximately 54.2% female, and 12.5% male often for a kind of presentation that was single mode. From the female students, the percentage of VARK was 4.2%, 0%, 16.7%, and 33.3% in that order. On the contrary, the distribution of male students was even. Approximately 4.2% preferred A, R, and K, respectively. 0% preferred V.

In summary, many male students opted for multimodal instruction, particularly the four modes, VARK. On the other hand, many female students chose single-mode instruction. They had a significant preference toward K. Therefore, it is apparent innate gender differences influence the learning process of children because of the different learning styles that they choose.

 

 

 

 

Introduction

An emotional debate has always existed concerning the gender gap in subjects like Maths and Science. Furthermore, such discussions are often inflamed by questions concerning innate gender differences. Despite the political correctness and passions that were initially encountered by the former Harvard President Larry Summers, these are critical questions, which the academic community must address if it is to offer quality education. Summers opined that the gender gap that was in subjects like Maths and Science is because of issues that relate to intrinsic aptitude.

Many methods are available, which can be used to assess different learning styles. Each technique offers a significantly different perception of the preference in learning style. The technique that this study has adopted defines these preferences according to the sensory modality, where students prefer to take in information (Wehrwein, Lujan, & DiCarlo, 2007). The three primary sensory modalities refer to VAK, which stands for visual, aural, and kinaesthetic, respectively. This classification system has expanded to VARK, which stands for visual, auditory, read-write, and kinaesthetic, respectively.

The study was interested in finding out the preferred learning styles of students to ascertain whether males and females had different styles of learning. This information assists in developing and implementing approaches, which are gender-specific and maximize the knowledge and motivation of children by tailoring instruction to suit their needs (Wehrwein, Lujan, & DiCarlo, 2007). To attain the objectives of the study, it was essential to test the hypothesis, which indicates that male and female have different styles of learning preferences.

 

METHODS

Design

To test the hypothesis, which indicates that males and females do not have the same preferences of learning style, the VARK questionnaire was administered to the students with majors in physiology (Kray, Locke, & Haselhuhn, 2010). The selection of VARK was because it was easy to use. It is also available online for all the students who participated in the study and for the people who would read this article and wish to adopt this tool for future reference (Wehrwein, Lujan, & DiCarlo, 2007). The other reason why VARK was used is that it is easy for students to use it online, and instructors can learn more for their own sake. Additionally, this tool also gives the instructors and students a method, which will help enhance the learning of the students by understanding the preferred mode of transferring information.

Procedures

The administration of the VARK questionnaire was towards both the junior and senior-level undergraduates who enrolled in a course on the physiology laboratory at Michigan State University. This course is required for majors in physiology, and students often work in groups to carry out physiological experiments (Kray, Locke, & Haselhuhn, 2010). Every session usually has a short lecture and a corresponding laboratory. Moreover, the grades that the students get depend on a formal report from the laboratory in the form of a scientific paper that is written by every laboratory group for every topic weekly (Wehrwein, Lujan, & DiCarlo, 2007). A short oral presentation of this data is also obtained. Grades depend on the performance of the group instead of the performance of the individual students. Out of the 86 students, only 48 of them who returned a completed questionnaire gave out gender information voluntarily. Therefore, this sample size depicts a response rate of approximately 55.8% of the students who participated (Kray, Locke, & Haselhuhn, 2010). It is also above the required level to conclude on the preference of students in terms of receiving and processing information. The responses received were tallied and assessed to determine the innate gender differences on the influence of children in learning.

Analysis

The data in this research have been reported as percentages of all the students in every category of  preference of learning style (Kray, Locke, & Haselhuhn, 2010). To get the rates, the total number of students with preference for every mode of learning was divided by the total number of responses.

RESULTS

Figure 1 below depicts the percentages of male and female students who opted for unimodal information versus multimodal. As females opted for unimodal learning, males chose for multimodal learning. Notably, approximately 54.2% of females and 12.5% of males opted for unimodal information (Wehrwein, Lujan, & DiCarlo, 2007). For the females who chose for multimodal information, the percentage was roughly 45.8. Other students preferred two modes, bimodal. Their rate was 12,5. Out of 12.5%, some students preferred trimodal. 20.8% opted for quadmoldal information (Kray, Locke, & Haselhuhn, 2010). For the males who chose for multimodal information, the preference of bimodal, trimodal, and quadmodal was 16.7%, 12.5%, and 58.3%, respectively.

Fig 1

Figure 2 below depicts that out of the females who were unimodal learners, approximately 4.2% opted for V.  0% opted for A.  16.7% opted for R.  33.3% opted for K. On the contrary, the male participants were distributed evenly in unimodal preferences. 4.2% preferred A, R, or K.

Fig 2

 

Male multimodal learners opted for quadmodal. On the other hand, the female had many preferences. For the female students who chose for trimodal information, some of them preferred V, A, and K, some preferred V, R, and K, while others preferred A, R, and K. all of them at 4.2% (Wehrwein, Lujan, & DiCarlo, 2007).  For the students who opted for bimodal, the percentage remained the same at 4.2%.

 

 

 

 

 

References

Kray, L. J., Locke, C. C., & Haselhuhn, M. P. (2010). In the words of Larry Summers: Gender stereotypes and implicit beliefs in negotiations. Neuroeconomics and the Firm, 101-115.

Wehrwein, E. A., Lujan, H. L., & DiCarlo, S. E. (2007). Gender differences in learning style preferences among undergraduate physiology students. Advances in physiology            education, 31(2), 153-157.