Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day Podcast 145

   In Podcast Episode 145, Andrew Pudewa reveals eye-opening research about how boys and girls learn differently. The research describes a number of variations, including hearing, vision, stress responses, and other physiological differences that boys and girls display. These variations illustrate some of the reasons why boys learn differently from girls and as a result may need a different instructional approach in order to be successful. You’ll come away with suggestions to help structure your teaching environment and approach to create the best possible learning environment for each student. Not only does Andrew describe strategies for teaching children of different genders, but he also describes ways to increase motivation in both boys and girls. He states that if something is meaningful, applicable, relevant, and interesting, then it is easier to learn. Categorizing four different forms of relevancy, Andrew places them in a preferred hierarchical order and describes each one: (1) intrinsic relevancy, (2) inspired relevancy, (3) contrived relevancy, and (4) enforced relevancy. Emphasizing that the best learning occurs when the student finds the material more relevant to him personally, Andrew then describes what he terms the three laws of motivation: (1) Children like to do what they can do; (2) Children want to do what they think they can do; and (3) Children hate to do what they think they can’t do. Knowing these three laws and applying them to the four forms of relevancy while being mindful of how boys learn differently than girls is the formula to create successful students who delight in learning. Have your pen and paper ready because you’ll find a lot of educational wealth to mine in this podcast episode! We hope that you enjoy it!