Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
David Ross
Committee Member
Karen Kimball
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
achievement, behavior, brain differences, databases, faculty training, gender differences, gender identity, grades, learning styles, magnet schools, mixed classrooms, parent choice, science education, single gender, single gender classes, single gender classrooms, single-sex classes, staff development, student achievement, teacher training, teaching strategies, test scores
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to provide a choice for parents to understand how their child may learn better, plus to show whether a student in a single-gender classroom was more successful with regards to grades, test scores and behavior. The teachers involved in the analysis received a chance to view the results of how the single-gender students did compared to other students in mixed classrooms. The entire teaching staff had the chance to train and use the single-gender strategies with their classes to see if it assisted them, as well.
There was training sessions developed for the teachers who were teaching the single-gender courses, as well as for the entire staff of the school. The faculty who signed up for the course were trained so they would have the mindset of (a) understanding the goals of the single-gender classroom, (b) understanding the different ways that male and female brains operate, (c) exploring the abilities teachers should have to teach their students and provide them with different ways of learning so their students can learn in a way that might be better suited for them on an individual basis, and (d) providing students with training in how they learn best.
An analysis of the data revealed that students in single-gender classrooms were more successful in grades, test scores and behavior than those in a mixed classroom. The data showed that the single-gender boy’s classroom enriched their science education after a period of time surpassing the single-gender girl’s classroom and those students in a mixed classroom.