Scientific American reports on a study attempting to explain the biological basis for why girls seem to have superior language skills compared to boys. As a father of two sons experiencing some of the trials and tribulations of pre-school, I notice these stories. Apparently, girls completing linguistics tasks show more brain activity in areas specialized for language encoding, while boys show activity in areas relating to visual and auditory functions. What does this all mean?
[I]t implies that boys need to be taught language both visually (with a textbook) and orally (through a lecture) to get a full grasp of the subject, whereas a girl may be able to pick up the concepts by either method.
Subjects ranged from 9 to 15 years of age. The next question is whether these differences persist with age.
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1. Posted by Peter Huang on March 6, 2008 @ 16:01 | Permalink
I'm in the midst of Wall Street Journal science colummist Sharon Begley's book, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves. She surveys recent developments in our knowledge about neuroplasticity: the ability of a brain to reorganize itself throughout one's life by forming new neural connections. She describes research about children's remarkable abilities to learn their first language compared to anyone over 10 years old's difficulties in learning a second langauge.
2. Posted by Bruce McCullough on March 9, 2008 @ 15:04 | Permalink
Get the excellent book, _Why Gender Matters_ by Leonard Sax. The subtitle is: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences.
Regards,
Bruce
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