Exploring Gender and Learning |
notes from the observations
Day 1:
Grade 2/3 Outside:
❖ Girls playing with hula hoops and teaching each other how to do cartwheels
❖ Girls mostly play with girls and boys mostly play with boys.
❖ More boys are involved in active sports
❖ Group of girls sitting at a table drawing and colouring: creativity
❖ A group of boys was very rowdy: hitting each other and
playing tag
❖ consulting an adult about injury and fights
Inside Grade 3:
❖ divided into table groups
❖ teacher goes around to each group
❖ lots of colourful signs around the room: reminders for polite behaviour + notes for what the kids are learning
❖ some kids are fidgety
❖ teachers ask the kids questions about what they are learning and also ask them to write down rules for the topic they were learning
❖ Kids have resources in the class
Grade 2/3 Outside:
❖ Girls playing with hula hoops and teaching each other how to do cartwheels
❖ Girls mostly play with girls and boys mostly play with boys.
❖ More boys are involved in active sports
❖ Group of girls sitting at a table drawing and colouring: creativity
❖ A group of boys was very rowdy: hitting each other and
playing tag
❖ consulting an adult about injury and fights
Inside Grade 3:
❖ divided into table groups
❖ teacher goes around to each group
❖ lots of colourful signs around the room: reminders for polite behaviour + notes for what the kids are learning
❖ some kids are fidgety
❖ teachers ask the kids questions about what they are learning and also ask them to write down rules for the topic they were learning
❖ Kids have resources in the class
Day 2
Playtime Outside:
❖ During play time, boys play with blocks → lift blocks
❖ Boys move more
❖ One boy’s food fell and he still ate it
❖ During play time, girls stand and walk in small groups
❖ Girls play jump rope
❖ Girls sit on tables and talk quietly to themselves
❖ In the classroom, most of the girls have pink bags (bunny/flowers) and boys have blue/red bags (cars/superheros)
❖ Girl likes purple and hot pink beads
❖ When asked about favourite princess, she said Elsa and Anna from Frozen. She said she had a princess elsa and anna dress
❖ Boys play with balls and run around in groups
❖ Girl asked who her favourite superhero was, she said none
❖ Boy asked who is favourite superhero, he said hulk because
he is strong
❖ Boy asked who is favourite princess, he said princess jasmine
Grade 3
❖ there are resources like colour pencils, markers etc. in the classroom available in the room.
❖ teacher had the children discuss their learning in table groups and when discussion stopped the kids got distracted
❖ teacher asked questions to keep kids talking and reviewing the topic
❖ Logical: boy asked if the examples should be realistic
❖ kids use whiteboards to write/ draw what they are talking about
❖ children easily follow directions
❖ there are storybooks/ blocks around the room
❖ teacher has kids recall info instead of lecturing them and just talking the entire time
❖ teacher speaks softly and slowly when giving directions
❖ each student has a ‘compliment box’ with positive comments from their classmates
Playtime Outside:
❖ During play time, boys play with blocks → lift blocks
❖ Boys move more
❖ One boy’s food fell and he still ate it
❖ During play time, girls stand and walk in small groups
❖ Girls play jump rope
❖ Girls sit on tables and talk quietly to themselves
❖ In the classroom, most of the girls have pink bags (bunny/flowers) and boys have blue/red bags (cars/superheros)
❖ Girl likes purple and hot pink beads
❖ When asked about favourite princess, she said Elsa and Anna from Frozen. She said she had a princess elsa and anna dress
❖ Boys play with balls and run around in groups
❖ Girl asked who her favourite superhero was, she said none
❖ Boy asked who is favourite superhero, he said hulk because
he is strong
❖ Boy asked who is favourite princess, he said princess jasmine
Grade 3
❖ there are resources like colour pencils, markers etc. in the classroom available in the room.
❖ teacher had the children discuss their learning in table groups and when discussion stopped the kids got distracted
❖ teacher asked questions to keep kids talking and reviewing the topic
❖ Logical: boy asked if the examples should be realistic
❖ kids use whiteboards to write/ draw what they are talking about
❖ children easily follow directions
❖ there are storybooks/ blocks around the room
❖ teacher has kids recall info instead of lecturing them and just talking the entire time
❖ teacher speaks softly and slowly when giving directions
❖ each student has a ‘compliment box’ with positive comments from their classmates
Day 3
Kindergarten:
❖ Bags: Superhero themed/ cars/ Thomas the engine
❖ Princess themed/ pink/ Hello Kitty/ Frozen/ Winx club
❖ Boys building towers: creativity
❖ Girls playing house
❖ The entire class worked together to make a castle and both boys and girls were playing in it
❖ Boys playing with airplanes
❖ When the girl was asked to choose a marker she chose the pink one
❖ Boys were mostly using pencils
❖ When asked about favourite colour a boy said his “favourite
colour was blue” and that he doesn’t like pink blocks or black blocks
❖ He was drawing airplanes and blocks
❖ Girl said her favourite colour was pink and another said teal
❖ she was drawing a picture of her brother and her
❖ Girl asked “what is your favourite colour” and when she was told blue her reply was “Why do you like blue? You’re a girl”
❖ A boy said “Pink is a girl colour”
❖ Many girls were wearing yellow ISM shirts and boys were wearing black
❖ Teacher prompts kids to say ‘thank you’ and ‘please’
❖ A boy was drawing action figures
❖ The teacher gave a boy something to help him grip his pencil properly so he could write
❖ Girls chose girl characters on iPad games and also chose environments like castles and gardens
❖ One girl was playing with trucks and cars alone and making a city but said she doesn’t like cars
❖ A boy chose blue colour for text on iPad from a choice of blue and pink.
❖ Boys were much more engaged with the iPad games and some had to be asked multiple times to move to the next station
❖ In the painting station, boys rushed on their work while girls took their time
❖ In the group with the teacher, children were attentive but teacher was spending more time with the boys and working with them because they kept getting distracted
❖ The assistant teacher was working with another group of students to help them with math
Kindergarten:
❖ Bags: Superhero themed/ cars/ Thomas the engine
❖ Princess themed/ pink/ Hello Kitty/ Frozen/ Winx club
❖ Boys building towers: creativity
❖ Girls playing house
❖ The entire class worked together to make a castle and both boys and girls were playing in it
❖ Boys playing with airplanes
❖ When the girl was asked to choose a marker she chose the pink one
❖ Boys were mostly using pencils
❖ When asked about favourite colour a boy said his “favourite
colour was blue” and that he doesn’t like pink blocks or black blocks
❖ He was drawing airplanes and blocks
❖ Girl said her favourite colour was pink and another said teal
❖ she was drawing a picture of her brother and her
❖ Girl asked “what is your favourite colour” and when she was told blue her reply was “Why do you like blue? You’re a girl”
❖ A boy said “Pink is a girl colour”
❖ Many girls were wearing yellow ISM shirts and boys were wearing black
❖ Teacher prompts kids to say ‘thank you’ and ‘please’
❖ A boy was drawing action figures
❖ The teacher gave a boy something to help him grip his pencil properly so he could write
❖ Girls chose girl characters on iPad games and also chose environments like castles and gardens
❖ One girl was playing with trucks and cars alone and making a city but said she doesn’t like cars
❖ A boy chose blue colour for text on iPad from a choice of blue and pink.
❖ Boys were much more engaged with the iPad games and some had to be asked multiple times to move to the next station
❖ In the painting station, boys rushed on their work while girls took their time
❖ In the group with the teacher, children were attentive but teacher was spending more time with the boys and working with them because they kept getting distracted
❖ The assistant teacher was working with another group of students to help them with math
Day 4
Preschool observations:
❖ Girls and boys were sitting in different groups in the preschool classroom
❖ Bags: pink/ princess/ dora/ frozen/ blue/ black/ spiderman/ superman/ batman
❖ Clothes: girls were wearing pink skirts/ pink shoes and pink or green caps
❖ Boys were wearing blue/ red clothes and other colours and had superhero caps
❖ Boys were playing together in the sandpit to build something
❖ Girls and boys worked together to make a fort around one of their classmates
Preschool observations:
❖ Girls and boys were sitting in different groups in the preschool classroom
❖ Bags: pink/ princess/ dora/ frozen/ blue/ black/ spiderman/ superman/ batman
❖ Clothes: girls were wearing pink skirts/ pink shoes and pink or green caps
❖ Boys were wearing blue/ red clothes and other colours and had superhero caps
❖ Boys were playing together in the sandpit to build something
❖ Girls and boys worked together to make a fort around one of their classmates