A study, reported in Canada’s National Post, discusses the perception that, because elementary school boys don’t read, they perform more poorly than girls in reading and writing tests.

Researchers Heather Blair of the University of Alberta and Kathy Sanford of the University of Victoria studied 29 boys in rural and urban schools over a period of two years and found that the boys

…spend large amounts of time on chat sites and Web sites to get tips on how to “cheat” or compete at video games, read books about animals, sports and fantasy, and will pick up magazines and newspapers to read hockey scores, entertainment stories or news about things relevant to their lives…”

If this study were expanded to high school and adult males, I have a hunch we’d find that many of these patterns continue. What does this say for our methods of designing instruction for adult learners?

Are there gender bases for learning styles? If we are developing instruction for a predominantly male audience, how can we engage them and not lose the females? If these gender-based learning style differences exist, how are they distributed over various cultures and ethnicities.

via elearningpost