Bad boys and good girls? Patterns of interaction and response in whole class teaching.

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Gender

Classroom interactions - joining in or opting out? The findings of the study.

Under-achievers of both sexes were least likely to join in and most likely to be engaged in off task interactions such as talking to their neighbour. This pattern starts earlier for boys (Y1) than girls (Y4). The research also found that pupils' patterns of response did not remain consistent throughout their schooling. There was little difference in the contribution of high-achieving boys and girls in the first schools, but in the middle schools the high-achieving boys shifted from being the most likely participant in Year 5 to being almost as reluctant to join in as the under-achievers.

The results did not support the belief that boys dominate classroom talk, but, according to the author, they did indicate that calling out was a characteristic of the boys. The author suggests that low participation in whole class teaching may have a direct bearing upon achievement.

The study highlighted a number of specific findings including;

when the results for Year 1, Year 4, and Year 5 were averaged, high-achieving boys were more likely to respond than high-achieving girls;
between Year 4 and Year 5 there was a noticeable fall in instances of under-achieving girls volunteering answers, even when invited. This occurred as the girls began their first year of the middle school;
high-achieving boys shifted significantly from being very likely to volunteer a response in Year 1, to showing a marked reluctance in Year 8. In fact they began to exhibit similar interaction patterns to the under-achievers;
there was a trend for off-task behaviour of under-achievers of either gender to increase at the end of first school and middle school phases; and
high-achieving girls remained consistently on task and willing to participate in question and answer sessions.

Your path: Home > Welcome to The Research Informed Practice Site (TRIPS) > Themes > Gender > Bad boys and good girls? Patterns of interaction and response in whole class teaching.WedNov51204252003 > Classroom interactions - joining in or opting out? The findings of the study.
Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction What did the research aim to do? Classroom interactions - joining in or opting out? The findings of the study. What sort of pupil interaction might impact on learning? How was the study designed? Author's Conclusions Implications Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader Bad boys and good girls? Patterns of interaction and response in whole class teaching. This digest found in Gender Send to a friend Word doc 60KB Printer friendly Collate for later Classroom interactions - joining in or opting out? The findings of the study. Under-achievers of both sexes were least likely to join in and most likely to be engaged in off task interactions such as talking to their neighbour. This pattern starts earlier for boys (Y1) than girls (Y4). The research also found that pupils' patterns of response did not remain consistent throughout their schooling. There was little difference in the contribution of high-achieving boys and girls in the first schools, but in the middle schools the high-achieving boys shifted from being the most likely participant in Year 5 to being almost as reluctant to join in as the under-achievers. The results did not support the belief that boys dominate classroom talk, but, according to the author, they did indicate that calling out was a characteristic of the boys. The author suggests that low participation in whole class teaching may have a direct bearing upon achievement. The study highlighted a number of specific findings including; when the results for Year 1, Year 4, and Year 5 were averaged, high-achieving boys were more likely to respond than high-achieving girls; between Year 4 and Year 5 there was a noticeable fall in instances of under-achieving girls volunteering answers, even when invited. This occurred as the girls began their first year of the middle school; high-achieving boys shifted significantly from being very likely to volunteer a response in Year 1, to showing a marked reluctance in Year 8. In fact they began to exhibit similar interaction patterns to the under-achievers; there was a trend for off-task behaviour of under-achievers of either gender to increase at the end of first school and middle school phases; and high-achieving girls remained consistently on task and willing to participate in question and answer sessions.