Giftedness and Gender

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Giftedness and Gender

• Stephanie Longfellow
• And
• Lindsay Brinkmann
• Deltona Middle School

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Why does Gender play a role in the Guidance
and Counseling of the Gifted?
Theres a very logical explanation for all of
this -Velma
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Objective

• How to prevent gender from influencing/
  prohibiting the growth of our Gifted Students.

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Ladies First!
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Brief History/Background

• In early childhood and in elementary school
  years, gifted boys and girls are equal in number.
• In adolescence (12 years old), gifted boys
  outnumber gifted girls.
• By adulthood, there are far more gifted men than
  gifted women.
• Their academic achievement and other talents seem
  to falter on the way to womanhood.
• What happens to our gifted girls????

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Brief History/Background

• Girls start school scoring ahead of boys and
  leave school scoring behind them.
• Girls talk, read and count earlier than boys.
• During preschool years, girls score higher on IQ
  tests than boys.
• Girls are ready for formal schooling at an
  earlier age and earn higher grades in elementary
  school.
• Girls have an edge in academics over boys at
  every age level from 2 ½ to 14 years old.

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Brief History/Background

• BUT, by middle school the balance is reversed.
• Some gifted girls as early as 3rd grade have
  gotten the message, either at home or in school,
  that it is safer not to stand out for academics.
• It is more acceptable to be liked by their peers.
  ?
• 8th grade gifted girls report more negative
  self-regard and self-confidence in behavior,
  intellectual, school-status and popularity, than
  non-gifted girls at the same grade level.

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Characteristics of Gifted Girls

• Academic Behaviors
• Reads voraciously and retains what she reads
• Possesses superior analytical and conceptual
  abilities
• Communicates ideas well both verbally and in
  writing
• Explores issues from multiple points of views

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Characteristics of Gifted Girls

• Creative Behaviors
• Demonstrates special ability in the visual arts
• Expresses unusual points of view
• Manifests improvisational ability in a variety of
  contexts
• Shows promise in performing arts
• Music, drama, dance

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Learning Characteristics

• Positive Behaviors
• Learns material quickly
• Can move at a rapid pace
• Sees relationships easily
• Wants to learn, explore and seek more information
• Completes assigned tasks

• Negative Behaviors
• May become bored by repetitions
• May lead discussions off track
• May dominate discussions
• May lose interest quickly

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Special Needs

• What do gifted girls need that all girls do not?
• Gifted girls require support that is particularly
  sensitive to the dilemma that talent brings to
  the position of females in our society.
• Gifted girls have abilities urging them forward,
  prompting them to explore all that education has
  to offer, yet education does not run to meet
  them.
• Girls receive reprimands or disapproval for
  behavior deemed aggressive, pushy unfeminine or
  impolite.
• this message is not lost on gifted girls

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Special Needs

• Some gifted girls do not know about their own
  gifts and talents.
• They only know they are different and perceive
  that this is different and somehow strange or
  wrong.
• In addition to their acute sensitivity, gifted
  girls play mental games with themselves.
• In response to the conflicting expectations girls
  experience both as girls and as talented people.

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Problems Encountered

• Gifted girls increasingly doubt their
  intellectual competence, perceive themselves as
  less capable than they actually are.
• Gifted girls believe that boys can rely on innate
  ability while they must work harder to succeed.
• Girls try to avoid competition in order to
  preserve relationships, even if that means that
  they do not take the opportunity to use their
  skills.

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Problems Encountered

• Being identified as being bright or talented may
  create social problems for females.
• Gifted girls believe it is a social disadvantage
  to be smart because of the negative reactions of
  peers, so they play dumb.
• Parents may also send negative messages about how
  girls should act, how polite they should be, how
  they should dress, and how often they should
  speak out and in what situations.

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What can we do for Gifted Girls?

• Girls should be encouraged to take credit for
  their success and recognize their own talents.
• Encourage selection of higher level math and
  science courses.
• Encourage independence and risk-taking.
• Multiple measures of ability and achievement
  should be used.
• Females score lower on examinations critical for
  college and graduate school admission.
• most of these tests under predict female
  performance and over predict male performance

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What can we do for Gifted Girls?

• Provide role models of women in traditional and
  nontraditional careers who have successfully
  integrated multiple aspects of their lives.
• Female educators should model independent,
  problem-solving behaviors and decision making
  strategies to their girls.
• Avoid sex-role stereotyping.
• Encourage criticism of biased depictions of girls
  and women in the media.

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"Boy's will be Boys"
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Stereotypes

• Gifted Boys are typically thought of as
• Good at Sports
• (However, if they are not athletically inclined
  then they are termed A NERD!)
• Good at Math and Science
• Poor Writers
• Poor Readers

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• Gifted boys learn very early on that they are
  smart.
• ?The problem is that this giftedness is either
  a burden or a gift.
• Gifted Boys achieve well in Math and Science,
  however the stigma that they are poor in Lingual
  based subjects is still present.
• ?Those boys who excel in Lingual based subjects
  are deemed Nerds.

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Boys vs. Girls

• Boys, unlike girls, havent been give the chance
  to break their stereotypes.
• Because of this 90 of gifted boys are
  underachievers, this may also be a way for them
  to demonstrate their masculinity.

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• Without adequate support the gifted boys will
  struggle to achieve and be accepted socially.

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• Ironically, there is a great deal of research out
  their about gender and girls, however the
  research about boys is limited and strictly
  addresses the social needs to males, rather than
  their educational needs.

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What Can We Do for Gifted Boys

• Provide opportunities for our boys to demonstrate
  that they can be successful in English and
  Reading.
• ?Relate it to their strengths!
• Provide an opportunity for the boys to see role
  models that arent athletic super stars.
• ?Bill Gates, Albert Einstein
• Mark Twain

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So What Do We Do As Teachers?

• Treat each gifted student as an individual, do
  not seem them as a gifted male or gifted female.

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Test Question

• In a national study of achievement test scores,
  it was found that there were ____ times more male
  than female gifted underachievers.
• Three
• Six
• Nine
• Twelve

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Gifted Girl Sources

• Garrison, C.N. (1989). The emotional foundation
  of gifted girls. Understanding Our Gifted. 2(1),
  I, 10-12.
• Kerr, B.A. (1994). Smart girls two A new
  psychology of girls, women and giftedness.
  Dayton Ohio Psychology Press.
• htttp//www.med.nyu.edu
• htttp//www.twicegifted.net
• htttp//www.talentdevelop.com
• htttp//www.ncpamd.com
• htttp//www.reap.org.nz
• htttp//www.webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us

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Gifted Boys

• Gender and Genius
• by Barbara Kerr
• Gender and Giftedness
• by Barbara A. Kerr and Megan Foley Nicpon
• Feeling Boys and Thinking Girls Talented
  Adolescents and Their Teachers
• by Jane Piirto