3. Female Dolls Story completion People Male Car Action Immediate Objects

4. Peer Group Collaborative Competitive Hierarchical Female Male

5. Male strengths Confidence Risk-taking Problem solving Speculative thinking

6. The Average Male Does first and then (hopefully) thinks! Likely weaknesses Linear process skills Communication skills Reflective thinking skills Attention to detail Writing skills Reading skills Overestimates ability

7. Female Strengths Communication Skills Reflective Thinking Collaborative Working People Skills Attention to detail Linear process skills

8. The Average Female Thinks first then (hopefully) does! Likely weaknesses Risk averse Overworks Guilt Blames herself Overly detailed Speculative thinking Underestimates her abilities

9. Descriptive Reflective Speculative How Why If Boys generally miss out the reflective step

10. Boys need time and space Boys do first, then think Girls think first, then do Boys – failure averse Girls – risk averse

11. Boys want to answer but won’t have thought it through so can’t answer the question – “Why?” Girls instinctively want to impress their teacher Boys want to impress their peers

12. For boys writing can switch them off Moving around keeps boys engaged Instead of – think then write Try – think, communicate, write Writing alone will not help children to remember. Try – read / read aloud, think, communicate, write

13. Reading aloud Guided reading Paired reading Boy + girl seating has significant impact on improvement and makes the classroom environment safer for talking and learning

14. Go for Five Think of five possible solutions to a problem and then select the best Think of five reasons why something might have happened before deciding on the most probable Try to find five reasons for something and five reasons against something before making a decision Find five good things and five bad things Find five unknown things prior to seeking information To develop speculative and reflective thinking skills