Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Single Sex Education, Science, and Belief

One's scientific "spidey sense" should tingle when a report on research talks about "opponents of" and "proponents of," but just the same, with grains and dashes of salt taken as needed, this article brings us some updates on the conversation about research into the advantages of single sex education (mostly, here, in the pre-college context). 

Those of us who teach in single sex environments know it makes a difference, but we should admit that our convictions are convictions not knowledge, and we should be open to conver-sations not just about whether it makes a difference but how it might be making a difference.
"Why is there such disagreement over the benefits of single-sex education? Methodology is the key sticking point."
"Last month a meta-analysis of 184 studies covering 1.6 million students from 21 countries indicated that any purported benefits to single-sex education over coeducation, when looking at well-designed, controlled studies, are nonexistent to minimal."
"The methodology is challenging."
FROM
 


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