Fusing Tech and Pedagogy
As my wife can attest, my specialization lies in areas quite removed from mathematics, but I enjoyed this tidbit of frustrating moments in the lives of math teachers.
I've thumped this tub before, but it bears repeating. Much has been done to address the discrepancy in the scores of females in the maths and sciences, to the point that some studies now show the discrepancy is within the margin of 
error. Some have suggested this equalization has been driven in part by diminishing scores among males in those areas, but the fact remains that there are a lot of scholarships, female-only classes, and support programs in place to help females increase their skills in maths and sciences.
I have yet to see, however, commensurate programs that seek to address the lower performance of males in reading and writing. In part, this is because our society values technical skills over the arts. But there are other reasons, according to this article at livescience.com.
A sea change is needed in order to show boys that reading and writing are of equal value to technical skills. In part, that means changing the manner in which we teach these skills. In part, that means developing programs that support boys and young men who take an interest or show aptitude in reading and writing.
And that means taking a look at the institutions themselves. A quick example: my alma mater had several scholarships <i>in English</i> for which only females were eligible. There were no such scholarships for only males. The result is that my field is in fact encouraging the disparity. Perhaps we can do this without "male-only" anything, be it scholarships or classes. I hope so. But what is clearly needed is a shift in philosophy and in the pedagogy of reading and writing, especially in the first years of school, to cultivate these skills in boys as well as we do in girls.
Maybe we just need more Harry Potter?
Link to LiveScience.com - Why Johnny Can't Read: Schools Favor Girls
