Since I will be teaching girls specifically, I thought that it would be best to research the best ways to teach a girl’s brain. It turns out that there is not a specific effective pedagogy for girls because all girls are different and learn in a variety of different ways. Though it is great to think that there is neuroscientific research that can back up different styles of teaching, generalizing teaching in this way can actually be harmful to different groups of students. One brain-based generalization that is often made is that girls are more left brained and boys are more right brained, meaning girls allegedly favor more logic based types of work like language and analysis. This obviously is true for some girls, but it is not true for all girls, and assuming that this is the way that all girls learn could be very harmful in the way we teach or form ideas about what girls are good at. Whether it’s girls or boys, it is best to teach using a variety of different methods instead of trying to focus on what specific learning style might fit a gender best.

Growth mindset is the idea that intelligence and skill is developed through hard work rather than natural abilities. This is important for Girls in STEM because girls often have lower competency belief, so if they begin to see that success in STEM does not have to mean immediately being good at everything, they may be more inclined towards STEM.

Activity theory is the idea that working towards a specific goal using hands-on activities and connections to culture is one of the best ways to help people feel connected to the work they’re doing. An example of activity theory is using a made up story about needing to save Spongebob in Bikini Bottom by doing a sink or float experiment. This gives students a connection with scienc that they know: Spongebob, and a goal to strive for: saving Spongebob. Connecting activities with popular media is a great way of using activity theory, but it can also be used to connect to a student’s more specific culture. In one study, a Native American student was able to learn more successfully when he connected his schoolwork with nature and other important parts of his Native American culture than when he just tried to learn facts from a textbook.