Think-Thank-Thunk

The cool thing about this video is that research has shown that baby boys use a lot more space when they play. Now I’d love to get a similar video of a girl and compare their “range”.

“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

Clothes make the man. Naked people have very little or no influence in society.

Be here now. Be somewhere else later. Is that so complicated?

Smart people believe only half of what they hear.

Superheros know which half to believe.

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” –Charles Kingsley

“I’m not a vegetarian because I love animals. I’m a vegetarian because I hate plants.”
A. Whitney Brown

My buddies (disclosure: they have no idea I exist) over at Freakonomics Blog write today to ask for your help in doing a little gender-type research related to boy and girl toys. It’s generating some interesting discussion in the comments. This is what their asking:

1. With regard to toy choice, which comes closest to your experience:

• 1. McDonald’s didn’t ask any question about toy choice.
• 2. The toy-choice question didn’t mention the child’s gender (for example, “Do you want the Digisports or the Hello Kitty toy?”).
• 3. McDonald’s asked whether the Happy Meal was for a boy or a girl.
• 4. McDonald’s offered the choice of a boy’s toy or a girl’s toy.
• 5. Other?

2. If asked a toy-related question, how did you respond?
3. If not asked a toy question, was it because the employee saw or heard your child and just gave what he thought was the gender-appropriate toy?
4. What toy were you given?
5. Was your order placed at the counter or drive through?
6. When and where (city and state) did the transaction take place?

I’m not sure what value this data might have. But that’s what’s cool about those freaks over there. They ask questions that nobody else would think of and sometimes they learn some pretty cool things.

Of course, a more interesting study would be, given the choice, which toy would your child pick?

Boys and girls are different. We all know that. You’ll be amazed at just how different, when you begin to dig into the current research literature. The following 12 book/article annotations summarize just what I’m talking about here.
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Into educational research about motivation? The following 15 annotations may be of interest to you. I used this literature to do action research related to gender and motivation. The following annotated bibliography is related to motivation only though–not gender. If your interested at all in motivation, it’s an interesting start.
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