Gender Issues

After reading chapter 9 of the Boaler text and the class postings I was taken back to my high school experiences in mathematics and science classes. During the mid 80's I recall our school board putting a push on trying to have more females enrolled in advanced/academic math and science courses. My classes, along with a lot of schools in our district, had a large ratio of boys to girls and the board was looking to equalize this ratio. The term used at the time was that girls were experiencing a fear of failure and were avoiding these courses at all costs. I guess there was some truth to this, however, most of these courses were a very traditional sit and get nature. From this perspective and the current knowledge of learning styles there may have been more to this phenomena than was understood at the time.
If girls are truly better at learning math and science in an exploratory type of learning environment it is not surprising that they avoided these courses. I noticed a change in this ratio in my two courses in high school physics when we had a new teacher fresh out of university for science and his approach was far from this traditional one we were used to. It wasn't long before his reputation as an interesting and dynamic teacher was recognized and there were nearly as many females in physics and chemistry as males. Our classes were grounded in exploring, labs, and field trips and obviously must have appealed to a lot more of the female learners in our high school.
I recall being at our science teacher's wedding a few years after graduating as he married a girl from our home town, and we had a conversation about what I was studying at MUN. He was somewhat surprised when I told him that I was also studying physics as he was the person responsible for developing My interest in the field. At this time I was not sure if I would pursue a career in science or some other area. A year or so later, I realized after demonstrating labs for the physics department and doing some tutoring for extra cash, that I both enjoyed teaching and was quite good at it.
From my past 18 years or so I still see a few more males than females in these courses, however it is not far from equal.