In the 2009 international study, Teaching Boys: A Global Study of Effective Practices, researchers determined that successful classroom lessons fall into the following eight categories:
• Lessons that produced products
• Lessons structured as games
• Lessons requiring vigorous motor activity
• Lessons requiring boys to assume a role or responsibility for promoting the learning of others
• Lessons that required boy to address “open,” unsolved problems
• Lessons that required a combination of teamwork and competition
• Lessons that focused on boys’ personal realization (their masculinity, their values, their present and future social roles)
• Lessons that introduced dramatic novelties and surprises
Beyond this, the researchers also found that boys are relational learners and greatly value educators who make a special effort to help them deepen their understanding and “ignite” them.