Fuel Cells Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fuel Cells - Essay Example The fuel cell is designed such that a proton-conducting polymer membrane separates the anode and the cathode. On the anode electrode, hydrogen diffuses to the anode catalyst, and it later dissociates into protons and electrons. The protons will react with oxygen molecules at the cathode side, infusing via the polymer electrolyte membrane as well as the electrons coming through the outer circuit to make water molecules. The protons are conducted through the membrane to the cathode while the electrons travel through an external circuit since the covering is insulated electrically. The reaction on the cathode electrode involves oxygen molecules and both the electrons and the protons (Scherer 35). Phosphoric acid fuel cell In this type of cell, hydrogen ions are passed to the cathode using phosphoric acid. These cells usually work at moderate temperatures. The relatively high temperatures cause a heat and energy loss if the heat is not removed and properly used. The heat can be turned into a useful source of energy for air conditioners and other thermal energy consuming systems (Onovwiona ans Ugursal 389). This property makes the phosphoric acid fuel cell more useful and improves the efficiency to about 80%. The anode electrode in this cell uses a platinum catalyst that accelerates the conversion of hydrogen into free ions and electrons are produced (Scherer 34). The electrons travel from the anode to the cathode cell through an external electrical circuit since phosphoric acid is a non-conducting electrolyte.

Industry report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Industry report - Research Paper Example Since then, it has sold a record of over 3000 cars for a short period of time, a fact which has been attributed to its ambitious plans and product launches which have been put into place by the company. The Maserati product also has the convertible type in place which has been confirmed to be the Maserati Levante, the first SUV from Maserati in 2015 and another model named 2+2 which will be rolling out in next year. All these are attempts of the Italian car giant of trying to place a production output cap of 75,000 globally. The racing market has been flooded by many car giants like Subaru, Mitsubishi and Toyota who try to portray themselves as the best ahead of the rest and there was a time when Maserati withdrew from factory racing participation due to Guidizzolo tragedy (A 4.2 L Ferrari travelling at a speed of 250KM/H blew a tire and crashed into the roadside crowd, killing the driver, co-driver and ten spectators including five children) in 1957 which tarnished their name but this did not hinder them from producing cars for privateers. They became more and more focused on building road-going grand tourers which were popular back then. The sporty vehicle is made to impress and with its style, it sure provides the luxury that anyone on this globe entirely needs. Maserati’s main focus of indulging in the racing industry was to provide the best engine and chasis necessary in racing. This was to make them as an easily identifiable lot when it came to car selection. However, with the help of a few factors highlighted here below, one will understand Maserati’s target with ease. In order to face off competition from other car companies, Maserati has rolled a list of its very luxurious machines with an intend of increasing its following globally. These cars include the Maserati Quattroporte which is an amazing sporting luxury saloon, a sixth generation vehicle which was introduced in 2013. However,

The Green Anaconda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Green Anaconda - Essay Example The Eunectus marinus, also known as the ‘’Green Anaconda’’ is the best know of these species. Possibly lizard posterity, these snakes contain hints of pelvic and hind limbs. The workings of an Anaconda’s body are mostly unknown, with only theories concerning the two working lungs present inside it in contrast to the usual elongated one (Pinney, 1991). The Green Anaconda is usually found inside rivers, marshes and lakes in South America predominantly in the basins from Venezuela to Argentina. In some places, they also live in flooded grasslands. In dry weather, they seek refuge in caves. Their skin color helps them to camouflage themselves in the river’s contents. These anacondas are excellent swimmers and keep to their territory, which varies during the year (National Geographic, web). The Green Anaconda is built to best overcome its prey. Its lean, strong body coils around its victim, squeezing them until they die of suffocation. The muscle b ones are somewhat relaxed, the lower jaw and the upper jaw not joined and the surrounding muscles powerful, enabling the anaconda to swallow victims larger than normally possible. The thick skin and the razor sharp teeth that turn towards the back of its mouth leave the prey helpless against this deadly predator. The teeth’s function is hardly biting down or even gnawing, they are a means of trapping the prey (Thorbjarnarson, 1995). The Green Anaconda is believed to be a patient predator, mainly hunting in water bodies. It estimates the size of its victim by contrast with the size of its mouth. With only its eyes and mouth above water, the anaconda senses its prey through vibrations occurring though the water. Once its victim is close enough, in order to keep it in place, the anaconda bites it, quickly coiling its large body around it in order to suffocate and then, swallow its meal. When the anaconda squeezes its victim, it simultaneously breaks their spine or neck. The Anac onda’s usual victims are deer, pigs, turtles and sometimes, jaguars (Murphy, 1997). These victims are swallowed completely. Owing to the Green Anaconda’s slow metabolism, this snake can survive for as much as a few months. The length of time is decided by the size of its prey. This phenomenon has allowed the anaconda to survive in droughts and famines. On the other hand, food is not the only motivation for hunting. Hunting is considered to be correlated with successful mating (Pinney, 1991). The Eunectus marinus’s mating is very complex. Pheromones are secreted by the female in order to attract the male. A group of males gather around one female during the end of the March. An accumulation of males (even as many as twelve) form a ‘’mating ball’’. Shallow waters usually host the call for these. Male anacondas try inserting their hemipenes, into the female’s cloaca. In preparation for copulation, the male anacondas also try famili arizing themselves with the female anaconda’s smell. Once a male manages to insert a waxy plug in the female’s cloaca, she is prevented from further fertilization (Rivas, 2001). Once pregnant, the female can no longer feed for as long as she carried the offspring, which can be as long as six to seven months. The eggs of an Anaconda hatch within the female and come out as in their normal physical form. The eggs can be up to one hundred. The Anaconda does not portray any parental inclinations. The closest

Tesla Car Fires Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tesla Car Fires - Research Paper Example However, the company’s reputation dwindled in October 2013 when a model S caught fire in Kent, Washington. Investigations into the fire determined that the fire broke out at the car’s battery pack especially after a metal struck the battery pack. The discovery thus portrayed the cars as risky a feature that would later result in a reduction of the company’s market share. Negative reputation hampers the profitability of a business (Burrow & Jim, 2009). As the new marketing consultant, the car manufacturing company requires effective marketing strategy in order to reposition its products strategically in order to rebuild its reputation in order to enjoy its dwindling market share. Key among the marketing activities that the company must undertake is to reconstruct the consumer confidence in the products. Prior to the fires, the American car consumer preferred the company’s products because of its fuel efficiency and low maintenance costs among many other features. Unfortunately, the accidents revealed that the same factors [resented substantial safety concern that resu lted in the dwindling market share. The company carried out an investigation into the fires and made public its findings. Such was a bold undertaking that portrayed the management of the company as integral individuals who care for their consumers. The company must therefore now engage its target market in effective processes meant to rebuild the confidence of the consumers. Key among such is to investigate the cause of fire and address it effectively. This will include recalling all the cars with a similar battery packs. The company must redesign the battery packs and cushion the consumers from similar fires. In fact, the company must reinvent the engine of the car and ensure that the consumers of the products are safe. After redesigning the engine of the car and safeguarding the safety of

Organizational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 3

Organizational Behavior - Essay Example Thus, some biased individuals cannot perform at the highest level, because of their own prejudices. Actually, biases are too powerful triggers of negative energy and emotions. Moreover, employees can be exposed to biases of the managers and employers. In the result of this type of biased context and relations, qualified people can be excluded from their future successful careers or effective performance at work. There are two main categories of biased people. The first group holds a stronger implicit bias and another group of people are less biased. It is possible to differentiate and claim that there are 2 main types of biases: a counter intentional and unconscious bias. In accordance with this classification, even the person with good intentions, reputation and many other positive traits can let his biased ideas and intentions go. Managers are responsible for prevention of biases. For example, they can motivate an employee's performance, involve a superior character of employee's d evelopments and cooperate with employees effectively at different levels. There is a famous case Thomas v. Kodak where an implicit bias was identified. The court claimed that they identified "subjective evaluations which could easily mask covert or unconscious race discrimination" (Banaji, Bazerman & Chugh, 2003). In this case we can consider a corporate liability and creation of a stable basis for prevention of potential biases in the future. One of possible ways out of dealing with biases is the Implicit Association Test. A person can reveal his hidden biased beliefs if he passes this type of test. For example, he can think about association triggered in his head, when he looks at the words connected with images of different people. Data obtained in the result of tests processed... This paper stresses that cognitive loading implies a large number of ethical issues concerning the use of the faking warning. Whether it is a breach of professional ethics or not is a challenging question. Personal issues should be considered and biases can be revealed in the process of test's application. On the basis of obtained results, it is possible for the managers of the organization to define levels of biases classification. However, it is possible to introduce a certain degree of coaching in the Company and conduct further research on various biases. In other words, even if the cases of biases in the organization are identified, it is possible to develop possible strategies to deal with them. It can be claimed that not always application of Item Response Theory may be helpful in identifying biased persons who provided faked answers. In the majority of cases, IRT is based on a mathematical model and the relationship between test-takers' levels on the personality trait being m easured and their ability to choose different types of response of a certain personality test item. This report makes a conclusion that biased prejudices exist in the modern organizations. The basic sources of prejudices and biases are racism and sexism. A person can be biased either intentionally or not. It is relevant to identify a biased nature of a potential employee to foster the organization's progress. Modern society and media pervert moral judgments of people and there is no one to be blamed for biases, but only people. We have developed the world we live in. We have created conditions for biases development and it is on our behalf to deal with social prejudices biases.

Googles Mission and Values, an Analysis Essay Example for Free

Googles Mission and Values, an Analysis Essay Google is a 21st century company even though it was founded in 1998 with a simple mission statement; Google’s mission is to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful (Google Inc, Quick Profile, 2010,  ¶ 1). Google has one vision: to accomplish it mission by providing the best web based services to its end users. According to the Google on its corporate website, there are ten things they (Google) know to be true that are the keys to their success (Google Inc, Our Philosophy, 2010,  ¶ 4-17) 1.Focus on the user and all else will follow 2.Its the best to do one thing really, really well. 3.Fast is better than slow. 4.Democracy on the web works. 5.You dont need to be at your desk to need an answer. 6.You can make money without doing evil. 7.Theres always more information out there. 8.The need for information crosses all borders. 9.You can be serious without a suit. 10.Great just isnt good enough. What does all this mean in relation to the espoused values and vision of the company? This question requires a closer look. History What a grand endeavor founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin undertook when they founded Google. Googles mission statement seems almost untenable. Both the founders are brilliant engineers and in light of the advancement of technology and their pension for understanding algorithmic math, they built the first Google search engine. Little did they know how the grand ideals encapsulated in Googles mission statement could really change the face of the world in which we live, based on the computer coding to search the web more efficiently, but how did that happen? Before Google, from 1994 to 1997 web search was hit or miss using such services as MOSAIC, Wandex, Webcrawler, Infoseek, Lycos, Altavista, Magellan, Excite, Inktomi, Ask Jeeves, Northern Light Snap, Yahoo, and other smaller search engines. In 1998, that changed with the Google algorithm (Viney, 2008). Once Google was unleashed into the wild of the World Wide Web, it quickly took its place at the top of the search engine services as the best. To give credence to this fact the very name of the company has become a verb. Very few that live in a wired world have not heard the phrase Google it in relation to finding an answer on the internet. Google was so far ahead of its times even James Jenny, reviewer of the book by Jeff Jarvis What would Google Do? states I realized I was reading a glimpse of the future after gaining an understanding of Googles grand goal, its mission, organizing the worlds information (Penny, 2010, pg 810). Philosophy Googles founders simply had an understanding of what could be and found a means to try to accomplish it. They idealized that the world would be a better place if everyone, yes everyone, had access to the same information. A capitalism comparison seems appropriate here since it is based on the precept that the best minds can create the best product and that product will win the market. Google did just this in its creation and it has not only revolutionized the world of internet search, it has begun to see it mission statement to fruition. In the minds of the founders, free information leads to better ideas and actions for all of humanity. Better ideas that will lead overall to a better planet lead by the best thinkers that have the most influence over the direction of industry, politics, and other world opinions, all based on the precept of an unlimited worldview of information that is unlike the education systems in place today in most classrooms. Google espouses the possibility of an education that is not myopic from the point of view of a countrys agenda as can be seen in the teaching of Tiananmen Square in China where none of the textbooks and public media will show the atrocities that happened that day in 1989 as just one example (Richelson and Evans, 1999). Analysis So how has Google fulfilled its vision, mission, and the edicts of it companys culture? The answer is not simple and it would require a PHD dissertation to delve into Googles proposed failures, but even longer, to qualify and quantify its impact of the good it has brought to the world as a whole. It does seem prudent to quickly point out a few of it missteps. A couple of examples are: 1.Google Buzz a Twitter like clone had unintentional consequences for Gmail users because it shared personal information by default with everyone in the users contact list without the consent of the Gmail user. 2.Google Wave was an attempt to redefine email. However, recently Google decided not to continue development due to lack of interest by its end users. All of this has been possible due to Google’s corporate culture that encourages its employees to communicate freely, innovate constantly, and requires that 20% of every employee’s work week be spent working on personal projects without the direction or oversight of management. Gmail came from this directly as did Buzz and Wave. Even Google’s communication with the rest of the world is open and direct. In a recent blunder by Google’s street view project, individuals’ personal information was collected by Google which in some cases included entire emails, passwords, and other data that was inadvertently broadcast by individuals’ unsecured wifi routers. In response to this Google admitted in earnest that it had done so, but that it did not mean to do it and made every attempt to correct the problem. They were up front enough that even the FTC â€Å"forgave† Google for this unintended trespass after they investigated the issue (Forbes, 201 0). Conclusion Overall Google has lived up to its mission and values, both internally and externally. It allows its employees to spread their wings, work in an open environment that promotes ingenuity, and encourages open communication. Google also communicates openly with world governments and humanity as a whole. Even in the wake of Google becoming a public company, it has not lost sight of what makes it special. Google indeed lives up to the ideals it espouses in all respects.

Gender Gap between Boys and Girls in Education

Gender Gap between Boys and Girls in Education There has been a lot of work done on boys and girls achievement in schools: narrowing down the gap. In 1960 young boys were 21 times more likely to attend university than girls. It can be suggested that the changing world is having an impact on boys achievement in terms of boys attainment in schools and that of girls success in schools. It was suggested that the equal pay act and that of the sex discrimination act (1970) changed the emphases of education policy and that can be noted as a key period of history that changed the objectives of girls in terms of careers and attainment. Girls had to achieve higher marks in their 11 plus examination than boys. Elwood J et al (1998, p.5) states that 11 plus examination à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ children used to be selected for secondary schooling, were deliberately skewed so that girls had t achieve better results than boys. The period 1950-1960 found the reasons behind this was because boys matured later than girls which would not have been fair to l eave out boys from attending grammar schools. But in 1990 their was concern over boys achievement in schools. It has been suggested that in societies such as the UK the socialisation process as it operated at least up to the 1970s meant that many parents socialised their daughters to show dependence, obedience, conformity and domesticity whereas boys were encouraged to be dominant, competitive and self-reliant. Also when young children saw their parents acting out traditional gender roles many would perceive these roles as natural and inevitable leading girls and boys to imagine their futures as fulltime housewives and mothers and as fulltime paid employees respectively. In schools teachers praised girls for feminine qualities and boys for masculine qualities; boys and girls were encouraged to opt for traditional male and female subjects and then for traditional male and female careers. Furthermore in certain sections of the mass media [and especially perhaps in teenage magazines] girls were encouraged to recognize the all importance of finding Mr. Right and settling down to a life of blissf ul domesticity in their traditional housewife-mother roles. Cole (2006, p.26) suggests that even before children go to school their parents will treat a boy and girl very different. Even in society throughout history this has occurred. A lot of research has gone into this; your gender is an issue from the minute you are born. Automatically society will say how a girl will behave and how a boy will behave. If it is a boy, oh hes like that because hes a boy and boys always take longer to grasp it. Girls, even in the late 1960s were more likely than boys to gain 5 or more GCE Ordinary Level pass grades. From the 1960s to the 1980s the percentages of girls and boys gaining 5 or more GCE Ordinary Level pass grades gradually increased but the so-called gender gap in educational attainment increased especially once the GCSE was introduced primarily because girls have maintained their traditional higher attainment levels in Arts and Humanities subjects but also reduced [and in some years overturned] the traditional attainment gaps in favour of boys in Mathematics and Science subjects. The GCSE was introduced in 1988 and from then onwards the female- male gender difference in educational achievement at GCSE level widened as differences between the [ higher] female pass rates and the male pass rates in Arts and Humanities widened and females narrowed or sometimes reversed the traditional higher male pass rates in Mathematics and science subjects. It has been claimed that the relative improvement of female educational achievements can be explained partly by the nature of the new GCSE courses .This has been disputed, however, on the grounds that several factors have contributed to these trends. By the late 1980s females were more likely than males to gain two or more Advanced Level passes and during the course of the 1990s they also became more likely to gain 3 or more A level passes. Females also soon became more likely than males to gain A grades in almost all Advanced Level subjects Nevertheless gender differences in examination performance at Advanced level are smaller than at GCSE level. In 2007-2008 69.3% of girls and 60.1% of boys achieved 5 or more GCSE Grade A*-C passes; 51.3% of girls and 42.0% of boys achieved 5 or more GCSE Grade A*-C passes including English and Maths. The gender difference in examination success varies considerably from subject to subject. For example girls in 2007-2008 girls outperformed boys by 14% in English, 16% in Design and Technology, 9% in Modern Foreign Languages, 17% in Art and Design and 12 % in English Literature but by only 1% in Mathematics, 2% in Core Sciences, 1% in Chemistry and 2% in Classical Studies. Although the data are not presented here Girls are now more likely to gain A* and A grades in most but not all   GCSE subjects. Other areas the research will focus on are schools too feminised, advantage for girls but disadvantage for boys. Hutchings (2002) states the phrase feminisation is used simply to refer to the fact that there are more female teachers than male, especially in the primary sector. (Biddulph, 1997 cited in Skelton et el, 2007) state that the current situation is often presented as one which is detrimental to the educational experiences and opportunities of boys with the implication that boys do better when taught by men teachers. (Skelton et el, 2007) suggest that Another use of the phrase feminisation of schools is in relation to the idea that the predominance of females has led to the delivery of the curriculum, assessment practices and the management and organisation of the classroom becoming more feminine in nature. Female teachers are more lenient on boys than male teachers also male teachers can be role models for pupils which will enable the child to be motivated to learn and succe ed in education. Role models it is argued that there are more positive role models for young girls than there are for young boys in terms of encouraging them to do well at school. Issues within the classroom the findings of  Becky Francis (2000) argues girls are improving more rapidly than boys , this is to be explained   primarily in terms of the processes affecting the social construction of femininity and masculinity. In relation to the social construction of femininity, she argues that many girls of middle school and secondary school age aim to construct feminine identities which emphasise the importance of maturity and a relatively quiet and orderly approach to school life. Girls certainly do take considerable interest in their appearance and may choose to rebel quietly by talking at the back of the class or feigning lack of interest but , according to Francis, not in a way which will detract from their school studies. Their femininity is constructed in such a way that if they choose to behave sensibly and work hard this, if anything, adds to their femininity. Findings have suggested that it is vital to keep the subjects taught in curriculum interesting for children to learn about in class. This may enable children to be motivated to learn and gets rid of the label of boringness of lessons. Jackson (2006, p.127) states that if students find the curriculum boring, it provides little incentive for them to counter the uncool to work discourse. Continued existence of laddish, macho anti- school subculture- these are groups of pupils in schools who have different norms and values to the rest of the school. Subcultures can be anti school where pupils are rude to teachers, dont do homework, truant and get into fights. Some sociologists argue that boys are much more likely to be in these groups and to think that education is a waste of time and that it is not macho to do well at school. Subcultures can also be pro school where pupils are very committed to school, they do all their work on time, or early, they are always on time for lessons and n ever truant. It is argued that girls are more likely to be in these subcultures than boys. Methods of assessment have been identified particularly frequently as a key factor in this bias against boys. An increased amount of assessed coursework has been suggested to explain boys doing less well at GCSE and A levels, with the argument being that boys do less well at coursework because of their preferred learning styles (Skelton et al, 2007). Girls do less well at sudden death exams (timed exams previously unseen by the candidate) which rely on last-minute revision and require self-confidence. This latter form of assessment has been argued to favour boys, and was the basis for O level exams (the exams that preceded GCSEs in Britain). Bleach, 1998, cited in Skelton et al, 2007 In fact, however, girls results were already improving before the GCSE assessment model was introduced. And further, Arnot et al. (1999) discuss how a reduction in the coursework component in public examinations in the 1990s did little to alter the pattern of gender achievement (Skelton et al, 2007). Another issue could be masculinity peer pressure from friends Jackson (2006, p.74) states that the uncool to work this statement is suggesting that if boys work hard at school they will not be cool. (Jackson, 2006, p.84) Those who seem to be most disadvantaged as a result of the discourse are those who attempt to balance academic work and popularity but can not manage to do both successfully. This is a powerful predictor in a lot of schools, this is seen as social status of pupils needs to be popular and be part of a group. A lot of pupils will feel being unpopular is not as good as anything else. Also it will lead to negative impact. Both girls and boys have to act as they are chilled, relaxed, laid back when it comes to the academic side of work. As the relative rate of female educational improvement increased it came to be argued that this might be explained to some extent by biological factors. Experiments investigating the brain activities of male and female babies suggested that differences in the structures of female and male brains respectively may mean that females have genetically determined linguistic advantages which would explain females especial facility with language based subjects. It was also suggested that girls earlier maturity means that they can concentrate more effectively and are better organised especially in relation to course work. This was considered to be a significant point because the relative improvement in female GCSE results was associated especially with the introduction of coursework-based assessments which had been absent from the GCE Ordinary Level examinations which the GCSE replaced. However in relation to these theories it should be noted that male-female differences in Advanced level lan guage examination results are small, that the relationships between physical and intellectual maturity are uncertain and that gender differences in examination results cannot be explained only by the presence or absence of coursework. Other factors that may affect attainment are different learning styles, both boys and girls learn differently, but we need to be careful we do not stereotype on gender. When looking at the gender debate it has been suggested by Coffield (2004) that consideration to learning styles is important when establishing the link as to why there is a gap between boys and girls due to peer pressure for the boys what their friends may think if they achieved well in school, the way boys are assessed in schools for instance boys do better in exams than coursework. Examples of these could be boys would prefer to learn kinaesthetically by doing things such as experiments or activities and girls would learn well visually by seeing. Interest in learning styles has grown rapidly in recent years and perceived differences in the learning styles of boys and girls are one of the most frequently expressed explanations for the gender gap in achievement. This argument is also based on the presumption that if boys are naturally different to girls because of their biological make-up, then it follows that they will have different approaches to learning (Noble and Bradford, 2000; Gurian, 2002). Studies have shown that the vast majority of boys and girls prioritise a teachers individual ability as a teacher, and their level of care for their students, rather than a teachers gender. Skelton et al (2009), Francis et al (2008). Boys to better in maths than girls research by Hargreaves et al into pupils stereotypical attitudes to mathematics and English has shown that stereotypes succeed among pupils, with most believing that maths is a boys subject where boys do better, and English a girls subject where girls do better. DfES (2007, p. 3) Boys outperform girls in Maths at Key Stage 2, and continue to outnumber girls at higher level maths. But there is a large gender gap favouring girls in English. On the other hand girls do better in English than boys On the other hand women do better on reading comprehension and vocabulary than men do. APA report state that some verbal tasks show substantial mean differences favouring females. Whitepaper on gender differences in achievement Social class and ethnicity according to Cole (2006, p.29) states that Gender is not the strongest predictor of attainment. Social class attainment gap at key stage 4 is three times as wide as gender gap. DfES (2007, p.3) Analysis of the attainment data shows that other factors or a combination of factors, such as ethnicity and social class, have a greater bearing on educational achievement than gender considered on its own. Gender differences in educational achievement are far smaller than social class differences in educational achievement. Students of both sexes who are eligible for free school meals are far less likely than students of both sexes ineligible to be successful at both levels of the education system. Some ethnic differences in educational achievement are also greater than gender differences in educational achievement. Statistics on the gender gap between boys and girls Attainment at each end of the distribution of grades also varies by gender. Girls are more likely than boys to gain an A* grade at GCSE. Boys are a little more likely to gain a G grade at GCSE or to gain no GCSEs at all. The largest gender differences (a female advantage of more than ten percentage points on those gaining an A*-C GCSE) are for the Humanities, the Arts and Languages. Smaller gender differences (a female advantage of five percentage points or less) tend to be in Science and Maths subjects. Some of these achievement patterns have been relatively stable over six decades of exam results, particularly in English Language and Literature, French, Art and Design and Religious Studies. There have been changing patterns over the years. In Maths, there has been a shift from a male advantage averaging 4 percentage points prior to 1991 to a slim female advantage of 1-2 percentage points in recent years. In Geography, there has be en a widening of the gap in girls favour, and in History, there has been variation but with girls now doing much better than boys. This research will explore possible solutions we can use to solve this gap such as single sex schools which may help girls to speak out. Times online (2004) Girls in mixed classrooms refrain from speaking up and answering questions. Another way of solving the gender gap is by having single sex classes in mixed schools so that teachers can meet different learning styles for boys. Research has shown that girls obtain better results in single sex schools in comparison to mixed schools Curtis (2009). Odone (2004) conversely, that boys do not want to study foreign languages or shine in English literature in case they are mocked as poofs. Garner (2008) Differences in how male and female brains work mean single-sex schooling will make a comeback leading head mistress in the Independent. However the disadvantages of sex schools Blair (2006) Girls schools feature highly in the league tables because they are highly selective, their children come from particular social backgrounds and they hav e excellent teachers. BBC News (2006) While both single-sex and co-education have passionate advocates, half a century of research has so far revealed no striking or consistent differences one way or the other. Odone (2004) Children, will inhabit a mixed society later, so let them start young, with mixed classes. Younger et al (2005, p.89) found that boys and girls may feel more at ease in single sex classes, feel more able to interact with learning and feel free to show interest in the lesson without inhibition. It was felt that there can be positive effects on achievement for boys in modern languages and girls in science and maths. (Dcfs (2007) Methodology The methods that will be used to gather research for this project will be as follows: the use of books to get information on issues affecting gender differences in achievement at schools and what theorist have already found around this agenda. The internet will be useful for this research project because you can research recent and up to date statistical information on the gender gap and get government published on this debate. Journals will be useful for the research project to collect recent data and changes in the debate around boys and girls achievement in schools and narrowing down the gap. These methods of researching are called secondary research. Secondary research is the use of material, which has been researched by someone else. The different research methods for secondary research are as follows: technology based research is to do with researching from the computer to get your information, which has a lot of benefits such as the internet provides online libraries; e-books, journals and encyclopaedias such as infed. The main electronic databases that will be used for this research are as follows education research complete, education online and SwetsWise. The key read that will be used will be based on gender differences and achievement in school also how the search found a number of journals, but some were irrelevant, to the research topic. Search engines help you through the mass of information on the internet two most popular search engines are Bing, google advanced search and google scholar also on the internet you can search for newspaper articles. However web sources may not always be reliable so researchers need to find out how accurate the information there are number of ways to assess the accuracy of the sites. According to Walliman and Buckler (2008, p.92) compare the data with other sources and is it biased many use the web to promote ideas. The reasons for choosing to do the research project as a desk study were as follows: to find out what has already been researched in this field and arguments that have already been produced around this agenda. However the reasons for not choosing the fieldwork approach method were because it will be time consuming and availability of schools to carry out the research is limited and difficult to get a place in schools to do observations. The advantages of the desk study approach are as follows; able to collect, understand and interpret data also to limit costs such as travelling costs. The disadvantages of desk study may be the availability of books from the library In contrast the advantages of the interview approach (structure and unstructured) advantages of structured interviews are time management can be controlled, results are simple to gather and the questions are securely set in advance. the disadvantages of structured interviews are there might be other questions to ask and you cant develop on questions. The advantages of unstructured interviews are there is a lot of time, you can develop questions and it is a relaxed method. Disadvantages of the interview approach are as follows: The disadvantages of unstructured interviews are the interview can simply be a chat, not all the participants are asked the same questions and only some of the questions are asked. Indirect observation is when a participant gets their information from viewing from far. Direct observation is when a participant obtains information by combining with the circumstances they are watching. Advantages of the observation approach (direct and indirect) the advantages of observations are actions can be seen in the normal surroundings and observations can both be direct or indirect. Disadvantages of the observation approach (direct and indirect) the disadvantages of observations are they are lengthy and not consistent. Qualitative vs. quantitative Analysis There was clear evidence that in the era of the 11+ pass marks were set higher for girls than for boys so as to prevent girls from taking a disproportionate share of Grammar School places. From the early 1950s until the late 1960s girls were less likely than boys to be entered for GCE Ordinary Level examinations. In any case in the 1950s and early 1960s many pupils left school at age 15 having taken no official national examinations. The candidate pass rate in GCE O Level examinations was higher for girls than for boys from the early 50s to the late 1960s so that despite the higher entry rates for males the percentages of male and female school leavers actually passing 5 or more GCE O levels were fairly similar although females did usually outperform males by 1-2% each year. This overall statistic masked the facts that girls outperformed boys by considerable margins in Arts and Humanities subjects and that boys usually outperformed girls but by smaller margins in Mathematics and Scie nce subjects. In order to analyse the relative educational improvement from the 1980s onwards we must distinguish between factors accelerating the rate of female improvement and factors restricting the rate of male improvement. Females and males educational achievements have improved but the rate of female improvement has been faster and this widened the female-male achievement gap especially at GCSE level. Remember, however, that gender, social class and ethnicity are interconnected. Girls are more successful than boys in all ethnic groups but middle class boys are still more educationally successful than working class girls in all ethnic groups. Gender differences in educational achievement are smaller than social class differences in educational achievement and some ethnic differences in educational achievement. Research has shown that Of the 71,286 girls who sat GCSEs in single-sex schools over the three-year period, on average all did better than predicted on the basis of their end of primary SATS results. By comparison, of the 647,942 who took exams in mixed-sex schools, 20% did worse than expected. This means that girls in single sex schools can be expected to do better in their school, in comparison to girls in mixed schools. Studies have shown that girls in mixed sex classes tend to refrain from speaking up and boys dont want to study English to avoid being mocked as poofs', therefore single sex schools would help to resolve this issue as they will remove this pressure between the genders and allow both boys and girls to participate freely. Also Single sex schools will benefit students as male and female brains work differently. Girls can relate to emotions more and are seen as caring and talkative they can sit and talk about emotions whereas boys are more likely to do practical things instead of talking of emotions, hence why boys fail in English. So perhaps, as this leading head mistress, quoted in the Independent suggests, single sex classes need to be implemented to meet the learning strategies of the different sexes. Mainly English and foreign languages is where I believe that pupils need a gender based curriculum as was suggested by the DFES (2007) report it remarks that of the core subjects, the gender gap is widest in English; overall, the differences in language and literacy skills are given as the main cause of the gender gap in attainment. It is suggested that there is around 10% children leaving education with 5 Cs and above girls since 1968 have been slowly achieving better than boys according to Dcfs report into gender. It is a step towards the well researched idea that genders learn differently therefore it is possible to suggest that gender specific learning amongst boys and girls will close the statistical gap of attainment. Although the dfes report suggest that is no substantial evidence to back this up I believe that children will benefit from this approach. Another issue that I found is that boys tend to do better on spatial skills; they find mathematics and science more interesting to learn about. But on the other hand girls to better on verbal, comprehension and vocabulary skills than boys do. This table shows the gap in 1989 was just 6% but 10yrs later it had increased to 10%. It is suggested by S. Ball (2008) that this gap is an overall statistic and not subject specific he suggests that in 2004 the deviations of this gap was just 1% and that in some subjects boys achieve better results than girls therefore it is not valid to say that all boys or all girls achieve less in GCSE levels Conclusions In conclusion doing this research project on boys and girls achievement in schools and narrowing down the gap. The research found that there is not as big as a gap as people thought. The main factors that affect boys achievement are peer pressure and schools too feminised. The research also found that single sex schools and classes do not make that much difference but it found that girls have more confidence to participate in class discussion. In conclusion, the history of the gender gap shows that the gender gap itself has always been present in education, but was hidden by the advantage given to boys in 1960s, and it was often harder for girls to progress into further education, since it was not expected of them, therefore affecting the gender gap in the sense that there were lower numbers of girls then boys progressing. Over the years boys have improved and so have girls, maintaining the gender gap but showing that boys are adapting to the changes and are working harder to keep up. The gender differences in boys and girls does show that they learn in different ways, and these differences are, now more then ever, taken into account in teaching methods, lesson planning and assessment methods, and there is evidence showing that Boys are fighting back at A levels, with their results improving more rapidly than girls (BBC, 2004),however, it is important to recognise that there are girls and boys who wont fit into these gendered patterns and therefore focus should still be placed on the individual and not the biologically predisposed expectations, (Phoenix, 2004, pg 34). We could also conclude that this improvement could be the first sign that boys are now realising they will have to fight to maintain their place in the workforce, as history shows women have been seen as servants to the state (Steedman, 1 985, cited in Arnot and Ghaill, 2006, pg 19). This oppression of women, like other cases where parts of society have been repressed (e.g. repression of the afro-Caribbean population), resulted in women fighting or rebelling for their place in society, which is not something the male population has had to do. Therefore acting as a source of motivation for women to make sure they are treated as equals and to progress in life, where as men have missed out on this and until recently, have lacked the motivation to fight for their place. Now men are in a place of competition with women and are now beginning to see that its not particularly clever to under-achieve (BBC, 2004).