A University of the Sunshine Coast education academic who specialises in linking neurological theory with the everyday realities of raising and teaching children will give local school teachers insight into recent research on how boys and girls learn.

USC Associate Professor Michael Nagel will present the twilight seminar, ‘Sugar and Spice and All Things Gender Specific: Enhancing Learning Environments Through Understanding Neurology and Brainsex’.

The free two-hour seminar will be held from 4.30pm on 2 March at the Sunshine Coast Grammar School hall for educators across the region who have partnered with USC to provide supervised classroom placements for its pre-service teachers.

Media are welcome to attend the event on Wednesday 2 March.

Dr Nagel, renowned for his workshops and books on how the brains of girls and boys develop in early childhood and adolescence, said the seminar would help teachers translate contemporary theory into educational practice.

“Neuroscientists continue to uncover a range of anatomical, chemical and functional differences between the brains of boys and girls,” he said.

“This talk will help people better understand the ‘sexually dimorphic’ (or distinct) brain and how it relates to the behaviour and learning of boys and girls.”

The twilight seminar series started in 2015 and is presented by USC’s Education Partnerships and Professional Learning (EPPL) Office. School teachers can register by going to https://twilightseminar5.eventbrite.com.au

— Julie Schomberg