Differences in learning widen during adolescence, educator says.(The Dallas Morning News)

A tentative author might have punctuated ``Boys and Girls Learn Differently!'' (Jossey-Bass, $24.95) with a question mark. A cautious one might have chosen a period.

But Michael Gurian, therapist, educator and best-selling author of 14 books, knew an exclamation point was the only way to go with a book that's subtitled "The Best Kept Secret in Education."

"It all starts in the human body, in the brain," says Gurian on the phone from his office in Spokane, Wash. "What surprised me is just how clear and comprehensive these brain differences are in girls and boys worldwide."

Gurian is not saying we should expect different achievements from girls and boys. His point is that we need to teach them differently.

One of Gurian's most controversial findings is that by teaching girls and boys the same way, teachers are doing a disservice to one of the genders. Without reaching out differently to boys and girls, he believes female teachers, who predominate in elementary school, will be more in tune with the way girls' minds work, and male teachers, who predominate in teaching math and science in high school, will be more in tune with the way boys' minds work.

The differences in how girls and boys learn start in the womb, he explains, and increase and accelerate through adolescence.

Among his findings: