Do boys and girls understand physics differently?

Boys and girls differ significantly in physics instruction: boys achieve higher grades in tests and are more interested in learning physics than girls [1, 2]. With regard to social and linguistic behaviour, we claim that boys and girls hold different notions of what it means to understand physics. Briefly, girls seem to think that they understand a concept only if they can put it into a broader world view. Boys appear to view physics as valuable in itself and are pleased if there is internal coherence within the physics concepts learned.