The Pygmalion Effect

How one teacher gave and another took away 

confidence

Both our daughters had swimming lessons from when they were babies.  Initially I went in the pool with them - holding them and moving them about the water. As they grew, they gradually began to swim by themselves until they reached the stage that I began to sit on the side and watch as they swam to and from the instructor.

Their first instructor was a very boisterous lady who was fabulous with the kids.  Our eldest daughter would stand on the side of the pool with this instructor standing in the water half- way across the pool. She would then fling her self into the water and swim to the instructor - full of confidence in herself and her ability to swim.

Then, when she moved up a level and had a different instructor, her confidence faltered.  The new instructor hovered close to the kids - catching them as they jumped into the water rather than letting them jump and start to swim by themselves.  During the first couple of lessons, when the new instructor, stood right by our daughter and  held her as she swam, our daughter lost the confidence in her ability to swim.  Fortunately we managed to speak to the instructors and have this issue effectively dealt with.  However - it did demonstrate very clearly, the effect of a teacher's expectations and beliefs on a child's ability.

I later came to know that this was an example of the Pygmalion effect.

The Pygmalion Effect

The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, is the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, often children or students and employees, the better they perform. The effect is named after Pygmalion, a play by George Bernard Shaw. (Source - Wikipedia)

A study was carried out in a primary school to demonstrate this effect in the 1960s,  Teachers were told that certain of their students were academically gifted. (In fact these children showed no more aptitude than their class mates, and were chosen at random.)  At the beginning and end of the study, the children's IQ was measured.  The most significant gains by the end of the study were made in those students who the teachers had been told were gifted, and so the teachers had placed higher expectations on.

Teachers belief in their students

The idea is that teachers give more attention and more work to those students who they expect to do well.  We've all seen in class - our own or our kids'. The students who know the answer to the first question will put up their hand to give the answer. Getting chosen to speak and getting the answer correct boosts their confidence so that for the next question, they are even more willing to put up their hand.  The teacher becomes aware of this student's demonstrated knowledge and soon becomes to expect this student to produce good work and do well in class.  

Equally, a student who is shy and unsure of the answers may sit quietly at the back of the classroom and go unnoticed by the teacher.  The longer they sit in silence, the more the impression of a quiet student is reinforced.  Some teachers may deliberately try to draw out students like this, but others may leave them and concentrate their efforts on the more vocal members of the class, to keep the class lively.

The all important first impression

It is often difficult to change someone's initial impression of someone.  We have a tendency to judge people on how they act and behave when we first meet them. Teacher's expectations of their students are also often based on the first few lessons - or even on reports from previous teachers.

Thinking of this 'first impression' mentality, I am always happy when a new school year comes around and our girls get new teachers. Another chance to make that all important first impression.  Each year their confidence grows a little and they become more comfortable in their increasingly familiar school environment and with their school friends.

Over the years I have had several comments from the girls various teachers and also heard similar stories from other parents - showing that teachers do or don't give certain students tasks based on what the teachers expect they can or can't do. For example, a teacher a couple of years ago told me they did not bother asking my daughter if she wanted to enter a speech contest as she knew she got nervous with that type of thing.  This same daughter has now blossomed into a very good speech maker after being given the opportunity by other teacher to TRY! Thank goodness some teachers give kids the opportunites to get over their fears and worries rather than be limited by them.

Attention is given to those students who stand out - who have abilities and are confident enough to display them use them.   However, it is equally important to give all students - particularly younger ones the opportunities to try things, to encourage them to give things a go, even when they are shy and nervous.  They may find they do have a talent or ability that they did not know to shout out about - or hadn't the confidence to demonstrate it by themselves.

The most important thing is that a teacher has confidence in a student.  As parents we can have all the confidence in our child's abilities -and tell them so day after day. However - the effect of a TEACHER telling a child the same thing, often inspires more self-confidence.  

Do you have confidence in your child's abilities. Do their teachers?

Number sequencing - Naplan numeracy practice

Looking for number sequences is something that kids practise through junior school years.  It helps develop their logic thinking skills and in recognising patterns. It's also great practice for their mental arithmetic - adding, subtracting and multiplying.

 They may start out with very simple patterns like this:

2, 4, 6, 8, 10.........

Here the rule is to 'add 2'

And then move on to patterns that involve subtraction, multiplication or combinations of calculations.

Questions involving number sequences can be found on both Grade 3 and Grade 5 Naplan numeracy tests:

Here's an example from a Grade 3 paper:

46, 40, 34, ?

What is the next number in counting pattern?

Is it 26, 28, 30 or 38?

And here's one from a Grade 5 paper:

What is the next number in this pattern?

810, 910, ?

There are some great online games for kids to practice number sequencing.

This Caterpillar ordering and sequencing game is great for kids to build up their skills from simply putting the number in order numerically up to simple sequences in multiples.

(source:  www.topmarks.co.uk)

For a more advanced game - more suited to those Grade 5 kids - there is a great game to crack codes by finding the number sequence rule. You have to find the correct numbers or rule for the sequence to collect bio rods - and get them before the Wardroid attacks you!   

There is also another number sequencing game on this same website with slightly less fancy graphics - but still good fun - cracking codes to open the safe door!

These games are from BBC's KS2 Bitesize website which has lots of brilliant educational games for English, Maths and Science.

These are great short games you can encourage your kids to play when they go on the computer.  When I find these fun games I often email the links to our girls. They get the excitement of getting a new email - and a new game to play!

Have fun with number sequencing!!

Lemon Cookies - and more Naplan practice!

Recipes 

Our youngest daughter is a budding cook and loves making cookies and cakes.  She has a page-a-day calendar with recipes for cookies on. Here's one batch she made last week:

Ingredients:

For the Cookies:

1 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

grated zest of 3 lemons

1 1/2 cups plain flour

3tbsp cornflour

For the Filling:

4 tbsp butter

1 cup sugar

grated zest of 2 lemons

juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest together until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and cornflour together and stir into the creamed mixture. Roll into balls and press flat on a baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool.

To make the filling, beat the butter and sugar together with the lemon zest and juice until light and fluffy. Spread the filling onto the flat side of one cookie, then put another cookie on top and sandwich together.

Baking as a way to practice numeracy skills

Baking is a great way for kids to practice a number of skills - not just the skill of baking!

Measurements are well practised as ingredients are weighed etc. Depending on the unit of measurement, sometimes fractions are sometimes practiced - as they are here, when things are measured in cups, and half cups etc.  This is something that can come up on the Naplan test in Grade 3 too. For example - here is a question I found on one of the past papers:

Thomas needs 3 cups of flour to make a cake.

He only measures 1/2 cup at a time.

How many 1/2 cups of flour will he need?

1   2   3   or 6 ?

When a student is faced with a question like this, of course they are being tested on their knowledge of basic fractions, but if they have had the real life experience of measuring flour using half cups for a recipe, then the question becomes so much more familiar and so, easier.

We have a large and varied selection of recipes that the girls can bake from - with measurements in cups, grams and ounces, depending on where the recipes come from !  It is great for the kids to be exposed to all these different measurements and to also be able to understand how they relate to each other. Many recipes have 2 different measurements shown, so the kids get used to seeing for example 100g (4 oz), and so gradually learn to convert between different units of measurement.

Estimation

The more kids bake and weigh ingredients, the better they become at estimating weights. It is not only important that kids can read and use units of measurements, but also that they have a rough idea of what, for example 1 kg might feel like.

Another way of practising this is by helping at the shops when buying say - a bag of sugar, and feel the weight of it when they put it in the basket. Or perhaps they know their own weight and so then have a reference point to compare other things to.

Estimating real weights and lengths etc is something else that may appear on the Naplan test, where the students may have to choose the most sensible or likely option from the answers as to what something might weigh or measure.

Here is another example of a question from a past paper:

Which of these is the closest to the length of a real shoe?

5cm

25cm

75cm

100cm

To answer this question, students need to understand what 1cm is actually like and be able to relate this to real life objects. I remember always using my 'big' 30cm ruler at school to compare things to when estimating lengths. It's helpful for kids to have a point of reference like this to refer to - something that they can think, "Is this object longer or shorter than my 30cm ruler?"; thus making it easier to estimate the length of something they don't know.

Real life is often the best practice

I hope these examples show that written tests not only test the student's knowledge of facts - but can be a measure of their understanding of some basic things they encounter in real life.

Sometimes the best practice for basic numeracy and literacy skills for young kids is doing something 'real' - like baking!

So - take a look in your recipe books, and see what tasty delights your kids could bake with you, for some 'homework'  today!

Richard III - Horrible Histories

I read today that the bones of King Richard III of England have been found and positively identified!  Amazing that they can dig up bones from under a car park and identify them as belonging to someone who died over 500 years ago!

I grew up in England, and remember at primary school studying endless Kings and Queens, but my memories of these have faded over the years so I turned to Wikipedia and Horrible Histories for some help recalling facts about which King, Richard III was!

Brief facts

Richard III was King of England for only two years in the mid-fifteenth century, and was the last English King to die in battle.  He became King after the death of his brother - Edward IV. Edward's sons should have inherited the throne, but they were declared to be illegitimate, Richard so took the throne and the boys were never seen again! Richard was rumoured to have murdered them  - leading to the legend of the Princes in the Tower (of London), where they were supposedly held.

Richard III was the subject of a play by William Shakespeare which does not portray him in a good light at all. Given the popularity of Shakespeare's plays, this portrayal has become the basis of many people's opinion on what Richard III was like.

History for kids

So - then I looked at Horrible Histories to see what they had to say about Richard III - and I found this fun song - written and sung by Richard III to set the record straight and show he really was a nice guy!

I discovered Horrible Histories last year when our eldest daughter began watching the videos at school. The videos are based on books which are designed to get children interested in history by presenting the gory or  unusual bits of history in an amusing manner.

I never remember enjoying my history lessons at school, when we learnt about those endless Kings and Queens, but having seen some of these Horrible History videos and taken a look at the website, I'm sure I would have enjoyed history a lot more had that been around when I was a kid!

I'm a big fan of things that make learning come alive for kids. I do remember a visit in primary school to the Yorvik Viking Centre in York as a school kid. I remember enjoying the trip - I especially remember that they had authentic smells from the Viking days - pretty disgusting, but fun for kids and certainly memorable!  So I do think that Horrible Histories is onto something with highlighting the gory bits of history to engage kids!

Horrible Histories

Horrible Histories has a website with lots of fun facts, jokes, quizzes and games.  If you live in the UK, you can buy the Horrible Histories magazine from shops, but anywhere in the world you can sign up for the email monthly newsletter.

There are gory history games to play on the website - like Putrid Pirate Battleships, and  Mummy Madness!

Books

There are also a series of Horrible Histories books available, which look interesting and fun too! Lots are based on British history, but also the USA, Egypt, Vikings, Greeks and even a Horrible Histories book about Christmas! Go here to see a huge selection!

At this stage in school, our girls are mostly learning Australian history, but they have also shown an interest in history in general through TV shows and stories.

Horrible Histories seems like a great way to help encourage that interest and help them learn about history in general!

Comparatives and Superlatives - Language conventions practice for Naplan test

In the Language conventions section of the Naplan tests, there are several multiple choice questions where students have to choose the sentence that is grammatically correct, or the word that would complete the sentence to make it grammatically correct.  Some of these questions in both the Year 3 and Year 5 test include choosing the correct adjective form, both comparatives and superlatives.

For example (from a year 5 test):

Which sentence is correct?

1. Some people like cats best than dogs.
2. Some people like cats better than dogs.
3. Some people like cats more best than dogs.
4. Some people like cats more better than dogs.

(Number 2 is correct.)

For younger kids, or those who need a refresher as to how to form comparatives and superlatives, there's a really helpful little video I found here called "The Adjective Detective"

To have some practice using comparatives and superlatives for our girls I played this game with them:

1. Brainstorm 10 adjectives each, so for example:

big, red, good, happy, fast, tall, small, clever, great, slow

2.  Write the comparative and superlative for each adjective:

big       bigger     biggest

red      redder     reddest

good     better     best....... etc

3. Make real sentences using each word they had written, and using objects they could find or talking about people or places they knew.

So for example for the first line, they looked through their stationery supplies and came up with:

This pencil is not very big, but this one is bigger, and this pencil is the biggest of all.

Or :

I am clever, my dad is cleverer than me, but my mum is the cleverest person in our family!

(Ok, so I made that one up myself - but you get the general idea!:) )

I also got them to write down some sentences - and then check each other's work for mistakes (since a lot of the questions on the Naplan test are finding and correcting the mistakes - particularly spelling, and don't siblings just love to correct each other!)

I also found a neat basketball game that practices comparatives and superlatives. You can choose a 1, 2 or 3 point question, and if you choose the correct answer you shoot a basket and gain the points. Choose the wrong answer and your ball will miss the hoop.

Something else I'll encourage the girls to play to practice comparing is Top Trumps.  This is a great card game that the girls have a few different versions of, that is great for practising number skills but also for comparing - as the card with the fastest, largest, biggest, heaviest etc of something wins!  If you want to learn more about Top Trumps you can read about it here.

The above book, The New First Aid in English, is one that I bought to help our girls with English practice. I myself had a copy as a kid and used to love it. Our girls love it too, and it's full of useful information and practice exercises and tests. Definitely a book I would recommend for primary school kids upwards. It's a great book to learn from now and also a good reference book to keep for years to come.

Digital vs Analogue watches for kids

Should you get your kids an analogue or a digital watch?

When we got our girls their first watches, we chose to get analogue ones (shown here in the picture).  We wanted them to learn to tell the time this way first - not just simply read the numbers on a digital watch.

We also have analogue clocks around our house - so the girls did learn this way initially.

However - we equally found that once they had grasped analogue time - they had to learn to equate that to digital time.  It was all very well to be able to read the numbers on a digital watch and say, "It's 3.45"  but how do you say the same time in 'analogue'.

Which ever way a child learns first - they do have to learn both ways and be able to switch between them both.

Being able to switch between analogue and digital time is also something that comes up in questions on the grade 3 Naplan tests.

Learning analogue times also helps kids become aware of other basic maths concepts like fractions and even pie charts!. An analogue clock gives them a familiar point of reference to start from when learning further maths concepts at school.

Last year we explored when kids begin to understand time and found some activities to play with our girls using stopwatches - and some fun websites for them to play on to practise as well. I found another simple game here for some quick practice of converting between analogue and digital times.

I'm definitely glad we chose to start the girls off with analogue watches and clocks. We do live in a digital age with digital clocks on everything from phones, to microwaves and computers, but there are also still plenty of analogue clocks and watches to be found!

What kind of watch do you and your kids have?