Scratch - we tighten up mathematics, we develop self-control

People who cannot fall asleep and try in vain to do this in front of the TV, for sure, have long noticed that for some reason the most interesting programs are played at night. Yes, indeed, in the afternoon "... TV is like a toilet, but we are not into it, but from it to us" (unfortunately I could not find the author of the quote, but the one who used to constantly read the Hacker magazine may have experienced deja vu). But at night, just flipping through the channels, you can stumble upon something really interesting. That is how I came across a film about the Dunedin study . The film was watched without blinking. And when the authors of the study stated that they found out what the child’s success in the future most of all depends on, it even rose. It turns out - the fundamental factor in the success of a child (any person) is self-control!



Once I myself had serious problems with self-control and composure, therefore, after watching, I still recalled for a very long time, pondered, analyzed. And then, suddenly I thought: if this very self-control is such an important character trait, then can it be developed in children purposefully? Need to try!



And tried it. Who cares what happened, please under the cat.

A little about the experimental conditions

It so happened that I became a teacher. I used to say to old acquaintances that for me this is something like dolphin therapy, but now I began to take training very seriously. I teach guys to program in Scratch. In general, it was not necessary to search for experimental subjects for a long time - they became sixth graders.

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At the beginning of the school year, I had an introductory conversation with them, in particular, that in our school (and not only in fact) we have a significant bias towards the humanities, but everything related to mathematics turns out with a creak. They also talked about self-control, especially they liked the story about the experiment with the marshmallow. In general, for my proposal to pull up mathematics and develop self-control, they voted almost unanimously.

Preparing for the experiment

In the sixth grade, children in mathematics begin to give first addition, and then multiplication of positive and negative numbers. And if it's easier for us, then for them it's a brain explosion. No, then everything seems to be fine, but the errors associated with these simple rules are dragged on for a strikingly long time.



In this situation, need training. So - need a simulator. Therefore, we programmed it. I think the essence of the simulator is clear from the picture at the beginning of the article - the cat sets an example, and our task is to solve it correctly.



The script is pretty simple.







However, to create it, you still need to have some knowledge and skills: variables, concatenation, i / o, conditions, cycles, and of course, working with all of this. Again I want to remind you that sixth graders are children. What seems so elementary to us in programming is sometimes not entirely obvious to them. In fact, with all of the above, we worked in the fifth grade, so at the very first lesson we just remembered everything very well, practiced everything.



In the next lesson, we did the simulator again. Why again? We do not save small projects at all, for two reasons: “repetition is the mother of learning”, and it is also a good opportunity to see how quickly everything works out when you are “in the subject line”. Actually, in this lesson, work began with self-control.

Final and unconditional victory

Before the game it is necessary to explain the rules, in this case, purely mathematical, and the guys are completely unfamiliar. Moreover, in this experiment they had to be explained in such a way that even a first grader would understand them. The fact is that if you explain the rules at least a little superficially, then the student can say his favorite "I did not understand" or "It is incomprehensible to me." But if you explain the rules in a thorough manner, then the only reason for their misunderstanding will be bad behavior, which is a consequence of the lack of self-control.



When I began to explain that adding positive and negative numbers is actually moving along a coordinate ray, which has a negative region. That "minus" is a movement to the left, "plus" is a movement to the right, and the numbers themselves are the number of steps. When we sorted out a bunch of examples. When even weak students got the leaves and started to try something. There were always students, by the way, far from stupid, who at that time were doing anything, but were not listening. The girls could braid each other's hair, the boys tried to catch Wi-Fi, some openly “spiers” in the phones, well, or just giggling about something they were whispering. I did not bother them at all.



When the analysis of the rules was over, I announced the task - to defeat the cat with a score of 25: 0. Most of all, of course, this task did not suit those who did not understand at all. Those who delved too were not particularly happy. But I already had arguments prepared in advance:

• You studied the rules very well (you had the opportunity to study them, but you were engaged in “left-wing” affairs, and the one who penetrated it understood);
• You can use pens and leaflets if you doubt the correctness of what is counted in the mind;
• You have two or three computers sitting at your computers, so your task is to work together, not to lose your temper, not to get angry, not to be offended, not to waste time on disputes, and to argue on the same pieces of paper;
• To get the top five, you need to control every step you take, control everything that happens to you, not be distracted and not lose attentiveness;
• You have enough time to cope with the task;
• Well, if it doesn't work out, then for the script that works without errors you just get a four.

We are hampered by shortcomings of character, IQ does not matter

After the first such occupation, there were 5-6 more similar ones. At each lesson, the examples asked by the cat became more and more difficult. And I must say, self-control is an incredibly complex thing.



Only a few, mostly to those who are given mathematics very easily, quickly coped with tasks. I acted with them in such a way - I increased the range of numbers and forbade the use of drafts, having previously shown some tricks for mental counting. Therefore, the only thing that bothered them was the noise made by their classmates. Do not be distracted and try to keep intermediate calculations in memory very difficult. Moreover, if the companions ’answers counted in the mind did not converge, then everything had to be recalculated again in order not to make a mistake.



The second group is the largest. These are impulsive guys, accustomed to first do and then think. Moreover, failures, especially when the loss occurs when the score is 23: 1, are met by a violent explosion of emotions: from aggressive anger to bitter tears. Moreover, the most interesting, the four of them were already guaranteed. It was possible to just sit until the end of the lesson, do nothing, get a four (the script works, after all) and just leave. But losing, having calmed down a bit, they started again. Lose again, again an explosion of emotions and so on in a circle. It was with this group that we had to work very closely.



After several failures, they took comments a little more seriously and they themselves began to perfectly understand that they needed to control certain traits of their character very seriously. In general, I just gave advice and helped them make sure that these tips could help.



Tips, extremely simple:

• If this is impulsiveness, then - “just do not hurry, do not enter the answer in the first 4-5 seconds, during this time you will most likely see your mistake”;
• If this is the fear of being wrong, then - “for the first 4-5 examples, pay attention and carefully write down every step of the calculations, use methods that can be slow, but more visual, check yourself. All this is incredibly slow, but true. Soon everything will turn out much faster ”;
• If this is all the same indifference, then - “at such a pace, not four, but three, and then two, will soon start arranging you. Even if he does not start, you still understand that 500 rubles is better than 400, and they will be more willing to take the job of those who got 5, not 4. We rest at home, and here we fight for a decent life. ”

These were the most frequent tips. Although, after the first lesson, I climbed on Wikipedia and looked at what bad and good character traits are . And while the guys decided the examples, they could be well observed, approached and shown how best to cope with a variety of shortcomings. Most often, the tips worked.



Yes, the fours, by the way, were enough, but 99% of the guys tried to the last.

findings

In the last classes, the working behavior of all became almost the same - a calm, measured solution of examples. Why waste energy on something extra? Decided not as robots, but as quite normal children. Moreover, they understood before me that self-control does not at all mean compulsory coercion of oneself to anything. Self-control is the performance of, perhaps, not the most pleasant and not the most interesting work, but work, with which, as well as with everything else, there can be a sufficiently positive and good mood.



I am not at all an outstanding psychologist and teacher, so draw your own conclusions. But for myself, I realized that moving in this direction turned out to be quite a useful and promising activity. I realized that in fact I was quite superficial about teaching and management, children and adults. Yes, and to myself too.