As a warm up today I passed out playing cards to my 34 5th graders (face down on desk).
I had them place the cards on their foreheads without looking. I cautioned them that they were NOT to indicate (with words or gestures) what the cards were to their neighbors, that this was a serious social experiment. I then told them that the people with red cards were winners. Everyone was to look at the cards of their friends, but try NOT to indicate whether they were winners or not.
I then asked them all to place their cards back on their desks.
I then asked all of the students who thought they had red cards to come up to the front of the room.19 students came up.
I sent them back to stand by their desks. 17 of the 19 were red cards.
I’m not sure if you will get the same results, but it was a great start up on how people learn from the reactions of others, what self confidence is, what peer pressure and bullying can do, how we send and receive signals all the time…
Winners and Losers,
