Helping children think: deliberately averting your gaze as a learning strategy

This digest found in

Thinking skills

Authors

Phelps, F. G.; Doherty-Sneddon, G.; and Warnock, H.

Publisher

British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Vol 24, 2006, pp.577-588

Introduction

Gaze aversion, which is the act of looking away from something, has been found to benefit adults when dealing with difficult problem-solving activities. The researchers in this study investigated the impact of using gaze aversion with children to see how it would affect their problem-solving abilities.

The researchers tested the benefits of teaching five-year-olds to use gaze aversion when working on arithmetic and verbal reasoning questions and found that they performed significantly better than the control group on more challenging questions. The researchers also found that pupils’ use of gaze aversion naturally increases during their first year of schooling.

This small-scale UK study, funded by the ESRC, involved a sample of 20 five-year-old pupils (Year 1). Ten of the sample acted as a control group. The study also tested the use of gaze aversion in 30 Year 1 pupils during their first year of school to monitor how its use naturally changes and develops over time.

Keywords: United Kingdom, Key Stage 1, Primary schools, Pupils, Thinking skills, Metacognition, Problem solving, Cognitive development

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction How does gaze aversion influence pupils’ problem solving? How does gaze aversion develop in Year 1 pupils? What is ‘gaze aversion’? How was the study carried out? What are the implications? Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader Helping children think: deliberately averting your gaze as a learning strategy This digest found in Thinking skills Send to a friend Word doc 50KB Printer friendly Collate for later Authors Phelps, F. G.; Doherty-Sneddon, G.; and Warnock, H. Publisher British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Vol 24, 2006, pp.577-588 Introduction Gaze aversion, which is the act of looking away from something, has been found to benefit adults when dealing with difficult problem-solving activities. The researchers in this study investigated the impact of using gaze aversion with children to see how it would affect their problem-solving abilities. The researchers tested the benefits of teaching five-year-olds to use gaze aversion when working on arithmetic and verbal reasoning questions and found that they performed significantly better than the control group on more challenging questions. The researchers also found that pupils’ use of gaze aversion naturally increases during their first year of schooling. This small-scale UK study, funded by the ESRC, involved a sample of 20 five-year-old pupils (Year 1). Ten of the sample acted as a control group. The study also tested the use of gaze aversion in 30 Year 1 pupils during their first year of school to monitor how its use naturally changes and develops over time. Keywords: United Kingdom, Key Stage 1, Primary schools, Pupils, Thinking skills, Metacognition, Problem solving, Cognitive development