AND and OR January 18, 2005
Posted by Andy Roberts in : learning , trackbackStand up if you are a girl and your first name has a “T” in it.
Sit down again.
Now stand up if you are a girl OR your first name has a “T” in it.
Year 5 are doing databases, this week an introduction to querying using AND and OR.
I was surprised how many didn’t get it. Most of the girls realised they had to stand up for the OR but Tariq, BenedicT, Tom and NusraT all remained seated. An enthusiastic dispute broke out with Orlando urging them to stand up but they were having none of it.
If we were asking them to use EXOR I could understand it but I’d thought that english language common usage at that age would be enough to get the difference between OR and a simple joining word like and. It must make everyday life very confusing, like having to get by without understanding what NOT means.
Come to think of it, this takes me back to when my own childern were little and I used to give them alternatives:
Do you want me to stay in and cook a nice dinner or come with you on a bike ride?
“both”
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
I fear for the youth of today!
:^)
I think I would have stayed sitting down at that age too - much better than explaining to the stupid idiots in the class how standing up doesn’t infact make you a girl, but just shows that you are capable of using your brain rather than following social dynamics - ie. if in doubt, do nothing, say nothing, avoid attention; hide, forget that your name has a T in it.
Wait A minute, my name doesn’t have a T in it, I guess I would have been ok then.
Thanks for your insight Evan, it’s probably more important than the subject I thought I was writing about. I think you’re right that the social dynamics are more influential than understanding the question. What the implications are for attempting to teach logic I’m not sure. Maybe the emotional implications of asking one set of children to stand up without explaining why are too much. They may even try to guess what measure is going to be dished out to the standing up group and adjust their choice, or just want to be in the same group as friends. We do a similar thing for branching database, splitting the class up into smaller and smaller groups according to simple yes/no rules, and that seems to work ok. Perhaps it’s more neutral than “stand up/sit down” .
Congrats on first blog post by the way
“stand up if you are a girl”
Remember that phychology programme on BBC1 a while back which follows the lifes of roughly 10 kids? Well half the programme was spent demenstrating that the main thing a young kid (they were aged 5) is most sure about is there gender.
so the words “stand up if you are a girl” have a very powerfull impact, and are more than clear. The child probably stops listening at this point, and thinks about how he/she is going to make sure he’s in the correct group with other people of similar gender.
For example, how many of the girls stood up for the AND question, despite not having a T in their name?