I forgot to add the idea of "red-shirting" - holding a child back for a year. This was originally done for sports reasons, but has now been seen by parents for academic reasons. Here's a story from Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2196423/
Beth Benoit Granite State College New Hampshire On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 6:07 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Do I have a post left today? > > Thank you very much for the handouts. Anything hockey flies with me :) > > Hey, my son is a hockey referee and was born in February---way down south > in southern california! Of course, the age/date thing always held here as > well :) > Competitive sports are the same all over. And the politics involved are > probably > equally horrendous--well, maybe not....I bet it's a lot worse in Canada. > > Annette > > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > 619-260-4006 > [email protected] > > ---- Original message ---- > >Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 17:17:43 -0500 > >From: "Beth Benoit" <[email protected]> > >Subject: [tips] using "Outliers" in the classroom > >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" > <[email protected]> > > > > I've found Malcolm Gladwell's newest book, Outliers, > > as fascinating as his earlier books. In past years, > > I've used "Do Perfect Parents Make Perfect > > Children?" (from The Tipping Point), as a classroom > > exercise, often as an icebreaker in Child Psychology > > and Human Development. (Feel free to email me if > > you'd like this exercise. I have students break > > into groups and choose which answers they think, as > > a group, are correct about specific parenting > > practices that they agree are likely to produce > > children with better grades in grade school. Things > > like taking the child to museums, reading to the > > child, the child being adopted, etc. Then I go over > > the "real" answers - according to statistical > > findings - and give students the book's explanation. > > I have put it in two Word documents - one a > > questionnaire for students and the other with the > > "correct answers," with credit given to the author.) > > Gladwell has made some interesting claims in this > > new book that factors that contribute to successful > > outcomes in life may be more dependent on things > > like birth dates, ethnic persuasion, etc. The > > section I'm considering using is the claim that > > Canadian ice hockey players are more likely to be > > born in the first few months of the calendar year. > > I'll probably follow the same method as > > above, breaking students into groups to examine the > > roster I'll hand out, then giving them Gladwell's > > explanation. > > I printed up and attached one of the rosters he > > includes in his book: the roster for the Medicine > > Hat Tigers. I've also printed up his explanation > > from the book. But this time, I decided to do some > > sleuthing of my own, and found that ol' Malcolm > > might have selected the team rosters that best fit > > his theory. (Gee, nobody in psychology ever does > > that.) When I looked at the 2009 IIHF World Junior > > Championship (played on Christmas Eve, 2008), I > > found that out of three Canadian teams I looked at, > > this outlier dispersion didn't seem quite so > > prominent. 41 out of the 70 players were born from > > April 1st on, and 22 of the 70 players were born > > after June 30th. True, out of 70 players, only one > > was born in December. I think that after students > > have examined the Medicine Hat Tigers roster, then > > gone over Gladwell's explanation, I will hand out a > > few of the other rosters to show that critical > > thinking is also important and we may need to be > > wary of quick claims which may not be quite as > > impressive as they're touted to be. > > I've attached all three handouts. Feel free to use > > them if you think they'd work in your classroom. > > (Again, I gave credit to Malcolm Gladwell, of > > course.) > > I'd also be interested in thoughts from our Canadian > > brethren about the concept of early birthdates being > > helpful to hockey success. Stephen, Chris? > > Beth Benoit > > Granite State College > > New Hampshire > > -- > > "We will not learn how to live in peace by killing > > each other's children." - Jimmy Carter > > "Are our children more precious than theirs?" > > > > --- > > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > >________________ > >outliers - student handout.docx (32k bytes) > >________________ > >outliers - student handout 2.docx (54k bytes) > >________________ > >outliers - explanation from book.docx (16k bytes) > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > -- "We will not learn how to live in peace by killing each other's children." - Jimmy Carter "Are our children more precious than theirs?" --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
