Pets In The Classroom
Pets can help children learn responsibility. They also teach them how to care for other living beings. But can they help teacher’s teach in the classroom? Mitch Wilder shows us that they can.
-
Step 1:
-
Animals In The Classroom
-
We know that pets can help children learn about responsibility and caring for other living things. But can pets also make children smarter? Monica Lipczenko teaches third grade at Pleasant City Elementary in West Palm Beach Florida. She's one of the few teachers using animals in the classroom. In this case, the animal is a rabbit named Stu.
-
Step 2:
-
The Benefits
-
She believes having an animal in the classroom has a lot of benefits. The first benefit is obviously the children learn how to be gentle, and to be kind, and to look at something else that's smaller than themselves and think, "okay, I have to take care of this."
-
Step 3:
-
Recent Proof
-
Believe it or not pets like Stu here are used to motivate students to learn more. But now, finally there's some research to back it up. A recent research study by Purdue University found that animals help teachers achieve more teachable moments. These are moments where an activity actually leads to learning. The study also found that students learned about the life cycle when animals died or gave births. Teachers also reported that students wrote more effectively and with more imagination when an animal was present in the classroom.Miss Lipczenko says Stu has definitely made a difference. "They enjoy sitting with the rabbit. They tend to focus more when they're reading if they can sit and pet the rabbit at the same time."
-
Step 4:
-
A Real Friend
-
While Stu might be creating a more positive learning environment for the kids, he's something even more important: a good friend. For The Pet Report, I'm Mitch Wilder.