
BEHAVIORAL ISSUE
A behavioral issue encountered in my programme was impulse control.
It can be observed that the children in my group have a lack of impulse control to avoid distractions while doing a task. For instance, the children like to snatch each other's things, kick each other's legs and throw things at one another. Even when we were all playing a game, they liked to disturb one another by laughing or interrupting their speech and almost every time, the children got distracted by their friends and side track from what they were doing. Also, when we were acting out our interactive skit in Session 1, we asked the children whether they will accept or reject a friend's offer to go out play when they have homework due the next day. A couple of them said that they will accept the offer and this highlights a lack of impulse control as they do not focus on their task on hand, which is to complete their homework.
RECOMMENDATION
One recommendation I came up with to help children with lack of impulse control is a 'Stop-Think-Go' campaign.
The target audience of this 'Stop-Think-Go' campaign is primary school children aged 7 to 12. The purpose of the 'Stop-Think-Go' campaign is to spread awareness of the importance of impulse control and encourage children to practice impulse control. It is important to have this campaign so that children will prioritize the more important task on hand, for example doing homework, and not easily get distracted by friends. This can ensure that they submit assignments on time and do well academically. According to Ducksworth (2011), it was found that children who practice impulse control do well in adulthood due to "better academic performance, physical health and interpersonal relations."
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During the campaign, there will be a slideshow, a skit and games. Ozaslan & Maden (2013) concluded in their study that students learn better if contents are presented through visual tools, like PowerPoint slides (as cited in Lari, 2014). Hence, the campaign can come with a slideshow on impulse control. Additionally, a skit would be effective in teaching the children about impulse control as it incorporates humorous sections. According to a journal article by American Physiological Society (n.d.), humour increases participation and motivation as people will be more interested in the content (as cited in Savage, 2017). According to Vandercryusse, S. (2012), games are effective in teaching, training and educating and people learn through games more effectively. Hence, games on impulse control can be planned for the children to play during the campaign as well. All these components of the campaign have an educational appeal as they will emphasize on the benefits and importance of impulse control. Also, there will be a fear appeal in the skit as negative consequences of not having impulse control will be acted out and this makes the children be aware of and fear the negative impacts of not practicing impulse control.
REFERENCES
Ducksworth, A. (2011). The significance of self-control. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 2639-2640. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1019725108
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Lari, F., S. (2014). The impact of using PowerPoint presentations on students' learning and motivation in secondary schools. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98(6), 1672-1677. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.592
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Savage, B., M. (2017). Humor, laughter, learning and health. Advances in Physiology Education, 41(3), 341-347. doi: https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00030.2017
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Vandercryusse, S. (2012). Game-based learning: A review on the effectiveness of educational games.
Handbook of Research on Serious Games as Educational, Business and Research Tools, 32(1), 1-14. doi:
10.4018/978-1-4666-0149-9.ch032
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