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The Relationship Between Patience in Teaching and Student Learning Success in Brazilian and Malaysian Children
by Emma C. Morris
Faculty Advisor: Cristine Legare, PhD
Teachers who demonstrate patience, or the ability to wait calmly when faced with frustration, adversity, or suffering, is important for a child’s academic success. Patience in children is also a positive skill that can benefit a child’s academic and social growth and has a positive impact on peer relationships. However, there is little research on patience within similar-aged peer relationships when teaching. The aim of this study is to further investigate this relationship between patience in teaching and student learning in children in Western and non-Western populations. This study examined if higher patience among a peer teacher leads to a greater level of success in student learning. In addition, this study investigated if there are patience differences between males and females, Western sand non-Western societies, and the relationship status of the peers. In this study, male and female children ages 5-12 years old from Natal, Brazil and Mah Meri, Malaysia were paired with a younger student for a task in which the older peer had eight minutes to teach a novel knot to a younger peer, the younger peer had to be able to tie the knot on their own afterwards. Using an ethogram to track positive and negative patience behaviors in teachers, such as verbal encouragement (+), non-verbal encouragement (+), question asking (+), distraction (-), and frustration (-), we found that more patience in teachers does lead to more students being able to complete the task and at a quicker time. We also found that children from Brazil did significantly demonstrate more patience than children from Malaysia. Neither sex or relationship between the peers significantly impacted patience. These results suggest that cross-cultural differences between patience do exist and peer teachers who demonstrate higher levels of patience to their students can have a positive impact on that child’s learning and success.