Generally participants reported only positive outcomes of attending the group, whether they attended for most sessions or very few. The most extreme example of this, however, was reported by a participant who attended only one session of her group. She met with me for the preliminary interview and test the week before the groups started, and came to the introductory session, which was attended by only 4 people. I did a round asking participants to introduce themselves, and I introduced myself and the project, emphasizing that I was asking for their help in trying out the math activities. I gave a brief talk about how parents can help children learn math, from the introductory section of the manual, handed out the manual and the kit, showed them how to play Yahtzee and gave them 15 minutes to play in pairs while I went around to give individual help and make sure everyone understood how to play and keep score.
That participant didn’t come to any more sessions, although we had some e-mail contact. She continued to say she was interested in the group, but other commitments got in the way. In December, when I called and e-mailed all participants to invite them to the final interview and test, she agreed to come in. Although I did not expect her to have got much benefit from the group, I was happy to interview her, and totally unprepared for what she had to say.
Fortunately, I didn’t allow my assumptions to change my interview format, and simply
asked my first question, “Has coming to this group made any changes in your
life?
” She answered with a decisive yes. She said that she and her husband got
along better, as did the kids. There was better communication amongst family
members. She sees her daughters helping each other with school math by using a
ruler or calendar, explaining, not just giving the answer.
When I asked what had made the change, she said, “Yahtzee.” She reported that she went home after the group session and showed her family the new game. They began to play it every evening, which meant more family time, and less TV. Although her tendency was to “rescue” her kids by telling them the answers, she and her husband agreed that they would not jump in to help, rather they would let the kids try to get the answers themselves, by counting the spots on the dice. She reported that when the family was playing together, she often wanted to leap in with an answer, but she and her husband would exchange glances, and she would hold herself back. Whenever the kids asked for help, the parents helped them.
She noticed that the positive side of this family play time was “learning how to
laugh together,” “developing teamwork,” and the pleasure of “watching the kids
learn to help each other.” She said that waiting for the kids to ask for help “develops
their self esteem and helps them ask questions at school.
” As well, she said
that waiting for them to get the answers themselves helped her learn the signs of
frustration—making faces or rubbing their heads, and she noted that she showed
the same signs when she was frustrated.