Puppet Effectiveness Research

Action Research Project

Do Puppets, as a Tool for Teaching,

Improve Student Achievement?

by

Brent Bandhauer

“The Puppet Man”

May 18, 2007

Do Puppets, as a Tool for Teaching,

Improve Student Achievement?

Abstract:

Beginning in January of 2007, I taught my careers education program to the third and fourth grade students at two separate elementary schools. I divided the classes into a control group and an experimental group. My goal was to identify how much of an impact puppetry had on achievement. The control group received traditional approaches to teaching lessons such as story telling, visual aids, and worksheets. The experimental group received the same instruction with the addition of puppetry incorporated into every lesson. At the conclusion of the five week unit of study, the students were administered identical tests so I could compare the levels of achievement between the two groups.

While the results didn't show a separation in achievement of the teaching approaches, all of the students showed strong understanding of the concepts taught. These results provide continued evidence that schools counselors play a significant role in the education of students in public elementary schools. .

Do Puppets, as a Tool for Teaching,

Improve Student Achievement?

Why I Chose This Project:

I’m often called “The Puppet Man” by the 1400 kindergarten through fifth grade students I serve as a counselor. The children at all grade levels love my collection of puppets and eagerly invite me and my puppets into their classrooms to teach lessons. I first discovered how effective puppets are at holding attention eleven years ago when I began using a DUSO kit (Dinkmeyer, 1972). Although the puppets were quite unsophisticated, they captured the students’ attention and I discovered I could use them to tell fantastic stories. Then I could ask pertinent questions to promote the objectives of the lessons.

These successful experiences ignited a quest...