Intentionality, Pygmalion, and Cognitive Fun Redirects Elementary School Children in Pull-Out Neural Enrichment

Abstract

This study describes an academic enrichment intervention for 15 ‘high risk’ children who were pulled out of General Education classrooms in Bangalore India for 40 minutes four-times a week during a typical school year. Could a brain-based intervention reduce achievement gaps that showed up for these children in terms of below-grade academic outcomes and impoverished social and emotional wellbeing? The null hypothesis stated that a teacher’s mental model that shifted to brain-based methodology would have no perceivable effect on (i) children’s academic achievement or (ii) their social and emotional engagement. This study was grounded in teacher education literature involving mental models that illuminate classroom management techniques. Subjects were drawn from second grade students (mean 6.7 years; n = 15). Study was an opportunistic quasi-experimental design reflecting school life across India. Qualitative ethnographic data using grounded theory were triangulated with quantitative measures that best account for observed outcomes. Findings highlight significant academic, and social and emotional growth, which dramatically reduced the achievement gap for all participants.