| This week, a story of a boy who cheats on a test. But when did the cheating start? This story is based around schoolwork. For activities involving cheating in sport (also something kids love to talk about!) see this bulletin from March 2024. The Test Ben was off school ill. Well, perhaps not properly ill. He’d felt a tickle in his throat the evening before, and his coughing had lost him a few hours of sleep. He could have gone into school, but it was November. And it was cold. Plus, today was the end-of-unit test on the Aztecs. One more day, and a bit more sleep, wouldn’t hurt, he thought. That evening, he rang his best friend Charlie.” Charlie, how was the test?” “Yeah, fairly good. Tricky in places, but last night’s revision homework helped.” Ben had spent last night thinking about how many extra scoops of ice cream he could ask for, on the basis of soothing his sore throat. “Can you tell me the answers?” “No way, mate. I studied hard for this test. So should you. I wouldn’t be a true friend if I just gave the answers away.” “OK, fair enough. What about the questions? Surely you can tell me them?” “Still feels a bit dodgy,” replied Charlie. “Let me think about it.”Charlie put the phone down—and completely forgot to call back. Ben rang his other friend, Ali. “Ali… yeah, feeling better, thanks. Well enough to pop over. Can I take a look at your revision notes? I didn’t get to make any last night, and I’ve hardly written a thing in my exercise book all term.” “Sure, come on over anytime.” Ben cycled around to pick up Ali’s revision notes. Arriving at school the next day, Ben was directed to the library to do his test. He was told to bring nothing with him besides his pencil case. With his teacher looking the other way, he stuffed Ali’s notes into it. Ben struggled with the test. He was finding the questions hard. When the librarian wasn’t looking, he sneaked the notes from his pencil case and placed them in his lap. “Just to help me get going,” he whispered to himself. “Just for one question, and then I’ll put them away.” Ben found the answer to question one. He felt a flood of relief, tinged with some guilt. He shoved the notes back into his pencil case. He tried question two, but that was too hard to answer on his own. Same with questions three, four, and five… He glanced up. The librarian was filing a big pile of books in the corner of the room, her back to Ben. She’d be there for some time. Ben grabbed the notes from his pencil case and put them back in his lap. He peered down at them, and started to fly through the questions. Question: When did the cheating start? When Ben didn’t revise for his test? When he took the day off school? When he asked Charlie for the answers? When he asked Charlie for the questions? When he asked Ali for his notes? When he took Ali’s notes into the library? When he first took Ali’s notes out in the library for question one? When he took Ali’s notes out to help him with the rest of the test? At another time? We’ve created a downloadable set of cards you can print off and place around the room. Get your children to stand next to the point in the story the cheating began, and then share their justifications with those nearby. Additionally, you could print several sets of cards out and ask them to work in groups, dividing into piles – IS cheating, and ISN’T cheating. If Ben is cheating, who is he cheating? Is the intention to cheat the same as cheating? Charlie says a true friend wouldn’t give him the answers. Do you agree? What new information would change your mind? Is anyone besides Ben responsible for his cheating? Download cards Related activities:When did x start? is a thought-provoking question and can be applied to many contexts with children. Arguably, all concepts must begin somewhere (or must they?). Here are some curriculum-related applications for this question: English: Take any story where one character meets another and form a friendship (Stig of the Dump, The Lion and the Unicorn, Tom’s Midnight Garden…). When did true friendship start? Art/Design: Show a time-lapse of a painting / artwork / sculpture being put together. When did its beauty start? PSHE: Take this story, written by our colleague Marley Davies, about a stone-age girl who discovers a cave. When does it become a home? What’s new in the Philosoverse? Jason is currently on the island of Jersey, returning for a second time in two months to work with four different schools on embedding oracy into their curriculum. And tonight he’s hosting the island’s inaugural “Philosophy in Pubs” session in St. Helier (if you’re local, get your free tickets here!). Jason’s back there in September, and likely again later in Autumn, so if you’re Channel Islands-based and not yet on the many emails going back and forth about getting him into your school, drop us a note. After working in five schools last week, and in five next week, Tom is taking a few days to write resources like this one and get plans in place for a very busy end of June, and extremely busy September (which currently see us in over 20 schools in the UK, and that’s before our visit to Australia for the second half!). If you’d like to join these schools in working us, wherever in the world you are, we’re now taking bookings for October. Learn more about our work, and get in touch. Best wishes, Tom and Jason |