SORI FRIEDALEEZA LAUER

ELISHEVA KAMINETSKYPAGHIT RALBAG

Understanding the Mah Nishtanah in preschool aged

children

Initial Interview

We wanted to understand the knowledge that 5 year old children have about the Mah Nishtanah

We explored if they were able to: recite the mah nishtanah associate it with picturescomprehend the meaning behind the wordsunderstand the concepts of Avdut and Cheirut

as represented by the mah nishtana

ABLE TO…. NOT ABLE TO…

recite the Mah Nishtanah with no promptingunderstood the meaning of the questionsdepict them or identify them in picturesassociate specific days of the year/events with the concepts happy/ sad based on what we do that day

understand that the questions of the Mah Nishtanah were each connected to the concepts of Avdut or Cheirut

In the initial interview both children were

Teaching

The questions of the Mah Nishtanah refer to actions that represent both happiness and sadness

The correlation between Avdut and sadness, as well as Cheirut and hapiness

The overarching question of the Mah Nishtanah is:What is this day-happy or sad?

Questions of the Mah Nishtanah

Teaching

The questions of the Mah Nishtanah refer to actions that represent both happiness and sadness

The correlation between Avdut and sadness, as well as Cheirut and hapiness

The overarching question of the Mah Nishtanah is:What is this day-happy or sad?

Story of Child A

After being taught the concepts of Avdut and Cheirut the child was able to easily identify the Marror with “sad”/Avdut and leaning with “happy”/Cheirut

The difficulty came when she tried to categorize: ~Matzah: becasue she was unaware of the concept of

Matzah being both Lechem Oni and Lechem Ashira

~Diping: Morah taught that dipping was a sign of royalty and freedom but due to the fact that she was not familiar with the schema for dipping/royalty she had difficulty associating the two.

Story of Child A

Child A was unable to separate the Maror, Charoset, and Salt water from the act of dipping even when

given the analogy of the chocolate fountain.

WHY? A. Blending- she was merging the objects involved in

dipping (marror, charoset, salt water) with the act of dipping (royalty)

B. Lack of prior knowledge of dipping being cheirut doesn’t allow for critical thinking (breaking down into

parts)

Child A-2nd interview-

Child A retained the knowledge that the questions are connected to “happy”/ “sad” concepts

The questions that the child struggled with previously were still not clear and only through furthering her knowledge of Lechem Oni and a reinforcement of dipping was the child able to associate the Matzah and dipping correctly.

Story of Child B

Child B had a difficult time concentrating for a long period of time so the teaching did not reach the point of explaining the concepts of Avdut and Cheirut.

Child B had a more difficult time reciting the Mah Nishtanah in the second interview because it was a week later and there was no reinforcement of it during interim: when he recited it the second time he kept returning to the first question before he could move on to the subsequent one.

Story of Child B

Child B had difficulty recognizing which pictures associated with a seder.

Child B was able to utilize a schema to identify a picture of a “white shirt” as a kittel.

Schema

Started as a bottom-up schema and

became a top-down schema

A: so now I have another ? for you-look over here at the page with the pictures

Z: why is there a shirt?A: what do you think that looks

like?Z: oh, a white…..A: do you know what that’s called?Z: yeah I just forgotA: a kkZ: a kittelA: does your father where that?Z: yes

Observations & Analysis

Changes in thinking

In the 2nd interview, when Child A was identifying pictures, she immediately used the happy/sad schema.

The child grasped that there was an overarching theme to theMah Nishtanah.

How we adapted the 2nd interview:

In anticipating the difficulties Child A had with Matzah and dipping, the Morah:

Used a different analogy for dipping

Explained the concept of Lechem Oni

Schema

Familiar Schema

vs.

Unfamiliar Schema

M: Do you ever go to a Bar Mitzvah and at the end of the Bar Mitzvah

they dip something…they have some kind of chocolate that comes out?

R does not respond R’s mother interjects: Like what we have

at the Chanukah party at our house on the counter

R: Big smile – Oh a chocolate fountain

M: Is that dipping also? Is that fun? R nods

How we adapted the 2nd interview:

In anticipating the difficulties Child A had with Matzah and dipping, the Morah:

Used a different analogy for dipping

Explained the concept of Lechem Oni

Critical Thinking

Prior Knowledge is a requisite for critical thinking-child is unaware of the concept of:

~ Matzah being both Lechem Oni and Lechem Ashira

~How the digestive system works

M: I’ll tell you why there is another reason why we have matzah on pesach, not just because when we were free we were in a rush and the dough could not rise. When they were in Mitzrayim they ate matzah before they even left. You know why?

R: No answer M: Do you know what happens when you eat matzah?

Matzah takes a long time in your tummy to digest. Do you feel very full in your tummy when you eat matzah?

R: Shakes head no M: And it takes a long time to eat. Is it harder to eat

than challah? Do you chew it more? R: Shakes head no M: You don’t have to chew it more? Do you have to chew

and move your mouth more up n down up n down with the matzah than with the challah?

R: Nods yes M: So you know what the Mitzrim were very mean they

said we don’t want to give the Yidden a lot to eat. So we will give them matza so there tummies will feel full and we will not have to give them more bread. So that is another reason we eat matza, bec it is something they ate in Mitzrayim.

Implications for future teaching in Jewish education:

Asses prior knowledge before teaching-does the child understand that Matzah has a dual representation.

When a young child is tired and hungry (4:00 pm) it is difficult to teach them.

Just because a student gives a right answer doesn’t mean they understand the concept-it may be a result of prodding or cues from teacher.

It is important to pay attention to what goes on at the time of learning, not just the results of learning because that will allow for more productive teaching.

The most general ideas of a subject should be presented first and then progressively differentiated in terms of detail and specificity.