Simon Says In The Classroom: Can It Accurately Identify Impulsive Children?

Background: Impulsive children often show signs of aggressiveness, disruptive
behavior, and poor test taking skills. By identifying and targeting these students early on,
teachers can give them the proper help and attention needed to improve their academic
learning experience and outcome. The Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) is used
by optometrists to determine whether a child is impulsive or reflective as well as to
evaluate the efficiency of his or her information processing system. As the first scientific
study to analyze how well Simon Says correlates with the MFFT, this study was designed
to make it easier for grade school educators to accurately identify impulsive behavior in
the classroom. Methods: Pre-recorded Simon Says instructions and actions were played to the third grade students at Brookside Elementary in Big Rapids, Michigan in order to minimize variability. The MFFT was then administered to the same set of students.
Results: There was found to be no statistically significant correlation between the
impulsivity of third grade students according to the MFFT and the order in which they
were eliminated from a game of Simon Says. In a small sub-set of subjects where gender was recorded, males tended to lose at Simon Says earlier than females. Conclusion: Simon Says is not an effective way to identify impulsivity in the classroom setting as a whole. However, further studies can examine whether Simon Says could be used to determine impulsivity when gender is taken into account.