The Helping Experiments: teacher key

Kindness, grade 4 edition, written for 4th grade. Scientists made careful tests to see who helps and why. Follow the toddlers, chimpanzees, rats, bats and more.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What happened in the control conditions?
   • Toddlers always helped
   • Toddlers rarely helped (answer)
   • Nobody came
2. What did researchers not do with the rats?
   • Give them chocolate
   • Put them in cages
   • Train them to free cagemates (answer)
3. What is empathy?
   • Sensing and sharing what another feels (answer)
   • A kind of food
   • A trap door
4. Why can a vampire bat starve?
   • It is too loud
   • It misses a few nights of feeding in a row (answer)
   • It flies in daytime
5. Where did dogs go in the study?
   • To a toy
   • To a door
   • To a crying person (answer)
6. What spread through groups in experiments, besides generosity?
   • Stingy behavior (answer)
   • Snow
   • Songs

Words

• empathy: sharing feelings
• distress: upset feeling
• grooming: cleaning fur
• stingy: not giving
• console: comfort