Doors, Dogs and Dropped Pegs: teacher key

Kindness, grade 5 edition, written for 5th grade. Rats, toddlers, bats, elephants and dogs have all been seen helping. See what researchers found and how kind acts spread.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What did the researchers not do with the rats?
   • Give them a trap
   • Train them to free their cagemates (answer)
   • Put them in cages
2. How did a free rat act when its cagemate was trapped?
   • Calmer
   • Sleepy
   • More upset (answer)
3. What is empathy?
   • Sensing and sharing what another person is feeling (answer)
   • Opening a door
   • Being hungry
4. What did the toddlers do when the grown-up dropped a peg?
   • Left
   • Helped (answer)
   • Hid
5. What can a vampire bat that found no food do?
   • Eat chocolate
   • Sleep until morning
   • Beg another bat for blood (answer)
6. How many people did one person's generosity reach in the experiment?
   • Three, then nine (answer)
   • Two
   • Fifty

Words

• empathy: sharing feelings
• distress: upset feeling
• toddlers: very young kids
• colony: bat group
• grooming: cleaning fur