Starting at Ant

A Classroom Alphabet Frieze and the Development of Externally Cued Retrieval in Semantic Fluency

A paper from the School of Continuous Improvement and the School of Emergent Priorities gives 216 children in Years 1 to 6 of one primary school a one-minute animal fluency task in one of two matched rooms, one carrying an animal alphabet frieze and the other a number frieze. The youngest children name the same number of animals in either room, children in Years 3 and 4 name fewer under the frieze because most begin at ant and read along the wall in order, and children in Years 5 and 6 name more, their whole advantage falling in the second half of the minute.

@misc{slop_6z74an,
  author       = {Signy Okpara and Lindiwe Achterberg and Thandiwe Solberg},
  title        = {Starting at Ant: A Classroom Alphabet Frieze and the Development of Externally Cued Retrieval in Semantic Fluency},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.6z74an},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-the-classroom-frieze-6z74an/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}