A naturalistic study of the relation between preschool setting events and peer interaction in four activity contexts

Observations of Children's Interactions with Teachers, Peers, and Tasks across Preschool Classroom Activity Settings

“…Current findings add to previous research trends that show fewer social behaviors occurring when the teacher is involved and the setting is highly structured by an adult (Huston-Stein, Friedrich-Cofer, & Susman, 1977; Kontos & Wilcox-Herzog, 1997) and that children have more positive peer interactions and are more expressive in free play activities (Goncu & Weber, 2000; Innocenti et al, 1986; Montie et al, 2006). Though on the surface this pattern may seem intuitive, these findings have implications for what teachers do to support children’s learning.…”

“…Following past trends (Coplan & Prakash, 2003; Konig, 2009), the current findings suggest that children exhibit less positive interactions with the teacher when in child-directed activities, such as recess, as compared with teacher-structured activities like large group. Although it is not a requirement for the teacher to be present or lead during activities like large and small group, it is often the case that the teacher takes on this role; whereas in free play or recess teachers may be less available (Innocenti et al, 1986) or children may have fewer opportunities to engage in conversation with teachers (Dickinson, 2001; Smith & Dickinson, 1994). Current findings suggest that teachers were present a majority of the time during the more child-directed activities, such as free choice and recess, but despite this accessibility children tended to be less positively engaged or communicative with the teacher.…”

“…For peer interactions, children spend a significantly greater proportion of time in social interaction during play activities (e.g., play with toys or pretend play) than any other activities (Odom & Peterson, 1990). Similarly, Innocenti and colleagues (1986) reported that peer interaction occurred more frequently in free play than in other, more teacher-directed activities. For task related behaviors, children were more likely to be engaged in a task with individually targeted interactions than in more group-oriented settings (McWilliam, Scarborough, & Kim, 2003), and similarly off-task behavior was reduced when in whole-class teacher-directed settings (Rimm-Kaufman et al, 2005).…”

An Analysis of the Effects of Multiple Setting Events on the Social Behavior of Preschool Children With Special Needs

“…Several investigators have reported that teacher presence tends to decrease peer interaction (Gump, 1978;Innocenti et al, 1986). Guralnick and 249 19922251,249-263 NUMBER 2 (summER 1992) Groom (1988) suggested that amount of teacher interaction, rather than teacher presence, may influence peer-directed social behavior.…”

“…Although Guralnick & Groom, 1988;Innocenti et al, 1986). Systematic data concerning the influence of combinations of settings events and controlled examination of the influence of single or multiple events on social interaction are needed (Greenwood, Delquadri, Stanley, Terry, & Hall, 1985;.…”