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

Abstract

This descriptive study examined classroom activity settings in relation to children’s observed behavior during classroom interactions, child gender, and basic teacher behavior within the preschool classroom. 145 children were observed for an average of 80 minutes during 8 occasions across 2 days using the inCLASS, an observational measure that conceptualizes behavior into teacher, peer, task, and conflict interactions. Findings indicated that on average children’s interactions with teachers were higher in teacher-structured settings, such as large group. On average, children’s interactions with peers and tasks were more positive in child-directed settings, such as free choice. Children experienced more conflict during recess and routines/transitions. Finally, gender differences were observed within small group and meals. The implications of these findings might encourage teachers to be thoughtful and intentional about what types of support and resources are provided so children can successfully navigate the demands of particular settings. These findings are not meant to discourage certain teacher behaviors or imply value of certain classroom settings; instead, by providing an evidenced-based picture of the conditions under which children display the most positive interactions, teachers can be more aware of choices within these settings and have a powerful way to assist in professional development and interventions.

Variation in children's classroom engagement throughout a day in preschool: Relations to classroom and child factors

“…However, young children are very sensitive to environmental cues and their behavior can vary substantially across different settings (e.g., preschool vs. laboratory; Walden & Baxter, 1989). Preschool-based research has indicated that children’s behavior can also vary across classroom settings from day to day and even within a single school day (Booren et al, in press; Roper & Hinde, 1978; Rose et al, 1975). A study comparing preschool children’s behavior during indoor and outdoor play showed that children were consistent in their rates of talking with peers, but inconsistent in their rates of talking with adults across the two settings (Roper & Hinde, 1978).…”

“…The term activity setting refers to the basic way that teachers organize class time in terms of both group size and activity; common activity settings in preschool include large group, small group, individual work time, free choice, outdoor time, meals, and transitions between activities (Early et al, 2010). These activity settings may differ in the opportunities they provide for children to engage positively (or negatively) with teachers, peers, and tasks (Booren, Downer, & Vitiello, in press). Furthermore, child factors like age and gender may be related to how children engage with teachers, peers, and tasks across activity settings.…”

QualityMatters: How and under what conditions does quality in early education and care matter? A study across four European countries

“…Specifically, the quality of teacherchild interactions was higher in teacher-structured settings, while children's interactions with peers were more positive in free choice settings (Booren et al 2013). In another study, the authors found that the effectiveness of teachers' instructional interactions was higher in the large group setting, compared to free choice and routine settings.…”

“…The amount of time that children are expected to engage in activity settings, such as small group, routines, or free play, can play a major role in the ways children interact with the teacher, relate to each other, and learn (Booren, Downer, Vitiello 2013;Cabell, DeCoster, LoCasale-Crouch, Hamre, Pianta 2013;Early et al 2010;Fuligni et al 2012;Howes et al 2011).…”

Measuring Children’s Perceptions of Robots’ Social Competence: Design and Validation

“…The scientific interest in children's perception has resulted in the development of methods such as observations of children's behaviours [6], questionnaires, pretend play, drawings and self-assessment methods [12]. The fact that children's skills are very much still under development raises several additional challenges for designing questionnaires, as discussed by Borgers et al [7].…”