the preschool playground
TRANSCRIPT
The Preschool
Playground
Week 8
Overview of Chapter 10
! The Family Context
! Nonparental Child Care
! Neighborhoods
& Communities
! Media Contexts
! Contexts, Risk, Resilience
! Contexts outside the Family
! Day Care
! Preschool
! Play at Preschool
! Gender identity with peers
! Connections with the family?
! Media
! TV
! interactive media
Overview of this week
! Once again you are observers of children’s behavior
! Here is a video of children on a preschool playground
! We will first describe what occurs, then try to explain it
! Take notes as you observe
Play at Preschool
! does not involve girls
! uses the entire playground
! unclear how many are playing
! Noah directs the play
! hierarchical organization: leader & followers
! fantasy play: Laser Beasts
! running away from monsters: “Where is it, and what is it?”
The boys’ play:
! does not involve boys
! uses only the tire swing
! it’s clear three girls are playing
! Arielle directs the others
! taking turns: “A pattern of people pushing”
! egalitarian organization: equal turns
! not fantasy play [but this isn’t typical]
The girls’ play:
! How might what we see on the playground relate to what is happening in the family?
! What concerns might boys and girls bring from their families to their interaction with peers?
! Boys’ concerns: ...?
! Girls’ concerns: ...?
Playground & Family?
! How does what we have observed on the playground relate to what is going on in the family? Do our observations support Freud’s view, or Chodorow’s?
One-page paper
The Child Outside the
Family
Varieties of Day Care
Effects of Day Care
Preschool
Varieties of Day Care63% of U.S. mothers with
children younger than 6
are working and use some
form of supervised care
Characteristics of Quality Child-
Care Centers
! Children are enjoying themselves
! There are small groups of children (fewer than 15)
! and low ratios of caregivers to children (at least one adult for every 7-9 children)
! Activities are appropriate to children’s age levels and abilities
! Attention to the whole child (i.e., cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development)
! Staff plan and evaluate the program
! Parents are welcome to observe, discuss and make suggestions about the program
Developmental Effects of Day Care
! Intellectual: see chart! Social: Children in day
care:! More self-sufficient,
independent, verbally expressive, helpful, and cooperative
! also less polite, agreeable, and compliant, and more aggressive;
! more years in day care correlates with greater likelihood of behavior problems in kindergarten
Preschool (Nursery School)
! Purpose: Educational, rather than supervisory! A protected environment in a complex world.! Preparation for kindergarten (age 5): “War on
poverty” (1960s), Project Head Start (federal funds for children from low-income families)
! Spans ages 2! - 6, for approx. 3 hours/day! Emphasis on exploration: sandbox,
water-play table, doll corner, block area, large rug for stories and songs, cluster low tables for arts/crafts and snacks, and outdoor area (with jungle gyms, slides, swings)
Project Head Start
! Begun in the 1964 “war on poverty”
! Serves nearly 1 million children! Receive food, health and dental
care, and intellectual stimulation
! Well-run programs are successful, saving $7 for every dollar spent.
! Unfortunately, few Head Start classrooms are of high quality. Most are merely adequate.
Media Linking Home
and Community
Books
Television
Interactive Media
Television
! TV set is on 6+ hours/day in average home
! young children watch for 2+ hours! Dorothy &
Jerome Singer: “No other extraparental influence has penetrated the lives of children as television has”
Television
! Modeling
! 14-month-olds imitate actions they see on TV
! Infants imitate language they hear on TV
! Young children identify with superheroes and mythical creatures they see on TV
What is real?
! Young children easily confuse appearance and reality
! 2-year-olds think a bowl of popcorn on TV will spill if TV set is turned upside down
! 4-year-olds believe Sesame Street is real
! 5-year-olds believe television characters can see and hear them
! 7-year-olds don’t understand that when a bad guy is shot on television, the actor isn’t really dead
! 8-year-olds think actors and actresses who play married couples must be friends. They do not realize fictional programs are rehearsed
Problems interpreting TV
! Young children have difficulty interpreting sequences of quick scene changes without transitions
! They have difficulty with juxtaposition of images intended to convey the relation of one action to another
! Format also makes it difficult for children to stop and think about what they watch
Young children have difficulty reassembling these cards
to create a meaningful scene.
Problems of TV content
! Media stereotypes: People on TV screen are not representative of the population of viewers
! men presented as in control, women as submissive, passive, sensual
! African Americans are now portrayed more positively than European Americans
! Hispanic Americans are portrayed in criminal roles, if visible at all
Television violence
! 80% of TV programs children watch include at least one violent event (and many contain more, particularly cartoons)
! after children watch a violent program, they act more aggressively than children who have watched nonviolent programs
! children come to believe that aggression and violence are acceptable ways to settle disputes
Interactive Media: Internet, video
games
! Positive features! Can encourage persistence! Can develop better eye-motor coordination! Can develop creativity in developing stories/visuals
! Negative features! May promote short attention span! May create the expectation that
answers and rewards come easily
! Tends to be a solitary activity