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