An Ethological Study of Children Outdoor Free Play in Pre-Primary School

Author(s):

Alessandro BortolottiAndrea Ceciliani

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance

Format:

Paper

Session Information

11 SES 03B, Quality of Social Learning and Leisure Treatment and ICT in Teacher's Training

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-10

14:00-15:30

Room:

B1 134

Chair:

José Cajide

Contribution

Our study concerns the outdoor free play of children in pre-primary schools. We believe that the pedagogical attention to "good practice” of play, by the institution, is an important indicator of child care. Our approach of observation is ethological; but also, especially with the teachers we intend to go back to the sense of how it appears, in a phenomenological way, and don’t stop at a merely descriptive level. The study has, on the one hand, the aim of finding pedagogical categories useful for the professional work on the ground, and on the other hand tries to identify issues to explore through further research.

Method

From the methodological point of view, the whole work is being developed in two phases: the first we have done on six samples (that were six different groups in public schools of the City of Modena) were essentially observational, and were focused on the categorization of the types of play and on the frequency of behaviours of both children and teachers. The second, in the pipeline, intends to highlight the play differences between various educational settings, characterized by presence or absence of equipments, attitudes of teachers, and so on. Researchers in the field are two, the observations are conducted through video cameras, that allow statistical analysis of data. In fact, will be tested the correlation and the significance between the different groups. Focus groups with teachers are also planned, to analyze the emerging issues.

Expected Outcomes

In the first phase of the work, where we have seen a good level of activities by children, both quantitative and qualitative, we could put it in relationship with the presence of reinforcing attitudes of teachers, and vice versa when the play seemed limited there were a teacher looking as a "controller"; in addition, we have found interesting differences based on presence of different tools, equipments and toys typology in the settings. In the second phase we expect to confirm this, and to find significant differences of play in relation to the categories absence / presence of small tools and toys, which we believe could make play activities more or less dynamic or "stereotypical", in relation to the presence of stimulus to a general motor activity, compared with a more fine and manipulative one.

References

Baumgartner, E. (2004), L’osservazione del comportamento infantile. Teorie e strumenti, Carocci, Roma. Bortolotti A., Ceciliani A. (2007), Gioco spontaneo e cure educative, in: Contini M. G., Manini M. (a cura di), Le cure educative, Carocci, Roma. Brian L. (2005), “Playground Exploration: an opportunity for incidental learning of mechanical principles”, in Teaching Elementary Physical Education, v16 n2 p21-24 March. Coplan R, Wichmann C, Lagace-Seguin D (2001) “Solitary-Active Play Behavior. A Marker Variable for Maladjustment in the Preschool?”, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 15(2) 164-172. Hurwitz SC. (2002) “To be successful: let them play! “Child Education, 79:101–102. Kern P., Wakeford L. (2007), “ Supporting Outdoor Play for Young Children: The Zone model of Playground”, Young Children, v.62 n5 p 12-18 September. Parlebas, P. (1997), Giochi e sport. Corpo, comunicazione e creatività ludica, il Capitello, Torino. Pellegrini AD, Smith PK. (1998) “The development of play during childhood: forms and possible functions”. Child Psychology Psychiatry Rev.;3:51–57. Smith D. (1995) “How play influences children’s development at home and school.” in Journal of Physical Education Recreation Dance.;66:19–23. Stremmler, A. J., Sluss. D. G. (2004) “Play Peers Interaction”, in Journal of Research in Childhood Education; 18, 4, pp. 293. Tsao L. (2002) “How much do we know about the importance of play in child development?” in Childhood Education 78:230–233.

Author Information

Alessandro Bortolotti

University of Bologna

Science of Education

Bologna

104

Andrea Ceciliani

University of Bologna, Italy

Department of Education