See What Children Know
Chris has learned how to make three-dimensional structures with magnetic tiles on a vertical wall. Jaycee makes all of her patterns flat, as you see in the fan structure on the right panel. She wants to participate in Chris’s work and offers him pieces that help build his pointed vertical chute. When he attempts to roll a wiffle ball down the vertical chute it dislodges a few of the bottom pieces. Jaycee must think that the new game is “tear the building down.” But clearly Chris is perturbed when Jaycee rakes the remaining pieces off the wall. He retreats to a distant chair and says to Jaycee, “You fix it.” The teacher mentions that Jaycee may need Chris’s help. Chris decides to move on to another activity elsewhere in the room. Jaycee sets about building a new structure, but all of the tiles are laid flat. Actually, this strategy was how Chris began, but then he was using the flat pattern as the foundation for folding the outside rows perpendicular to the wall. Jaycee does not make this modification, and her matrix of tiles remains flat. She walks away when done.
These types of situations happen everyday, when children have a period of success in working together and some periods when things do not work out. Nevertheless, these episodes are as important for social development as the episodes that run smoothly. What do you think Jaycee and Chris learned from this encounter? Can you find positive lessons for both Jaycee and Chris? Notice that the teacher hung back and often resisted intervening. How do you think the teacher’s decision may or may not have strengthened the children’s abilities to solve problems and resolve social conflict?
This video clip allows you to study the give and take that occurs between children as they search for a sense of balance between their personal goals and their desires to share collaboratively with others. Click here to watch this video clip and read more about how we might explore the children’s unfolding interactions and better understand their social competencies. This clip is part of the Video Streaming Service at www.videatives.com. Click here to subscribe.
Notes from the Field
There is a great new opportunity for all of us to expand our knowledge about the early childhood field on an international level – World Forum Radio. World Forum Radio is an audio podcast – hosted by iTunes – that promotes the exchange of ideas between people and cultures on all topics related to young children. Click here to learn more.
