Manifestation of Pre-Service Teachers' Interpersonal Skills: Effects of Simulated and Real Experience

Abstract

In this study, we investigated whether the “Interpersonal Relationship Skills with Co-Workers” component of a computerized simulation influenced pre-service early childhood teachers' perception on issues and strategies for implementation of interpersonal relationship skills with co-workers before and after four weeks of field experience. Quantitative analysis such as Chi-square, Somer's d, Gamma, Correlation, and Regression were used to analyze the difference in their perception between before and after their field experience. As a result, significant differences were found with Somer's d (.455, p = .000), Gamma (.717, p = .000), Pearson's R (.507, p = .019), Spearman correlation (.577, p = .006), and regression analysis ( b = .385, p = .019, R2 = .257). These results indicate that pre-service early childhood teachers who have experienced simulation about interpersonal relationships tend to perceive the effectiveness of simulation programs as an instrument for them to acquire teaching and learning experiences related to interpersonal relationship skills. Qualitative analysis results also indicate that the computer simulation was a promising tool for pre-service early childhood teachers to become prepared for the teaching profession, particularly on interpersonal relationships with co-workers. However, for a better computer simulation, as early childhood teachers mentioned, the problems and events with various grade levels should be developed more concretely and realistically in computer simulations.