Nursery School Children Research Articles

Children's reproductions: effects of event order and implied vs. directly stated causation

ABSTRACTThe utterance The man fell down because he slipped on a banana peel is a verbal statement in which causation is stated directly, and the major events are not reported in the perceptual order of occurrence. Surprisingly, in retelling 20 ‘stories’, 23 nursery-school children often refused to produce sentences in which causation was stated directly, but readily retold causationimplied utterances; performance was worst for unrelated (control) stories. Moreover, backward temporal order hurt performance only when causation was stated directly. Except for this latter condition, memory was best for the first half of the stories regardless of the temporal arrangement of the clauses. Finally, the majority of the story events were reproduced in the linguistic order in which they had been originally presented.

Third-year summary of IES Arrow-Dot longitudinal comparisons in preschool children.

Three samples of preschool children in a suburban nursery school and kindergarten were administered the IES Arrow-Dot test at the beginning and end of three successive school years. Trends for declining Impulsivity and similar baselines for this variable were found in all three samples. Results for Ego and Superego scores showed variation. These findings support the effective use of this instrument with preschool children. Future investigations within varying educational environments are suggested to delineate further patterns of preschool personality development and integration.

Cognitive representation of rewards in delay of gratification

A study was conducted comparing the effects of two modes of cognitively representing rewards on delay of gratification. Nursery school children were told to think about the rewards in a delay situation as either “real” or “pictures.” They were also given instructions designed to elicit either arousal or cueing functions of the cognitive representations. It was found that previously obtained differences of focusing on actual or symbolic rewards were found also when the children represented the rewards cognitively. It was also found that, consistent with our hypothesis, there was an interaction between cognitive representation and instructional set. These results are discussed in terms of Berlyne's (1960)and Estes's (1972)distinction between two functions of a reward stimulus.

Sequential transfer to related oddity problems by nursery school children

The initial learning and subsequent transfer of an oddity principle by children between 4 and 5 years of age were studied. The initial standard oddity problem was learned quickly by most of the children. A high level of performance was maintained on both transfer sets. The results were related to limitations placed on the oddity solutions learned by 4-year-olds by particular aspects of the original learning context.

Respiratory infections in nursery school children.

Respiratory infections in nursery school children.

Memory functioning as related to developmental changes in bases of organization

Two series of object drawings classifiable according to either color or conceptual category were used: one to assess dimensional salience and the other to assess free recall, clustering, and cued recall. Parallel shifts in dimensional salience and the dominance of these dimensions as organizing principles in memory were investigated in nursery school and second- and fifth-grade children. Nursery school children manifested color salience, whereas the two older groups manifested conceptual salience. Above chance clustering according to the salient dimension in each age group and some increase in the size of organization units as a function of age were found. Within age groups, neither amount nor dimension or clustering were related to amount of recall. In each group, more words were accessed by salient than by nonsalient cues. Effectiveness of nonsalient cues depended on the order of presentation for young children, whereas for older chilren they were ineffective regardless of order. Implications of these findings for encoding and retrieval processes in children were discussed.

Computer‐Based Simulation for Observing Child Behavior

The purpose of the study was to determine the efficacy of computer‐based simulation ver sus observation in a laboratory nursery school. Subjects were students enrolled in two classes of an introductory course in child development who were randomly assigned to an experimental (n=24) or a control (n=30) group. Subjects in the experimental group were taught to observe the behavior of children using sound/color film modules of individual children. Open‐ended questions were presented by the computer terminal which gave immediate feedback and assistance. Students in the control group observed children in the laboratory nursery school. Pre‐ and posttests were given, and the results revealed that all students improved their ability to observe from the pre‐ to posttest. However, students in the experimental group improved more than those in the control group.

Transfer of Mediational Strategies in Children: The Role of Activity and Awareness during Strategy Acquisition

BORKOWSKI, JOHN G.; LEVERS, SANDRA; and GRUENENFELDER, THOMAS M. Transfer of Mediational Strategies in Children: The Role of Activity and Awareness during Strategy Acquisition. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 779-786. The ability of nursery school and first-grade children to learn and transfer a mediational strategy utilizing prepositional relationships between paired-associate objects was investigated under several strategy training conditions: passive observation, active manipulation of objects, active manipulation combined with viewing a film portraying the strategy's effectiveness, and a nonmediation control. The 2 important factors determining the extent of strategy transfer were active participation during strategy acquisition and, for the first graders, an awareness of the strategy's usefulness. 84% of the children who spontaneously manipulated the object pairs on the first trial of the transfer task showed perfect strategy transfer.

Family television viewing habits and the spontaneous play of preschool children.

In the course of an experimental study of effects of television on imagination and emotion in nursery school children, interviews and questionnaire responses concerning viewing habits were obtained from 70 parents. Group consultations were initiated to help parents understand television's impact on children and to develop methods for controlling family viewing patterns.

Modes of Solution Used by Children in Concept-Identification Problems

87 nursery school children were exposed to a concept-identification problem in which the salient dimension was either also a relevant or nonrelevant dimension, depending on the condition. Responses to 2 of the stimulus pairs were followed by reinforcement while responses to the remaining 2 pairs were not. After acquisition or overtraining the reversal shift was introduced. Nonoutcome trial behavior was taken to indicate whether a conceptual solution, utilizing only values of the relevant dimension, or a nonconceptual solution, incorporating both the relevant and nonrelevant dimension, was attained. While not having any clear-cut effect on over-all performance, dimensional salience and relevance both affected the proportions of subjects solving conceptually and nonconceptually.

Attending behavior of children near a child who is reinforced for attending

The present study investigated effects of a token program for one child on the behavior of other children in the class. Three nursery school children, sitting at adjacent desks, were observed under five conditions. In Baseline I and Reinforcement I the rewarded child sat between the two unrewarded children. In Baseline II, Reinforcement II and Baseline III the rewarded child sat on the end, and the two unrewarded children alternated at the middle desk. The rewarded child received tokens for attending behavior in the Reinforcement conditions. The teacher's behavior was carefully controlled. Results were: (a) The rewarded child's attending increased in the Reinforcement conditions; (b) The unrewarded children's attending increased in Reinforcement I but remained at baseline in Reinforcement II; (c) Both unrewarded children attended better when seated at the center desk in Reinforcement II; (d) No disturbing effects were found in the behavior of unrewarded children.

The effects and side effects of timeout on an aggressive nursery school child

Timeout was used to eliminate the aggressive behavior of a nursery school child. Systematic observations of target and non-target behavior were undertaken. The results indicated that as the aggressive behavior was eliminated, the child showed increases in some desirable behaviors. The possible side effects of timeout are discussed.

From Egocentric to Cooperative Play in Young Children: A Normative Study

A naturalistic observational study was made of the recorded positive peer interactions in normal nursery school children aged I to 5 years. Six stages were described and assessed in regard to their interrelations with and contributions to the child's developing object relationships. Dimensions considered to be primary referents to the child's increasing internalization of self and object representations were: (I) the degree of interest expressed in the other child; (2) the degree to which the other child was allowed to influence his partner; and (3) the child's developing ego capacities.

Nutritional status of Head Start and nursery school children

Nutritional status of Head Start and nursery school children

Nutritional status of Head Start and nursery school children

Biochemical measurements of blood and urine indicating iron and protein nutriture of two groups of preschool children are reported.

Eyebrow-raising, eye widening and visual search in nursery school children.

Summary Small groups of nursery school children were videotaped listening to a story during the course of which they were exposed to the sound of a loud horn hidden from view. It was hypothesised that this would elicit eyebrow‐raising but this was not confirmed. However, a number of children displayed an eye widening response. The results are interpreted in terms of previous research and theory regarding the function of brow‐raising/eye widening in terms of searching behaviour.

Pour l'étude de l'adaptation

The present work « for the study of adjustment » is a longitudinal research conducted with a population of 101 nursery-school (Ecole Maternelle) children, with a follow-up until the end of the first grade of elementary school. The results presented and discussed here are those obtained in the nursery-school. So as to focus the research on adjustment and not on maladjustment, the methodological choices have been the following : exclude any reference to pre-established norms ; study a complete school population ; describe adjustement by resorting primarily to the manifest behaviors of each child, in usual but well differentiated school situations. Direct observation of behaviors has been completed by indirect observation (questionnaires adressed to teachers). In the population we have studied, a positive relation has been revealed between two dimensions of adjustment : the child's integration to his peer-group and his integration to the demands of the school institution. The confrontation between the data obtained through direct observation and variables of a different kind (sociometrical data, evidence given by teachers, results of learnings) specify the adaptative significance of the observed behaviors and the psychological characteristic which are common to these two ways of adjustment.

Imitation and recall of optionally deletable sentences by young children

ABSTRACTA set of sentences written in either an expanded or optionally deleted form were read for imitation and delayed recall to a group of nursery school children. A similar set of sentences had been presented for recall to adults. The older children and adults tended to recall the sentences in deleted forms, regardless of their input form. The youngest child tested, however, recalled the sentences in a fully expanded form, even when they had been presented and imitated in deleted form. The results offer support for the hypothesis of memory for non-linguistic ideas by both children and adults, as well as a demonstration of Slobin's (1973) universal operating principle that when children are first gaining control of an optionally deletable linguistic entity, they will often produce only its full form.

Children's Performance and Social Preference for Positive, Negative, and Mixed Adult-Child Interactions

MORRIS, EDWARD K., and REDD, WILLIAM H. Children's Performance and Social Preference for Positive, Negative, and Mixed Adult-Child Interactions. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1975, 46, 525-531. The effects of positive, negative, and mixed positive-negative adult interaction patterns on children's performance and preference were studied. For 3 nursery school children, 1 adult dispensed positive comments for task responding, a second adult reprimanded off-task behavior, a third adult used both contingencies, and a fourth adult remained silent. Response measures indicated that positive-negative and negative adults maintained task behavior; the positive and extinction adults' control deteriorated. On preference probes positive adults were most often selected first, the negative adults typically going unselected; positive-negative adults generally were neither approached nor avoided. Discussion considered the effectiveness of positive and negative comments, side effects of punishment, and clinical implications.

The effects of cueing and constraint instructions on children's free recall performance

The performance of nursery school children was investigated in two experiments involving cued and constrained free recall. Under constrained instructions, subjects were required to recall items by category. Under cued instructions subjects could recall items in any order they wished but the organized nature of the lists was identified and subjects were told that they would remember more if they recalled things from the same category together. No effects of cueing instructions were obtained in either Experiment I or Experiment II. Constrained recall instructions led to enhanced recall and category clustering. However, the beneficial effects were not maintained on later trials with the same list or on a transfer list when the constraints on recall were dropped. In addition, the introduction of constrained recall instructions had identical effects whether they were introduced early or late in practice. The results were discussed in terms of the influences of variables which affect the subjects' use of retrieval strategies and the development of memory.