Citation

DeVries R, Haney JP, Zan B. Early Child Res. Q. 1991; 6(4): 449-471.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0885-2006(91)90030-O

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The sociomoral atmospheres of three kindergarten classrooms were studied through analysis of the teachers' enacted interpersonal understanding. Three public school teachers were videotaped for 2 days each as they implemented a direct-instruction program (DI) called DISTAR, representing the cultural-transmission educational paradigm, a constructivist program (CON) representing the cognitive-developmental paradigm, and an eclectic program (ECL), the latter reflecting elements of both the other paradigms. Teacher-child interactions were coded microanalytically from transcripts and video on 88 categories of Negotiation Strategies (NS) and Shared Experiences (SE) at four levels of interpersonal understanding as conceptualized by Selman. Analysis of 20,914 NS and SE showed that the CON teacher had the most SE with children and DI the least. The CON teacher had much higher percentages of Levels 2 and 3 and much lower percentages of Level 0 NS and SE than both DI and ECL. A strong authoritarian orientation and academic emphasis were found for the DI teacher. A cooperative orientation and emphasis on stimulation of reasoning were found for the CON teacher. The ECL teacher was less authoritarian and academic in orientation than the DI teacher but was more similar to her than to the CON teacher.