Monday, August 21, 2017

COLLABORATION - a life skill taught in every pre-k.

Posted on July 25, 2013


PROMPT:                                                

What challenges exist as students work collaboratively as opposed to working individually? Students working collaboratively and co-constructing knowledge is a powerful learning experience. What scaffolds can the teacher put in place to support all students as they collaborate?


In Early Childhood Education our entire premise is based on the importance and power of PLAY and COLLABORATION, or at our level: Building Social Skills.  We encourage children to work together, to help each other, to share ideas, play and construct together. This skill of “collaboration” is so important at this age, because many children do not come to pre-k with this ability.  In fact it is developmentally appropriate for 3 and 4 year olds to engage in what we call parallel play. Below is the full definition of parallel play from Wikipedia.  I included the long version because it defines the progression beyond Preschool.
Wikipedia: “Parallel play is a form of play where children play adjacent to each other, but do not try to influence one another’s behaviour. Children usually play alone during parallel play but are interested in what other children are doing. This usually occurs after the first birthday. [1] It usually involves two or more children in the same room that are interested in the same toy, each seeing the toy as their own. The children do not play together, but alongside each other simply because they are in the same room. Parallel play is usually first observed in children aged 2-3.[2] An observer will notice that the children occasionally see what the others are doing and then modify their play accordingly. The older the children are, the less frequently they engage in this type of play. However, even older preschool children engage in parallel play, an enduring and frequent activity over the preschool years. Additionally, it is sometimes observed in older children when playing video games, particularly hand-held games. In education, parallel play also describes activities where students are divided into pairs or small groups and work on the same activity simultaneously. This gives all students equal opportunity for active involvement and reduces exposure – since all students are playing, none are watching.”
The following two videos are excellent examples of parallel play: 
PARALLEL PLAY   &  PARALLEL PLAY TOO  (PS: I want one too!)
Pre-K teachers have to provide opportunities and guidance for these children to interact during play.  Asking for “help” or asking open ended questions like “What would happen if we…” help the children to begin to engage in the same activity and learn to interact while playing.  A good place for this is in the block area where the teacher can get on the floor with the children and model building, talking, asking questions and interacting.  She can scaffold the children into playing/working together to build a road for cars or a house, or a barn for animals, then remove herself and observe the interactions.
In this video, Ruthie and Natalia playing with Juliet looking on2 toddlers are playing together for the first time, to their parent’s delight.  The parents are reinforcing the behavior with “good Job” and other positive comments. Teachers would (hopefully) provide different feedback such as narrating the action,. “Oh, Look Ruthie and Natalia are building a tower together!  Wow, look how tall it is getting…etc.”  
When moving from parallel play to interactive play challenges may arise.  These young children often do not have the words to handle disagreements, so they will grab the blocks or toys away from each other to do the next step.  The teacher must stay close by to offer solutions, and model conflict resolution. In the block building example earlier a teacher could model by saying:  ”Oh, you BOTH want to put the horse in the barn. Hmmm, how can you both have a turn? Maybe Todd can put the horse in the barn, and Jack, do you want to put the cow in the barn?” The two or three year olds may nod or cry or shake their heads or cling to the coveted toy.  So the teacher makes another suggestion. As the children develop new skills they begin to offer suggestions themselves, say, “I want to put the horse in the barn. You put the cow in the barn.” If that idea doesn't fly with the playmate we often hear something like, “Oh alright, I’ll put the cow in the barn, and you can have the horse.  Later I will play with the horse.”
Teachers must model the process of conflict resolution repeatedly, fairly and consistently so these children begin to own the process.  Often times older children, who have not had group opportunities at this age, struggle in kindergarten and first grade, and may develop anti-social skills, or be ostracized by their peers because they do not have the skills, or vocabulary to negotiate during collaboration.  This situation can follow them for years. So it is imperative that early childhood educators keep the focus on play based learning and continue to scaffold each child’s social development to be able to play, work and communicate with their peers daily. Sitting at individual desks (or computers or ipads) doing work is not developmentally appropriate and will inhibit the development of social skills required to work collaboratively in the future.

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