Fyra barns erfarenheter via interaktion - ett nedslag i tiden

Abstract

The purpose of my study is to examine how children through interaction are recognized and understood by other children and teachers at the preschool for one hour in the afternoon. This study gives voice to what young children in preschool do after snack. The overall purpose of this study is to find out what young children's experiences will be in preschool through interaction. The purpose of my research is to gain knowledge about how the time and opportunity for interaction exists between children 1;7-2;5 years, and educators as well as other children, and how this interaction appears during afternoon activities in the preschool.

My research questions are: 1) What experiences do children get in terms of their development of identity for one hour in the afternoon? 2) How does the interaction that the youngest children are involved in during the afternoon appear? And how long time does every occasion last?

The study is based on the interactionist perspective and systems theory. The central concepts for this study are interaction, confidence, interest and experiences.

I have followed four children aged 1;7-2;5 years to see what experiences they made through interaction between the hours of 3-4 pm. They were observed by video camera after they had their afternoon snack.

My results are presented in a qualitative part and then in a quantitative part. The choice to present the observations in both a qualitative and a quantitative part are because that in the quantitative part I wanted to find patterns in how many times interaction occurred as well as how long it lasted And to make generalizations about what that stands out in my study. The results are presented based on the experiences that the children do in the interaction that I can see when I analyze my video observations. From this I interpret what experiences children do. The results are also presented in frequencies, to see how often the interaction occurred and whether this interaction is based on an interest or shows the child trust.

I have gained an insight into how the afternoon is for the youngest children in preschool. These afternoons show that children are included about 22 minutes every hour in some form of interaction. This interaction is sometimes based from the children's interest and sometimes from teachers trying to create interest. The children have also shown an interest in interacting with others based on interests but have not had strategies for how to go about it. The trust was shown both as the children got confirmation in their trust seeking. The trust has proved from both the children feeling confident and that there appears to be trust. The children make both positive and negative experiences in terms of their identity development.