The purpose of this ethnographic venture was to explore the social interactions in a Kindergarten classroom with a focus on the rules in the classroom. Participant observations were conducted in a public school Kindergarten classroom for a period of three and a half months. Data were recorded through field notes, audiotape recordings and two semi-structured interviews with the classroom teacher. The presentation of discoveries along this journey includes a detailed description of a typical day in the classroom, a taxonomy of the classroom rules, and an elaboration of the process through which children understand the teacher created rules in the classroom. The importance of planning developmentally appropriate rules and affording children the opportunity to negotiate the meaning of the rules through dialogue has been stressed. These interpretations reinforce the importance of the constructivist approach to child development and learning. Implications for researchers and practitioners revolve around the redefinition of rules as tools for negotiation of individual differences among members of the classroom community. / Ph. D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/38048 |
| Date | 06 June 2008 |
| Creators | Patet, Pradnya |
| Contributors | Family and Child Development, Fu, Victoria, Stremmel, Andrew J., Sawyers, Janet K., Niles, Jerome A., Lichtman, Marilyn V. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation, Text |
| Format | viii, 180 leaves, BTD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 34269188, LD5655.V856_1995.P384.pdf |
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