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Article of Volume 7, Issue 3, September 2012

Patterns of kindergarten children’s social interaction with peers in the computer area

Author: Eun Mee Lim

Abstract: This study explored how young children interact with their peers in the computer area of a public kindergarten classroom. Children’s social interaction, as defined in this study, is the action of giving and taking information that results in children’s knowledge construction and cognitive development that can be accomplished through peer-to-peer interactions. This kind of social interaction is referred to as “Cognitively Effective Social Interaction (CESI)” in this paper. Patterns of young children’s social interaction with peers in the computer area of this classroom were discussed. Two teachers and 28 children in a full-day kindergarten classroom were observed and interviewed. The patterns of young children’s social interaction that occurred in the computer area were described as parallel play, verbal conflicts, sociable interaction, knowledge construction through positive and negative processes, and non-verbal communication.

Keywords: Social interaction, Early childhood education, Collaborative learning, Technology integration, Computer, Peer interaction

Citation: Lim, E. M. (2012) Patterns of kindergarten children’s social interaction with peers in the computer area. ijcscl 7 (3), pp. 399-421

DOI: 10.1007/s11412-012-9152-1

Preprint: lim_7_3.pdf

About this article at link.springer.com [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11412-012-9152-1] including a link to the official electronic version.