Browsing by Subject "aikuisen puuttuminen"

Meaning. The purpose of this study is to describe 3-5 year old children’s conflicts during free play and to find out how they start and how they are resolved. Previous studies have shown that conflicts and misunderstandings are very common between young children. Subject that start a conflict have been similar in many researches. However, the role and necessity of adults in resolving conflicts have been under discussion and raised various opinions among researchers. Factors that have an influence on the progression and course of the conflict have been categorised in this study into adult’s role, children’s ways to influence and intra-group hierarchy of power and rules. This research aims to examine how these factors influence on the onset and resolution of the conflict. Methods. This study was conducted in a day care group for 3-5 year old children. There were 21 children in the group. There were two 3-year olds, five 4-year olds and the rest were 5-year olds. I videotaped children’s free play and wrote field notes which supported my interpretations and conclusion of the videos. Data was analysed with content analysis. Results and Outcomes. In this study I found that most of the conflicts arose during absence of the teacher. This indicates that presence of an adult prevents conflicts. However, is the teacher actively or passively present didn’t seem to matter. Children resolved most of the conflicts by themselves but they mostly ended with a negative outcome. Conflicts that adult intervened had mostly positive outcomes. Negotiation was the most commonly used strategy to influence a conflict and it brought highest amount of positive solutions. Children also used a lot of commands and power to end a conflict. These strategies almost always resolved conflicts with a negative outcomes.