The purpose of the this study was to identify the relationship between teacher‘s beliefs held by the kindergarten teachers and kindergartener''s peer interactions in kindergarten classes.The sample of the study was selected at random from kindergart...
The purpose of the this study was to identify the relationship between teacher‘s beliefs held by the kindergarten teachers and kindergartener''s peer interactions in kindergarten classes.The sample of the study was selected at random from kindergartens located in Seoul and Inchon City, Kyunggi-do area. As a result of a random sampling process, amongst 15 kindergartens that agreed to participate in the study, 150 children at ages of 5 and 6 as well as 30 kindergarten teachers who taught those children were included in the study.Study tools included the following indexes: First, in order to measure children''s peer interactions, the teacher''s rated the children by the peer interaction scale modified by Choi (2004), Second, in order to measure kindergarten teachers'' beliefs towards children''s peer interactions, by Choi ''s(2004) teacher belief measure , was used for this study.Data collected for this study were statistically analyzed to find if there were any difference between teachers'' beliefs and children''s peer interactions by means, standard deviations, t-test, and partial correlation.The results of the study were as follows:First, there was a difference in kindergartener''s peer interactions by the gender of the kindergartener''s. More specifically, according to the kindergarten teachers'' rating about Young children''s positive behaviors in peer interactions, girls appeared to show positive behaviors more often than boys, where as boys were more likely to show negative behaviors than girls in teacher''s rating about peer interactions.Second, it was shown that the teachers considered Young children''s peer interactions important and believed themselves to be capable of exerting influences on behaviors of children''s peer interactions.Third, the more the kindergarten teachers held beliefs towards the fact that it was important to improve kindergartener''s peer interactions and towards the fact that teachers were able to affect kindergartener''s peer interactions, the more positively the kindergartener''s behaved in peer interactions and the more positively the teachers rated the children having peer interactions.