1. Look at the difference between the ways boys ages 6-11 interact with each other vs. girls ages 6-11 as well as boys in adolescence vs. girls in adolescence. How does rough-and-tumble play have an effect on the way boys develop versus girls who do not participate in rough-and-tumble play quite as much? And how does rough-and-tumble play change in adolescence?
This inquiry question focuses on American culture mainly because who I will be observing are Americans, however I think this could relate to many other cultures as well.
Pre-adolescent children participate in rough-and-tumble play, which is friendly chasing and play-fighting.
Starts this behavior in preschool years and peaks in middle childhood years.
This rough-and-tumble play is more common among young boys due to male sex hormones.
Rough-and-tumble play is important for developing good "fighting" skills. (it is good natured)
It allows children to challenge their peers who are of equal size and strength as they are.
As children reach puberty however, rough-and-tumble play declines and is now more aggressive and harmful than before.
Adolescents become more aggressive to establish a dominance over others.
A (Apply):
We, as future teachers, can apply this to our classroom environment by being aware of this type of behavior (especially among young boys).
Teachers need to be aware that there is a time to do this, and it should not be done inside the classroom, but instead, in a playful game of kickball at recess or during gym class. This behavior is important because it is a way to develop in a friendly way and also it is a good way to be active, but it is important to watch for aggression and make sure that does NOT happen.
The book does state that this type of play is more common in boys, but it is important to watch for signs of good play versus aggression in girls too.
EXAMPLE: You see your two boys, age 7 and 9, who are roughly playing outside. You see that they are just having fun and rolling around and playfully fighting. Then the 9 year old hits the 7 year old in a more aggressive manor...what do you do?
R (Reflect):
Rough-and-tumble play is a great way to get kids actively playing and interacting with each other. But, however, there is a fine line between playing around, and harming others. I personally think it is important for kids to interact with each other at school by playing with each other (at gym or recess) because some kids may not have peers to play with at home or in their neighborhood.
So playing together like this is a great way to establish communication and fairness skills with developing children.
2. Cognitive
As far as middle school age children go, the section in chapter 9 that I thought was very interesting was Gardner's Multiple Intelligences table on page 242. This was interesting to me because it stated different kinds of intelligences such as musical (ability to produce and appreciate pitch, rhythm, or melody) and naturalist (ability to recognize and classify all varieties of animals and plants) and logico-mathematical (sensitivity to and capacity to detect number patterns and logical reasoning). With each of these intelligences comes an expert performance possibility such as an instrumentalist, a biologist, or a mathematician. I found this interesting because in a way, I can relate it to my inquiry question. For example, when i was observing my little cousins (the boys), I noticed that even at such a young age, they were already very away of different types of horse and dog breeds, as well as different kinds of plants, insects, and fossils. I was very astounded that they knew so much about this. Perhaps it is because they have grown up on a farm and spend more time outdoors than they do indoors. I think different types of intelligences can definitely affect the behavior of boys and girls and who they interact with. I am curious if girls tend to have different intelligences than boys and if so, does that affect who they interact with?
Then chapter 11 goes to talk about the cognitive development of teens. On page 308, it states that peers play a very major role in adolescent cognitive achievement. Because my inquiry question focuses on the differences of boys and girls and how they interact with each other, I feel like this is an important concept to be aware of. I know from previous readings in the book that boys typically learn other subjects better than girls and vice versa. So I am wondering if peer influence has to do with that.
3. Emotional
In chapter 12, on page 315, it states that teens feel more mature, capable, personable, and attractive. They feel as though they are more self aware and adult like. I think this relates back to my inquiry question because I would like to see how the younger kids (boys and girls) differ from this. Are they more immature? Do that not understand others' views, opinions, and morals? I would like to explore the differences of self-esteem and self-concept between boys vs. girls in preadolescence and boys vs. girls in adolescence. I think this could help me understand and explain my inquiry question. Also, what stuck out to me is the section on page 321 that says "Are There Sex Difference in Moral Reasoning?" This relates to my inquiry question because it shows how boys' and girls' morals differ. It says females display reasoning at the same stage as males but often at a higher stage. This is because girls base their morality on an "ethic of care."
4. Social
The social section really stuck out to me and can really help me answer my inquiry question because it dealt a lot with behaviorism and sex differences. On page 324, it states how adolescence go through a period called gender intensification. This is when their behavior changes toward a traditional gender type. I think this relates to my inquiry question because when I observe preadolescence, there may not be much gender intensification so they may act a completely different way than would someone in the adolescent stage when they are trying very hard to fit their gender identity. Also on page 327, it states how friendships are different with different sexes. It states the girls get together in their group of friends to "just talk." Whereas when boys get together in their group of friends, they do it to participate in some sort of activity. It is important to take this into consideration when I do my observations because that I will know what to look for when girls interact with each other versus boys.
Observation Site Information
A. Site details:
Name of site:
My cousins (2 boys) (3 girls) for pre-adolescence
My brother and his 2 friends (3 boys) and girls gym class (3 girls) for adolescence
Link to site: N/A
Contact person: Robin Mingione, Alison Giuliano, Donna Gillespie
B. Describe your setting
I will be observing my boy cousins (ages 10 and 7) and noticing how they interact with each other. I will be observing their behavior like how they talk to each other, how they play, what body language they use towards each other and who is the more dominant one. With the boys. I will mainly be focusing on their rough-and-tumble play and see how that helps them develop.
I will be observing my girl cousins ( ages 11 and 9) and seeing how they interact with each other. I will observe how their behavior is different from the ways the boys interact with each other. I will see if they participate in any kind of rough-and-tumble play and if they do not, I will see what they do instead of rough-and-tumble play.
I will be observing my brother and his friends (ages 15) and notice how they interact with each other. I will observe how their behavior is different from that of the pre-adolescence kids. I will see how rough-and-tumble play changes at this age/if it changes at this age. I will compare this to the adolescent girls.
I will be doing my observations for the adolescent girls by watching a gym class. I will observe how that behavior is different from the adolescent boys and well as the pre-adolescent kids. I will look for rough-and-tumble play and see if it is present or how it changes with age.
I will mainly be looking at the differences between girls interacting with each other and boys interacting with each other and at the two different ages (pre-adolescence and adolescence). I will compare and contrast the different behaviors and focus on the rough-and-tumble play that may take place.
C. Describe what you did at the site (free-write/journal formatting)
1st visit: BOYS (AGES 6-11) OBSERVATIONS
On Friday, October 4, 2013, I observed my boy cousins a total of 7 hours. Throughout this observation, I took notes on their behavior and also "interviewed" them. One thing I noticed most: A LOT of rough-and-tumble play and not just with each other, but they tried to get me involved as well.
While observing, boy A, age 10, is the leader of the two. When i asked him who makes the rules when they play games, he said he is always the rule maker but will sometimes listen to what boy B, age 7, says. boy A and B both choose equally what games or activities they want to play, but it is boy A who decides when to switch to the next activity. Both boys participate in rough-and-tumble play with each other a lot! I noticed that when they are rolling around and play fighting each other, it is all in good fun until someone accidentally gets hurt (usually boy B gets hurt more that A). When boy B gets hurt accidentally, the rough-and-tumble play turns into aggression and he hits back and runs away. A few minutes later, boy B returns to the action and the rough-and-tumble play resumes. They make many sound affects and play with their nerf guns. They also liked to jump on me and get me to play with them too. I noticed that the way they talked to each other was very masculine such that they only talked about playing outside in the creek, going hunting, playing with guns, playing many sports, and playing violent video games.
When I was "interviewing" them, it was very hard to hold their attention because they just wanted to go outside and play. I told them both what rough-and-tumble play was and I asked them if they only played like that to each other or if they were like that way with their friends too. They both said they were mainly only like that way with each other because they are very comfortable with each other but they also do rough-and-tumble play with a few other boys who they call their best friends. When I asked them how they were in school, boy A said he was sometimes a good boy in school but not always. He also said he is good at math but not at science. Boy B however said that he was always a good boy in school and is really good at reading. When I asked them what they like to do outside of school,boy B said soccer then boy A said basketball. Right after boy A said basketball, boy B changed his mind and said he likes basketball a lot to. Perhaps this is because he is trying to compete or be like his older sibling...Finally I asked then what their ideal perfect day would be. Boy A said going outside and playing with his family and being active. Boy B said playing with his older brother (both that involve rough-and-tumble).
2nd visit: GIRLS (AGES 6-11) OBSERVATIONS
On Sunday, October 20, 2013, I observed my 3 cousins for a total of 3 hours. All 3 of these cousins are girls and their ages are 11, 9, and 6. I observed their behavior with each other while they thought I was just babysitting them. Girl A=11...Girl B=9...Girl C=6
The major thing I noticed when observing them was that the amount of rough-and-tumble play was very minimal. I noticed also that when it comes to playing games with each other, it usually involved hide-and-seek, dress-up, playing with each other's hair, playing house, singing, or coloring. When playing all these games Girl A was usually the number one person in charge. She decided what to play and when to play it. Girl B usually agreed but sometimes disagreed with what Girl A wanted to play. If Girl A and B both agreed on what to play, Girl C would agree as well. They typically would get along until there was a disagreement on what to play. If Girl B wanted to play something different than Girl A, then Girl C would want to play something different from both Girl A and Girl B. If Girl A didn't get her way, she didn't really care. If Girl B didn't get her way, then she would maybe be upset for a little while. But if Girl C didn't get her way in what she wanted to play, then she would get very angry and hit one of the other girls and run to her room and cry. When she hit one of the other girls, this way NOT rough-and-tumble because this what out of anger and aggression.
They did participate in rough-and-tumble play only one time and that was when they decided to play hide-and-seek. The girls would run and chase each other. Then they decided to play gymnastics so they would tumble. But this was more of something they did by themselves. The wouldn't do gymnastics with each other unless then collided together, in which case someone would get hurt. So the amount of rough-and-tumble play was VERY small. They would be more independent when they play. When they did play with each other, it was more dialogue and less physical interaction.
3rd visit: BOYS (ADOLESCENT) OBSERVATIONS
On Thursday, October 31, 2013, I observed my brother and his 2 other friends for a total of 3 hours. All 3 of these boys are 15 years old. I observed their behavior and also asked them a few questions.
What I noticed during most of the time was that they were playing video games. And during these video games, there was a lot of rough-and-tumble, but it was more geared toward aggression and not towards play. These games were more violent games that dealt with guns and fighting. While they were playing the games, boy C had a lot of sound effects and added in much dialogue while playing. Boy D was a little quieter and boy E also participated in making various sound effects. When they were done playing games, boy C and boy D stood up and started wrestling on the floor, in a playful manner. They were acting like the people from the video game but were just fighting in good fun. Then boy E said to go outside and when boy C and D stood up, boy E smacked them on the behind.
Then they all went outside with their airsoft guns and started to run around after each other and hide from each other. Boy C ran away from boy D who had just "shot" boy E on the foot. I heard boy C scream "THIS IS WAR!!" Then they all playfully ran around and eventually called a truce after a long battle!
One thing I noticed while observing was that all three boys still rough-housed, but their play was completely different from the pre-adolescent boys. For example, the pre-adolescent boys would play with harmless nerf guns, while the adolescent boys played with airsoft guns (a more responsible gun). Also, I noticed that they aren't nearly as energetic as the younger boys. The adolescent boys would go outside for a little while, but came back in after only a half hour or so. The younger boys tended to roll around on the floor with each other more than the adolescent boys.
I told all the boys after I was done observing what rough-and-tumble meant. When I asked them if they do rough-and-tumble play with other kids they said only boys who are their age and who are their close friends. They said don't do rough-and-tumble play as much as they did when they were kids because they like to play video games more now and do other things besides play outside.
4th visit: GIRLS (ADOLESCENT) OBSERVATIONS
On Friday, November 8, 2013 I observed my high school's girls' gym class. I had observed these girls for about 2 hours. I was mainly observing the whole group of girls more than just 2 or 3 girls in particular. All of these girls were in between the ages of 15 and 16 (sophomores in high school).
The thing that I noticed the most was that there was hardly any rough-and-tumble play at all. I noticed that these girls were more concerned about socializing and talking to their friends than they were with playing the actual games. During this game, the girls played kickball. The girls in the outfield were in different groups huddled together talking and laughing rather than all spread out to field the ball. The girls who were kicking were interested in getting a good kick but they didn't care if they got out or not. The girls who were standing in line to kick were all socializing as well.
There were some girls however who were more aggressive and more into the sport. They would be more focused with the game and tried hard to kick, catch, and run. They would still be more into socializing and even though they would do a lot of running and kicking, the rough-and-tumble play was practically non-existent.
I can remember when I was a sophomore in high school and my gym class was co-ed. Most of the girls would still be group together socializing but the more athletic girls would be more into the game and try to keep up with the boys.
5th visit: Revisiting some of whom I previously observed
What I did for my last visit was I observed my cousin's who I already observed during thanksgiving break for a total of 3 hours. I did this to prove that my observations above are credible and that they haven't changed. What I did notice was that my observations didn't change at all. When I was observing my young boy cousins, they acted the same way as before: both participating in much rough-and-tumble play. When I visited with my young girl cousins, they only participated in rough-and-tumble play in just the slightest bit. When I was around my brother and his friends and other girls his age, the boys were still rough-housing (not as much as the preadolescent boys) and they girls weren't participating in rough-and-tumble play at all.
I spent much of my final visits coming to conclusions about my project. I found that (by strictly just using my observations) preadolescent boys participate in rough-and-tumble play the most and then preadolescent girls still participate in it, but not as much and in different ways. I came to the conclusion that this is the way boys socialize and they have a little bit more of an aggressive behavior causing them to want to have that rough-and-tumble interaction. Boys in adolescence don't participate in rough-and-tumble as much as in the younger years but they still do to an extent (especially in gym classes or sports). Girls in adolescence hardly participate in it at all because their way of socializing has changed drastically.
D. Summarize and describe your experience in relation to the concepts in our textbook
Physical
Rough-and-tumble play can help physical development for children in a variety of ways. (Pg. 225) Physical growth during the early school years is very important because of the rapid body growth. If children regularly participate in rough-and-tumble play, it will decrease their chances of obesity (Pg. 226). Obesity is a very big health issue today especially in the US. If we make sure our children don't develop obesity at a young age, they are less likely to develop it later in life. Being active (with rough-and-tumble) is the main way to make sure obesity doesn't occur. Also, rough-and-tumble play is a great was to develop children's gross-motor skills such as balance, agility, and force (Pg. 229). Children become more aware of their own strength and know how to act out upon it. On Pg. 284 to Pg. 287, it talks a lot about all the different physical changes children go through in the adolescent stages of puberty. If children participate in rough-and-tumble play at a young age, it could make their puberty experience less awkward and less painful because they have already developed a great sense of strength through the years.
This all relates to my observation experiences because I could see just how physically active these kids are by participating in rough-and-tumble and how healthy they have become because of it.
Cognitive
Rough-and-tumble play can greatly help cognitive development of young children. It can help them with language development (Pg. 246) because when they participate in this place, they are having peer to peer interaction and using their language to communicate effectively to their peers. Also since kids are used to the peer to peer interaction in rough-and-tumble play, they could also participate in cooperative learning (Pg. 249). Cooperative learning is when small groups of classmates work together towards a common goal. So if rough-and-tumble play can give kids good cooperation skills, then that can help them when working with others in the classroom. Rough-and-tumble play can help a child in the classroom because it allows him or her to get our their energy and get in the school mindset. On Pg. 303, it talks about how attention gets longer and stronger in the adolescent stage. This is true partially because kids develop an attention span at a young age (even though it may be short), and that attention span is possible because they have gotten in their physical activity (rough-and-tumble play) and are ready for school/paying attention. Also, on Pg. 230 and Pg. 231, it talks about how rough-and-tumble encourages kids to cooperate with one another and take turns. This helps cognitively because kids are expected to always take turns and share in the classroom as well as being cooperative.
Even though during my observations, I wasn't able to go to an actual classroom to see how participating in rough-and-tumble play impacted them cognitively, I was able to tell with the young boys especially that they were very cooperative and attentive when it came to their parents telling them to do a chore or help each other with homework or other duties.
Emotional
Rough-and-tumble play and how it is different from boys to girls can have a big effect on the emotional development of children. For example, rough-and-tumble play is affected by gender identity (Pg. 267) because girls may discover that the female stereotype is that they do not run around, play fight, or have make-believe wars with each other like boys do. In this case, girls may not participate in rough-and-tumble play as much because it doesn't fit their gender stereotype. This can also be seen on Pg. 314 and Pg. 315 because this is a time when kids are going through adolescence and develop a sense of self-concept and realize what group they are supposed to be in based on gender differences. So girls may not think they should participate in rough-and-tumble play because that is the stereotype of girls and boys think they should participate in it because that is the stereotype of girls. Also it is important to look at cultural differences. This can be found on Pg. 318 (where it talks about different cultural identities) and somewhat on Pg. 276. Pg. 276 tells us about war that goes on in other countries and how scary it is to young kids when they see people fighting. We need to be aware of this because someone form another culture may not feel comfortable to participate in rough-and-tumble play if they link it to real fighting and war in their country. It is important to understand how people form other countries perceive rough-and-tumble play because we don't want them to think it is out of aggression and we don't want them to think it is a bad thing to participate in.
When I was doing my observations, I did notice the typical gender stereotypes of rough-and-tumble play. I actually had asked the younger and older boys why they played war and why they rolled around/rough-housed and they all responded that it is because they are boys and that is what boys do. The girls said that they don't do it as much because they are expected to act lady-like and rough-and-tumble play isn't lady like. This can affect the emotional development of children because they base their decisions on stereotypes instead of making their own choices. But unfortunately, that is how our society and world operates.
Social
Rough-and-tumble plays a huge role in social development. For example, at a young age, children develop peer groups and close friends. They choose their groups based on their own similarities and interests. If boys participate in rough-and-tumble play more than girls then they will chose fiends that are boys since they have the same interests (Pg. 264). Even though these are just generalizations, it is usually true in most cases. Also when boys get older, they may start to participate with girls in rough-and-tumble play because they become more aware and open minded at what girls are capable of (Pg. 268). On Pg. 230 it talks a lot about rough-and-tumble play and states that children's rough-and-tumble play resembles the social behavior of many other young animals. This means that this type of play is fun, light-hearted, and good for development. On Pg 231, it talks about the social issues and topics that go along with rough-and-tumble play as well as recess. It states that this type of play really helps with social skills such as cooperation with peers, leaderships, and follower-ship as well as fighting against aggression. Pg. 258 talks about social comparisons. Since rough-and-tumble play helps with social skills, it could also help when making friends based on social comparisons-judgements of one's own appearance, abilities, and behavior in relation to those of others.
When I observed, I noticed greatly that everyone chooses their friends based on social comparisons and how similar they are. Based on the close friendship and social skills, they will be more comfortable participating in rough-and-tumble play with each other. Rough-and-tumble play helped a lot with social skills when they become older so they will be less socially awkward.
Revisiting Your Curiosities
W: What you want to know (curiosities)
1.Look at the difference between the ways boys ages 6-11 interact with each other vs. girls ages 6-11 as well as boys in adolescence vs. girls in adolescence. How does rough-and-tumble play have an effect on the way boys develop versus girls who do not participate in rough-and-tumble play quite as much? And how does rough-and-tumble play change in adolescence?
This inquiry question has been researched a lot and brings up a lot of unanswered questions since it is such a new topic to research. I have come to several conclusions through my observations and reading articles and the textbook. First of all, rough-and-tumble play is friendly peer to peer interaction that involves friendly fighting and play chasing; it peaks in preschool ages and declines in adolescence (Pg. 230). There are many benefits with rough-and-tumble play especially when it emerges in early childhood. For example, it helps children socially (they get that peer to peer interaction and know how to communicate with each other), cognitively (they get to release their energy to help them be more concentrated in class as well as being patient and cooperative and teaches them to take turns), emotionally (they get a sense of leadership as well as other's leadership), and physically (they get in their daily dose of exercise by running, chasing, tumbling, etc.)
I have learned that rough-and-tumble play is much more prominent in boys than in girls and in preschool boys most of all. Preschool boys typically perform this more because of them being young and energetic and active. This is also a typical way that most boys socialize. Young preschool age girls socialize in other ways such as playing dress up and playing house. Adolescent boys still participate in rough-and-tumble play just not as much as they did when they were young boys. The participate in it still because boys at this age are involved in playing outside, playing war, or contact sports. Girls differ greatly in the adolescent stage. These girls hardly participate in rough-and-tumble play at all. They are more involved in hanging our casually or just talking without being very active. Girls who are involved in contact sports at this age is usually the furthest rough-and-tumble play goes at this age. All of these typical gender stereotypes are on Pg. 267 and Pg. 268. However parents shouldn't push their children to act a certain way based on their stereotype and typical gender behavior (Pg. 212). Parents should allow their children to develop and participate in rough-and-tumble play no matter the gender.
I also started researching if and how teachers should incorporate rough-and-tumble play in the classroom. This interested me because I want to be a teacher for middle schoolers so I need to know how to deal with this topic. I found that since rough-and-tumble play is such an important aspect of childhood development, that teachers should incorporate it in their classrooms. But how? Well, for starters, most schools require physical education/ gym class. Because of this, kids can get in their rough-and-tumble play. Also, teachers can put rough-and-tumble in their classroom by playing games such as musical chairs. This game is very active and physical and involves friendly chasing. These types of games are excellent to use in the classroom. But teachers must make sure rules are established in order to secure a light-hearted, friendly classroom environment. Rules could include: no hair pulling, no screaming, and when the smiles stop the game stops.
Also, I found that parents need to know that it is okay for their kids to participate in rough-and-tumble play. In fact, they should be encouraged. Parents though need to know the difference between rough-and-tumble play and aggression to make sure the environment is a friendly one. Signs for aggression are frowns, tears, screaming or yelling, and one person dominating over the other. If parents know the difference, then they will know whether or not to stop their children from playing.
2. What new questions emerge for you as a future teacher?
As a future teacher, I want to know how else to incorporate rough-and-tumble play in the classroom and are there any alternatives for rough-and-tumble? I know that musical chairs is one good way to incorporate rough-and-tumble in the classroom, but how else can I incorporate it (especially for subjects such as math and science). I want to know when it is appropriate to use rough-and-tumble and when it is not appropriate to use. I would like to view a classroom who uses rough-and-tumble play on at least a weekly basis. It may be very hard to do it on a daily basis since it can be quite time consuming. So basically, how else can I incorporate rough-and-tumble play in the middle school classroom. Keep in mind that this is middle school kids and some are going through puberty so we don't want to have many awkward situations to put the children in. We can find more about this puberty stage and how it affects children at different stages and in different ways on Pg.284-287
Boulton, M. J. (1996). A Comparison of 8- and 11-Year-Old Girls' and Boys' Participation in Specific Types of Rough-and-Tumble Play and Aggressive Fighting: Implications for Functional Hypotheses. Aggressive Behavior, 22(4), 271-287.
This article begins by talking about how it is more important for males to engage in rough-and-tumble play because they can use it to develop fighting skills and to acquire a dominant position over peers. The article then says that females are less concerned in rough-and-tumble play and the need to develop those fighting skills is less important. Typically, boys tend to participate in rough-and-tumble play much more than girls, especially in the pre-adolecent stage. The writers of this article did an experiment in which they went to a school and observed children at recess. Their goal was to see the sex differences in rough-and-tumble play and to what extent was that difference. After observing, it was found that at 8 years of age, boys typically participated in more rough-and-tumble play than girls, but when observing children at age 11, the amount of rough-and-tumble play dramatically decreased for girls! and stayed relatively the same for boys. Then they did a study to see the sex difference of aggression. As predicted, the boys were much more aggressive than the girls as far as hitting, boxing, and wrestling goes.
This article, in my opinion, was EXTREMELY helpful to answer my inquiry question. This article basically answered most of my questions about rough-and-tumble play between girls and boys and at what age it starts to change. Since my question looks at the differences in the way boys and girls interact at pre-adolescence and adolescence with a focus on rough-and-tumble play, then this article can help me get a great perspective on what I need to look for and what I could expect!
Article 2
Pellegrini, A. D. (1987). Rough-and-Tumble Play: Developmental and Educational Significance. Educational Psychologist, 22(1), 23.
This article talks about the importance of rough-and-tumble play in childhood development (socially, physically, cognitively, and emotionally) and it also gives a very extensive definition of what rough-and-tumble play is. It says that rough-and-tumble play is very different from aggression because rough-and-tumble involves fun and laughter where aggression does not. The importance of rough-and-tumble is the it serves as an energy-release function (emotional). Also, it says that it is a good way for kids to get active and fulfill their activity needs (physical). The article states that children, after being confined in a classroom, need that release of energy at some point in the day to remain focused in school (cognitive). The article talks about sex differences too and how boys typically participate more in rough-and-tumble play and how it results in fun, laughter, and social skills (social). The article even talked about how rough-and-tumble play is observed in many species, such as primates. I thought this was very interesting because it shows similarities among many species and how even though humans are more complex than primates, we still participate in rough-and-tumble play like they do.
This article related to my inquiry question a lot because it talked a lot about what rough-and-tumble play is. Originally, I thought it was more pushing and shoving, but the article said it includes chasing and running. Also, since my question talks about how rough-and-tumble affects development of children, this article does a great job of tying in all the developmental factors with rough-and-tumble play. I think this would be a good article to refer to when making conclusions about my observations.
Article 3
Tannock, M. (2008). Rough and Tumble Play: An Investigation of the Perceptions of Educators and Young Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(4), 357-361. doi:10.1007/s10643-007-0196-1
This article talks about how rough-and-tumble play serves as a source of much fun for developing children and also is a great aspect to their learning. Rough-and-tumble play allows children to learn about social relationships and what is expected to come through these relationships. This play allows children to explore competition, disagreements, and cooperation. Many children (as well as educators) know that it is important and acceptable to participate in rough-and-tumble play outside of class and in a friendly manner, but it is not very acceptable (yet) to participate in rough-and-tumble at school. Educators know though how important it is for students and young children to participate in rough-and-tumble play because children are learning how to make judgement about their abilities when playing. It is confusing however on how to manage rough-and-tumble play in the classroom because it can get out of hand and isn't appropriate during class time. Educators shouldn't encourage rough-and-tumble play IN this classroom, but they should try to incorporate it in an early childhood developmental program.
I thought this article was very helpful in my research because it seems as though it goes unnoticed on how educators should encourage rough-and-tumble play (but not encourage it in the classroom). This article shows the importance of rough-and-tumble play and how it helps children develop physically and socially. It is important for kids to participate in this play so it is our job as educators to allow it in appropriate settings such as early childhood programs.
Article 4
Bjorklund, D., & Brown, R. (1998). Physical play and cognitive development: integrating activity, cognition, and education. Child Development,69(3), 607-608.
This article addresses the issue of rough-and-tumble play with kids with disabilities. Since rough-and-tumble play is so important in development in kids, it is essential that children who have disabilities participate in this play as well. The article talks about what Pellegrini says about how rough-and-tumble play is obviously an important aspect of physical development but it is also very important for social development as well as cognitive development. Children who have disabilities can be provided with physical therapy to get in their dose of active play (not quite rough-and-tumble play, but close). However this really only applies to the physical development of the child when they are in these therapy programs; and it may even help them cognitively as well, but it doesn't do much for these children socially. How can we engage children with disabilities in rough-and-tumble play so that they are able to develop socially?
This article was useful to my inquiry topic because a lot of the time, we don't think that sometimes children with disabilities miss out on the important rough-and-tumble play. If I had more time to research my inquiry question, I would observe disabilities as well to broaden my spectrum of rough-and-tumble play. Since I do not have enough time to do this, I will use this article to help explain rough-and-tumble play with children with disabilities. I will explore other alternative ways children with disabilities can get active so they can develop (such as physical therapy).
Peer Review: Paige Holmes
1. Your observation term project looks great! You seem to have a lot of good information throughout your wiki. A page number that I suggest going to in the book is page 230. This here gives you some information on rough and tumble play. It says that it is more common for boys because of prenatal exposure to male sex hormones. Rough and tumble play can be linked to aggression so it is important to monitor play time to be sure they are playing with "good nature."
2. Another reference is page 203 in the textbook. It talks about parental influences on peer relationships. Parents have a big part in determining whether a child will play with another child and how they will play with them. In early childhood parents should arrange informal peer play activities which then leads to larger peer networks for their child and they will be more socially skilled. Page 212 may also be helpful. It talks about parental influences such as toys given to their kids and how it can influence their play time. It also talks about how "parents also actively reinforce independence in boys and closeness and dependency in girls."
3. Page 213, 267-268 it says boys are more gender-typed, and fathers insist that boys conform to gender roles. When boys don't "act" a certain way or how they are supposed to it can be hard on them as an individual. I am giving this information because it may be reasons of why boys are said to rough and tumble more than girls.
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3283567/ This website can be helpful because it goes into more detail about what rough and tumble play is and why it occurs across all children. It talks about this type of play which occurs more between the father and children rather than a mother and the children. It also says it contributes to the development of a child’s ability to regulate their own aggression. It shows studies by which rough and tumble pay is a good thing and how it helps a child's development.
Page 208-209 talks about agression and the types that children can have. Rough and tumble play is the minimal type of aggression. Thee type is proactive or instrumental in which children act to fulfill a need or desire by obtaining an object, privilege, space, or social reward.
Name of Student: Susan Gillespie
Table of Contents
Pre-Adolescence
W: What you want to know (curiosities)
1. Look at the difference between the ways boys ages 6-11 interact with each other vs. girls ages 6-11 as well as boys in adolescence vs. girls in adolescence. How does rough-and-tumble play have an effect on the way boys develop versus girls who do not participate in rough-and-tumble play quite as much? And how does rough-and-tumble play change in adolescence?
This inquiry question focuses on American culture mainly because who I will be observing are Americans, however I think this could relate to many other cultures as well.
RESOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WJkz6i9bgI
http://mrsjskindergarten.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-rough-and-tumble-play-is.html
L: What you learned
1. Physical
(Shadows of Our Evolutionary Past.....pg.230)R (Review):
A (Apply):
R (Reflect):
2. Cognitive
As far as middle school age children go, the section in chapter 9 that I thought was very interesting was Gardner's Multiple Intelligences table on page 242. This was interesting to me because it stated different kinds of intelligences such as musical (ability to produce and appreciate pitch, rhythm, or melody) and naturalist (ability to recognize and classify all varieties of animals and plants) and logico-mathematical (sensitivity to and capacity to detect number patterns and logical reasoning). With each of these intelligences comes an expert performance possibility such as an instrumentalist, a biologist, or a mathematician. I found this interesting because in a way, I can relate it to my inquiry question. For example, when i was observing my little cousins (the boys), I noticed that even at such a young age, they were already very away of different types of horse and dog breeds, as well as different kinds of plants, insects, and fossils. I was very astounded that they knew so much about this. Perhaps it is because they have grown up on a farm and spend more time outdoors than they do indoors. I think different types of intelligences can definitely affect the behavior of boys and girls and who they interact with. I am curious if girls tend to have different intelligences than boys and if so, does that affect who they interact with?Then chapter 11 goes to talk about the cognitive development of teens. On page 308, it states that peers play a very major role in adolescent cognitive achievement. Because my inquiry question focuses on the differences of boys and girls and how they interact with each other, I feel like this is an important concept to be aware of. I know from previous readings in the book that boys typically learn other subjects better than girls and vice versa. So I am wondering if peer influence has to do with that.
3. Emotional
In chapter 12, on page 315, it states that teens feel more mature, capable, personable, and attractive. They feel as though they are more self aware and adult like. I think this relates back to my inquiry question because I would like to see how the younger kids (boys and girls) differ from this. Are they more immature? Do that not understand others' views, opinions, and morals? I would like to explore the differences of self-esteem and self-concept between boys vs. girls in preadolescence and boys vs. girls in adolescence. I think this could help me understand and explain my inquiry question. Also, what stuck out to me is the section on page 321 that says "Are There Sex Difference in Moral Reasoning?" This relates to my inquiry question because it shows how boys' and girls' morals differ. It says females display reasoning at the same stage as males but often at a higher stage. This is because girls base their morality on an "ethic of care."
4. Social
The social section really stuck out to me and can really help me answer my inquiry question because it dealt a lot with behaviorism and sex differences. On page 324, it states how adolescence go through a period called gender intensification. This is when their behavior changes toward a traditional gender type. I think this relates to my inquiry question because when I observe preadolescence, there may not be much gender intensification so they may act a completely different way than would someone in the adolescent stage when they are trying very hard to fit their gender identity. Also on page 327, it states how friendships are different with different sexes. It states the girls get together in their group of friends to "just talk." Whereas when boys get together in their group of friends, they do it to participate in some sort of activity. It is important to take this into consideration when I do my observations because that I will know what to look for when girls interact with each other versus boys.
Observation Site Information
A. Site details:
B. Describe your setting
I will be observing my boy cousins (ages 10 and 7) and noticing how they interact with each other. I will be observing their behavior like how they talk to each other, how they play, what body language they use towards each other and who is the more dominant one. With the boys. I will mainly be focusing on their rough-and-tumble play and see how that helps them develop.I will be observing my girl cousins ( ages 11 and 9) and seeing how they interact with each other. I will observe how their behavior is different from the ways the boys interact with each other. I will see if they participate in any kind of rough-and-tumble play and if they do not, I will see what they do instead of rough-and-tumble play.
I will be observing my brother and his friends (ages 15) and notice how they interact with each other. I will observe how their behavior is different from that of the pre-adolescence kids. I will see how rough-and-tumble play changes at this age/if it changes at this age. I will compare this to the adolescent girls.
I will be doing my observations for the adolescent girls by watching a gym class. I will observe how that behavior is different from the adolescent boys and well as the pre-adolescent kids. I will look for rough-and-tumble play and see if it is present or how it changes with age.
I will mainly be looking at the differences between girls interacting with each other and boys interacting with each other and at the two different ages (pre-adolescence and adolescence). I will compare and contrast the different behaviors and focus on the rough-and-tumble play that may take place.
C. Describe what you did at the site (free-write/journal formatting)
1st visit:BOYS (AGES 6-11) OBSERVATIONS
On Friday, October 4, 2013, I observed my boy cousins a total of 7 hours. Throughout this observation, I took notes on their behavior and also "interviewed" them. One thing I noticed most: A LOT of rough-and-tumble play and not just with each other, but they tried to get me involved as well.
While observing, boy A, age 10, is the leader of the two. When i asked him who makes the rules when they play games, he said he is always the rule maker but will sometimes listen to what boy B, age 7, says. boy A and B both choose equally what games or activities they want to play, but it is boy A who decides when to switch to the next activity. Both boys participate in rough-and-tumble play with each other a lot! I noticed that when they are rolling around and play fighting each other, it is all in good fun until someone accidentally gets hurt (usually boy B gets hurt more that A). When boy B gets hurt accidentally, the rough-and-tumble play turns into aggression and he hits back and runs away. A few minutes later, boy B returns to the action and the rough-and-tumble play resumes. They make many sound affects and play with their nerf guns. They also liked to jump on me and get me to play with them too. I noticed that the way they talked to each other was very masculine such that they only talked about playing outside in the creek, going hunting, playing with guns, playing many sports, and playing violent video games.
When I was "interviewing" them, it was very hard to hold their attention because they just wanted to go outside and play. I told them both what rough-and-tumble play was and I asked them if they only played like that to each other or if they were like that way with their friends too. They both said they were mainly only like that way with each other because they are very comfortable with each other but they also do rough-and-tumble play with a few other boys who they call their best friends. When I asked them how they were in school, boy A said he was sometimes a good boy in school but not always. He also said he is good at math but not at science. Boy B however said that he was always a good boy in school and is really good at reading. When I asked them what they like to do outside of school,boy B said soccer then boy A said basketball. Right after boy A said basketball, boy B changed his mind and said he likes basketball a lot to. Perhaps this is because he is trying to compete or be like his older sibling...Finally I asked then what their ideal perfect day would be. Boy A said going outside and playing with his family and being active. Boy B said playing with his older brother (both that involve rough-and-tumble).
2nd visit:
GIRLS (AGES 6-11) OBSERVATIONS
On Sunday, October 20, 2013, I observed my 3 cousins for a total of 3 hours. All 3 of these cousins are girls and their ages are 11, 9, and 6. I observed their behavior with each other while they thought I was just babysitting them. Girl A=11...Girl B=9...Girl C=6
The major thing I noticed when observing them was that the amount of rough-and-tumble play was very minimal. I noticed also that when it comes to playing games with each other, it usually involved hide-and-seek, dress-up, playing with each other's hair, playing house, singing, or coloring. When playing all these games Girl A was usually the number one person in charge. She decided what to play and when to play it. Girl B usually agreed but sometimes disagreed with what Girl A wanted to play. If Girl A and B both agreed on what to play, Girl C would agree as well. They typically would get along until there was a disagreement on what to play. If Girl B wanted to play something different than Girl A, then Girl C would want to play something different from both Girl A and Girl B. If Girl A didn't get her way, she didn't really care. If Girl B didn't get her way, then she would maybe be upset for a little while. But if Girl C didn't get her way in what she wanted to play, then she would get very angry and hit one of the other girls and run to her room and cry. When she hit one of the other girls, this way NOT rough-and-tumble because this what out of anger and aggression.
They did participate in rough-and-tumble play only one time and that was when they decided to play hide-and-seek. The girls would run and chase each other. Then they decided to play gymnastics so they would tumble. But this was more of something they did by themselves. The wouldn't do gymnastics with each other unless then collided together, in which case someone would get hurt. So the amount of rough-and-tumble play was VERY small. They would be more independent when they play. When they did play with each other, it was more dialogue and less physical interaction.
3rd visit:
BOYS (ADOLESCENT) OBSERVATIONS
On Thursday, October 31, 2013, I observed my brother and his 2 other friends for a total of 3 hours. All 3 of these boys are 15 years old. I observed their behavior and also asked them a few questions.
What I noticed during most of the time was that they were playing video games. And during these video games, there was a lot of rough-and-tumble, but it was more geared toward aggression and not towards play. These games were more violent games that dealt with guns and fighting. While they were playing the games, boy C had a lot of sound effects and added in much dialogue while playing. Boy D was a little quieter and boy E also participated in making various sound effects. When they were done playing games, boy C and boy D stood up and started wrestling on the floor, in a playful manner. They were acting like the people from the video game but were just fighting in good fun. Then boy E said to go outside and when boy C and D stood up, boy E smacked them on the behind.
Then they all went outside with their airsoft guns and started to run around after each other and hide from each other. Boy C ran away from boy D who had just "shot" boy E on the foot. I heard boy C scream "THIS IS WAR!!" Then they all playfully ran around and eventually called a truce after a long battle!
One thing I noticed while observing was that all three boys still rough-housed, but their play was completely different from the pre-adolescent boys. For example, the pre-adolescent boys would play with harmless nerf guns, while the adolescent boys played with airsoft guns (a more responsible gun). Also, I noticed that they aren't nearly as energetic as the younger boys. The adolescent boys would go outside for a little while, but came back in after only a half hour or so. The younger boys tended to roll around on the floor with each other more than the adolescent boys.
I told all the boys after I was done observing what rough-and-tumble meant. When I asked them if they do rough-and-tumble play with other kids they said only boys who are their age and who are their close friends. They said don't do rough-and-tumble play as much as they did when they were kids because they like to play video games more now and do other things besides play outside.
4th visit:
GIRLS (ADOLESCENT) OBSERVATIONS
On Friday, November 8, 2013 I observed my high school's girls' gym class. I had observed these girls for about 2 hours. I was mainly observing the whole group of girls more than just 2 or 3 girls in particular. All of these girls were in between the ages of 15 and 16 (sophomores in high school).
The thing that I noticed the most was that there was hardly any rough-and-tumble play at all. I noticed that these girls were more concerned about socializing and talking to their friends than they were with playing the actual games. During this game, the girls played kickball. The girls in the outfield were in different groups huddled together talking and laughing rather than all spread out to field the ball. The girls who were kicking were interested in getting a good kick but they didn't care if they got out or not. The girls who were standing in line to kick were all socializing as well.
There were some girls however who were more aggressive and more into the sport. They would be more focused with the game and tried hard to kick, catch, and run. They would still be more into socializing and even though they would do a lot of running and kicking, the rough-and-tumble play was practically non-existent.
I can remember when I was a sophomore in high school and my gym class was co-ed. Most of the girls would still be group together socializing but the more athletic girls would be more into the game and try to keep up with the boys.
5th visit:
Revisiting some of whom I previously observed
What I did for my last visit was I observed my cousin's who I already observed during thanksgiving break for a total of 3 hours. I did this to prove that my observations above are credible and that they haven't changed. What I did notice was that my observations didn't change at all. When I was observing my young boy cousins, they acted the same way as before: both participating in much rough-and-tumble play. When I visited with my young girl cousins, they only participated in rough-and-tumble play in just the slightest bit. When I was around my brother and his friends and other girls his age, the boys were still rough-housing (not as much as the preadolescent boys) and they girls weren't participating in rough-and-tumble play at all.
I spent much of my final visits coming to conclusions about my project. I found that (by strictly just using my observations) preadolescent boys participate in rough-and-tumble play the most and then preadolescent girls still participate in it, but not as much and in different ways. I came to the conclusion that this is the way boys socialize and they have a little bit more of an aggressive behavior causing them to want to have that rough-and-tumble interaction. Boys in adolescence don't participate in rough-and-tumble as much as in the younger years but they still do to an extent (especially in gym classes or sports). Girls in adolescence hardly participate in it at all because their way of socializing has changed drastically.
D. Summarize and describe your experience in relation to the concepts in our textbook
Physical
Rough-and-tumble play can help physical development for children in a variety of ways. (Pg. 225) Physical growth during the early school years is very important because of the rapid body growth. If children regularly participate in rough-and-tumble play, it will decrease their chances of obesity (Pg. 226). Obesity is a very big health issue today especially in the US. If we make sure our children don't develop obesity at a young age, they are less likely to develop it later in life. Being active (with rough-and-tumble) is the main way to make sure obesity doesn't occur. Also, rough-and-tumble play is a great was to develop children's gross-motor skills such as balance, agility, and force (Pg. 229). Children become more aware of their own strength and know how to act out upon it. On Pg. 284 to Pg. 287, it talks a lot about all the different physical changes children go through in the adolescent stages of puberty. If children participate in rough-and-tumble play at a young age, it could make their puberty experience less awkward and less painful because they have already developed a great sense of strength through the years.
This all relates to my observation experiences because I could see just how physically active these kids are by participating in rough-and-tumble and how healthy they have become because of it.
Cognitive
Rough-and-tumble play can greatly help cognitive development of young children. It can help them with language development (Pg. 246) because when they participate in this place, they are having peer to peer interaction and using their language to communicate effectively to their peers. Also since kids are used to the peer to peer interaction in rough-and-tumble play, they could also participate in cooperative learning (Pg. 249). Cooperative learning is when small groups of classmates work together towards a common goal. So if rough-and-tumble play can give kids good cooperation skills, then that can help them when working with others in the classroom. Rough-and-tumble play can help a child in the classroom because it allows him or her to get our their energy and get in the school mindset. On Pg. 303, it talks about how attention gets longer and stronger in the adolescent stage. This is true partially because kids develop an attention span at a young age (even though it may be short), and that attention span is possible because they have gotten in their physical activity (rough-and-tumble play) and are ready for school/paying attention. Also, on Pg. 230 and Pg. 231, it talks about how rough-and-tumble encourages kids to cooperate with one another and take turns. This helps cognitively because kids are expected to always take turns and share in the classroom as well as being cooperative.
Even though during my observations, I wasn't able to go to an actual classroom to see how participating in rough-and-tumble play impacted them cognitively, I was able to tell with the young boys especially that they were very cooperative and attentive when it came to their parents telling them to do a chore or help each other with homework or other duties.
Emotional
Rough-and-tumble play and how it is different from boys to girls can have a big effect on the emotional development of children. For example, rough-and-tumble play is affected by gender identity (Pg. 267) because girls may discover that the female stereotype is that they do not run around, play fight, or have make-believe wars with each other like boys do. In this case, girls may not participate in rough-and-tumble play as much because it doesn't fit their gender stereotype. This can also be seen on Pg. 314 and Pg. 315 because this is a time when kids are going through adolescence and develop a sense of self-concept and realize what group they are supposed to be in based on gender differences. So girls may not think they should participate in rough-and-tumble play because that is the stereotype of girls and boys think they should participate in it because that is the stereotype of girls. Also it is important to look at cultural differences. This can be found on Pg. 318 (where it talks about different cultural identities) and somewhat on Pg. 276. Pg. 276 tells us about war that goes on in other countries and how scary it is to young kids when they see people fighting. We need to be aware of this because someone form another culture may not feel comfortable to participate in rough-and-tumble play if they link it to real fighting and war in their country. It is important to understand how people form other countries perceive rough-and-tumble play because we don't want them to think it is out of aggression and we don't want them to think it is a bad thing to participate in.When I was doing my observations, I did notice the typical gender stereotypes of rough-and-tumble play. I actually had asked the younger and older boys why they played war and why they rolled around/rough-housed and they all responded that it is because they are boys and that is what boys do. The girls said that they don't do it as much because they are expected to act lady-like and rough-and-tumble play isn't lady like. This can affect the emotional development of children because they base their decisions on stereotypes instead of making their own choices. But unfortunately, that is how our society and world operates.
Social
Rough-and-tumble plays a huge role in social development. For example, at a young age, children develop peer groups and close friends. They choose their groups based on their own similarities and interests. If boys participate in rough-and-tumble play more than girls then they will chose fiends that are boys since they have the same interests (Pg. 264). Even though these are just generalizations, it is usually true in most cases. Also when boys get older, they may start to participate with girls in rough-and-tumble play because they become more aware and open minded at what girls are capable of (Pg. 268). On Pg. 230 it talks a lot about rough-and-tumble play and states that children's rough-and-tumble play resembles the social behavior of many other young animals. This means that this type of play is fun, light-hearted, and good for development. On Pg 231, it talks about the social issues and topics that go along with rough-and-tumble play as well as recess. It states that this type of play really helps with social skills such as cooperation with peers, leaderships, and follower-ship as well as fighting against aggression. Pg. 258 talks about social comparisons. Since rough-and-tumble play helps with social skills, it could also help when making friends based on social comparisons-judgements of one's own appearance, abilities, and behavior in relation to those of others.When I observed, I noticed greatly that everyone chooses their friends based on social comparisons and how similar they are. Based on the close friendship and social skills, they will be more comfortable participating in rough-and-tumble play with each other. Rough-and-tumble play helped a lot with social skills when they become older so they will be less socially awkward.
Revisiting Your Curiosities
W: What you want to know (curiosities)1. Look at the difference between the ways boys ages 6-11 interact with each other vs. girls ages 6-11 as well as boys in adolescence vs. girls in adolescence. How does rough-and-tumble play have an effect on the way boys develop versus girls who do not participate in rough-and-tumble play quite as much? And how does rough-and-tumble play change in adolescence?
This inquiry question has been researched a lot and brings up a lot of unanswered questions since it is such a new topic to research. I have come to several conclusions through my observations and reading articles and the textbook. First of all, rough-and-tumble play is friendly peer to peer interaction that involves friendly fighting and play chasing; it peaks in preschool ages and declines in adolescence (Pg. 230). There are many benefits with rough-and-tumble play especially when it emerges in early childhood. For example, it helps children socially (they get that peer to peer interaction and know how to communicate with each other), cognitively (they get to release their energy to help them be more concentrated in class as well as being patient and cooperative and teaches them to take turns), emotionally (they get a sense of leadership as well as other's leadership), and physically (they get in their daily dose of exercise by running, chasing, tumbling, etc.)
I have learned that rough-and-tumble play is much more prominent in boys than in girls and in preschool boys most of all. Preschool boys typically perform this more because of them being young and energetic and active. This is also a typical way that most boys socialize. Young preschool age girls socialize in other ways such as playing dress up and playing house. Adolescent boys still participate in rough-and-tumble play just not as much as they did when they were young boys. The participate in it still because boys at this age are involved in playing outside, playing war, or contact sports. Girls differ greatly in the adolescent stage. These girls hardly participate in rough-and-tumble play at all. They are more involved in hanging our casually or just talking without being very active. Girls who are involved in contact sports at this age is usually the furthest rough-and-tumble play goes at this age. All of these typical gender stereotypes are on Pg. 267 and Pg. 268. However parents shouldn't push their children to act a certain way based on their stereotype and typical gender behavior (Pg. 212). Parents should allow their children to develop and participate in rough-and-tumble play no matter the gender.
I also started researching if and how teachers should incorporate rough-and-tumble play in the classroom. This interested me because I want to be a teacher for middle schoolers so I need to know how to deal with this topic. I found that since rough-and-tumble play is such an important aspect of childhood development, that teachers should incorporate it in their classrooms. But how? Well, for starters, most schools require physical education/ gym class. Because of this, kids can get in their rough-and-tumble play. Also, teachers can put rough-and-tumble in their classroom by playing games such as musical chairs. This game is very active and physical and involves friendly chasing. These types of games are excellent to use in the classroom. But teachers must make sure rules are established in order to secure a light-hearted, friendly classroom environment. Rules could include: no hair pulling, no screaming, and when the smiles stop the game stops.
Also, I found that parents need to know that it is okay for their kids to participate in rough-and-tumble play. In fact, they should be encouraged. Parents though need to know the difference between rough-and-tumble play and aggression to make sure the environment is a friendly one. Signs for aggression are frowns, tears, screaming or yelling, and one person dominating over the other. If parents know the difference, then they will know whether or not to stop their children from playing.
2. What new questions emerge for you as a future teacher?
As a future teacher, I want to know how else to incorporate rough-and-tumble play in the classroom and are there any alternatives for rough-and-tumble? I know that musical chairs is one good way to incorporate rough-and-tumble in the classroom, but how else can I incorporate it (especially for subjects such as math and science). I want to know when it is appropriate to use rough-and-tumble and when it is not appropriate to use. I would like to view a classroom who uses rough-and-tumble play on at least a weekly basis. It may be very hard to do it on a daily basis since it can be quite time consuming. So basically, how else can I incorporate rough-and-tumble play in the middle school classroom. Keep in mind that this is middle school kids and some are going through puberty so we don't want to have many awkward situations to put the children in. We can find more about this puberty stage and how it affects children at different stages and in different ways on Pg.284-287
Poster Presentation FINAL DRAFT
Article 1
Boulton, M. J. (1996). A Comparison of 8- and 11-Year-Old Girls' and Boys' Participation in Specific Types of Rough-and-Tumble Play and Aggressive Fighting: Implications for Functional Hypotheses. Aggressive Behavior, 22(4), 271-287.
This article begins by talking about how it is more important for males to engage in rough-and-tumble play because they can use it to develop fighting skills and to acquire a dominant position over peers. The article then says that females are less concerned in rough-and-tumble play and the need to develop those fighting skills is less important. Typically, boys tend to participate in rough-and-tumble play much more than girls, especially in the pre-adolecent stage. The writers of this article did an experiment in which they went to a school and observed children at recess. Their goal was to see the sex differences in rough-and-tumble play and to what extent was that difference. After observing, it was found that at 8 years of age, boys typically participated in more rough-and-tumble play than girls, but when observing children at age 11, the amount of rough-and-tumble play dramatically decreased for girls! and stayed relatively the same for boys. Then they did a study to see the sex difference of aggression. As predicted, the boys were much more aggressive than the girls as far as hitting, boxing, and wrestling goes.
This article, in my opinion, was EXTREMELY helpful to answer my inquiry question. This article basically answered most of my questions about rough-and-tumble play between girls and boys and at what age it starts to change. Since my question looks at the differences in the way boys and girls interact at pre-adolescence and adolescence with a focus on rough-and-tumble play, then this article can help me get a great perspective on what I need to look for and what I could expect!
Article 2
Pellegrini, A. D. (1987). Rough-and-Tumble Play: Developmental and Educational Significance. Educational Psychologist, 22(1), 23.
This article talks about the importance of rough-and-tumble play in childhood development (socially, physically, cognitively, and emotionally) and it also gives a very extensive definition of what rough-and-tumble play is. It says that rough-and-tumble play is very different from aggression because rough-and-tumble involves fun and laughter where aggression does not. The importance of rough-and-tumble is the it serves as an energy-release function (emotional). Also, it says that it is a good way for kids to get active and fulfill their activity needs (physical). The article states that children, after being confined in a classroom, need that release of energy at some point in the day to remain focused in school (cognitive). The article talks about sex differences too and how boys typically participate more in rough-and-tumble play and how it results in fun, laughter, and social skills (social). The article even talked about how rough-and-tumble play is observed in many species, such as primates. I thought this was very interesting because it shows similarities among many species and how even though humans are more complex than primates, we still participate in rough-and-tumble play like they do.
This article related to my inquiry question a lot because it talked a lot about what rough-and-tumble play is. Originally, I thought it was more pushing and shoving, but the article said it includes chasing and running. Also, since my question talks about how rough-and-tumble affects development of children, this article does a great job of tying in all the developmental factors with rough-and-tumble play. I think this would be a good article to refer to when making conclusions about my observations.
Article 3
Tannock, M. (2008). Rough and Tumble Play: An Investigation of the Perceptions of Educators and Young Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(4), 357-361. doi:10.1007/s10643-007-0196-1
This article talks about how rough-and-tumble play serves as a source of much fun for developing children and also is a great aspect to their learning. Rough-and-tumble play allows children to learn about social relationships and what is expected to come through these relationships. This play allows children to explore competition, disagreements, and cooperation. Many children (as well as educators) know that it is important and acceptable to participate in rough-and-tumble play outside of class and in a friendly manner, but it is not very acceptable (yet) to participate in rough-and-tumble at school. Educators know though how important it is for students and young children to participate in rough-and-tumble play because children are learning how to make judgement about their abilities when playing. It is confusing however on how to manage rough-and-tumble play in the classroom because it can get out of hand and isn't appropriate during class time. Educators shouldn't encourage rough-and-tumble play IN this classroom, but they should try to incorporate it in an early childhood developmental program.
I thought this article was very helpful in my research because it seems as though it goes unnoticed on how educators should encourage rough-and-tumble play (but not encourage it in the classroom). This article shows the importance of rough-and-tumble play and how it helps children develop physically and socially. It is important for kids to participate in this play so it is our job as educators to allow it in appropriate settings such as early childhood programs.
Article 4
Bjorklund, D., & Brown, R. (1998). Physical play and cognitive development: integrating activity, cognition, and education. Child Development,69(3), 607-608.
This article addresses the issue of rough-and-tumble play with kids with disabilities. Since rough-and-tumble play is so important in development in kids, it is essential that children who have disabilities participate in this play as well. The article talks about what Pellegrini says about how rough-and-tumble play is obviously an important aspect of physical development but it is also very important for social development as well as cognitive development. Children who have disabilities can be provided with physical therapy to get in their dose of active play (not quite rough-and-tumble play, but close). However this really only applies to the physical development of the child when they are in these therapy programs; and it may even help them cognitively as well, but it doesn't do much for these children socially. How can we engage children with disabilities in rough-and-tumble play so that they are able to develop socially?
This article was useful to my inquiry topic because a lot of the time, we don't think that sometimes children with disabilities miss out on the important rough-and-tumble play. If I had more time to research my inquiry question, I would observe disabilities as well to broaden my spectrum of rough-and-tumble play. Since I do not have enough time to do this, I will use this article to help explain rough-and-tumble play with children with disabilities. I will explore other alternative ways children with disabilities can get active so they can develop (such as physical therapy).
Peer Review: Paige Holmes
1. Your observation term project looks great! You seem to have a lot of good information throughout your wiki. A page number that I suggest going to in the book is page 230. This here gives you some information on rough and tumble play. It says that it is more common for boys because of prenatal exposure to male sex hormones. Rough and tumble play can be linked to aggression so it is important to monitor play time to be sure they are playing with "good nature."2. Another reference is page 203 in the textbook. It talks about parental influences on peer relationships. Parents have a big part in determining whether a child will play with another child and how they will play with them. In early childhood parents should arrange informal peer play activities which then leads to larger peer networks for their child and they will be more socially skilled. Page 212 may also be helpful. It talks about parental influences such as toys given to their kids and how it can influence their play time. It also talks about how "parents also actively reinforce independence in boys and closeness and dependency in girls."
3. Page 213, 267-268 it says boys are more gender-typed, and fathers insist that boys conform to gender roles. When boys don't "act" a certain way or how they are supposed to it can be hard on them as an individual. I am giving this information because it may be reasons of why boys are said to rough and tumble more than girls.
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3283567/ This website can be helpful because it goes into more detail about what rough and tumble play is and why it occurs across all children. It talks about this type of play which occurs more between the father and children rather than a mother and the children. It also says it contributes to the development of a child’s ability to regulate their own aggression. It shows studies by which rough and tumble pay is a good thing and how it helps a child's development.
Page 208-209 talks about agression and the types that children can have. Rough and tumble play is the minimal type of aggression. Thee type is proactive or instrumental in which children act to fulfill a need or desire by obtaining an object, privilege, space, or social reward.