Group development : an analysis of group development among young children in the kindergarten setting

Abstract

This study investigated the process and nature of the stages of group development which occur among young children in a kindergarten setting. Data collection occurred during the 1981 Fall semester in the Bryan Public Schools, Bryan, Texas. Two research procedures, sociometric and observation, were used to examine the group process in five kindergarten classes. The students in these classes were pseudo-randomly assigned by the administration in accordance with integration directives. The sociometric procedures involved all students in the classes and required each classroom teacher, who had volunteered to participate in the study, to construct a weekly sociogram. The observation procedure involved a stratified random sample of 12 students from each of the classes. The two tasks of this procedure required the teachers to rate the behavior of each child using the Group Development System and then make anecdotal records of the behavior. The analysis of the data provided insight concerning group development, its stages, the behavior unique to these stages and the effect of sex, ethnicity and their interaction on group development. The data indicated that neither sex nor ethnicity had a significant effect on group development (p > .50, p > .67). There was also no significant interactive effect (p > .91) between sex and ethnicity. It was recommended that a further investigation should include a full school year and that further refinement of the model be made. Also, the variables of leadership, pairing tendency and cliques should be given consideration. The value of the role of group development in the learning process has implications for pre-service and in-service training of teachers, curriculum planners, administrators, and others who work with children in the private and public sectors. It was concluded that kindergarten children do proceed through stages of group development and that these stages are sequential, predictable, and describable.