Showing papers on "Democratic education published in 1981"

Democratic education as the basis for multicultural acceptance : a case study of a classroom of five-year olds.

Abstract: DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION AS THE BASIS FOR MULTICULTURAL ACCEPTANCE'. A CASE STUDY OF A CLASSROOM OF FIVE-YEAR OLDS (February, 1981) Joan Lester, B.A,, The New School for Social Research Ed.D,, University of Massachusetts Directed by: Professor Bob H, Suzuki The study examines appropriate dimensions of multicultural education for young children ages four to six, through exploring the interrelationship between teacher behavior, curriculum and children's behavior. The research focuses on children ’^s acceptance and exclusion of each other on racial and gender bases, The method of study is participant observation research. The observer took running records of kindergarten children's and teachers' activities at a small private school, in an open classroom, three days per week for four months, and coded the data into behavioral categories. A once a day spot check was also done, counting children's location and gender affiliation. The findings were: first, gender rather than race was the salient characteristic used for children's exclusion of each other, in this environment; second, gender segregation decreased during the four months of observation (September to December) rather than remaining stable or increasing, as is "normally" expected, according to the literature; third, the teacher used three types of intervention strategies to decrease gender segregation. They were environmental manipulation, verbal directives,