Suppose that you are a third-grade teacher with a class of eight- and nine-year-olds. One of the goals set by your school district is to improve children's role-taking skills. Explain why such a goal might have been made a part of the "directive" to teachers. Then, describe two ways you might go about fostering improvement in role-taking

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The school district set improved role-taking skills as a goal because of its concern with intervening early to help children become more skilled and successful socially. Mature role-takers have been found to enjoy more favorable status in their peer group. Research by Nelson and Aboud provides some clue as to one type of experience that fosters role-taking skill: equal-status contacts with peers, particularly friends, were found to lead to better appreciation of the point of view of others. Disagreements between friends tend to provide each child with the kind of information needed to appreciate conflicting points of view. In the classroom setting, some possible ways to foster equal-status interactions include opportunities to engage in playful activities and games, engage in cooperative learning tasks, work on the computer with a partner, plan the decorations or refreshments for a class party with a partner, or engage in discussions on values or other topics. Development of cognitive competence apparently can be "nursed" through social interactions, an unlikely source of education in social perspective-taking in the minds of most traditional educators.