A Comparative Study On The Helping Behavior Performance Of The Children In The Mixed-age Class And The Same-age Class

The mix-ed age education has a special value in the development of young children.In the mix-ed age class,children's age and ability are different,the interaction between children has a very important in their social development.Therefore,the researcher randomly selects three mixed-age classes and three cohorts(one class each for small,middle,and large)in the A kindergarten in Wuhan City to issue the Questionnaire on the Social Development of Infants(Parent Version)and find that the social development,especially the development of empathy and helper dimensions of the mixed-age children is significantly better than that of peers of the same-age.As a kind of important pro-social behavior,the helping behavior of young children is a part of children's social development,belonging to the whole development.Young children's helping behavior not only plays an important role in the development of society,but also in their growth.Based on the previous investigation,the researcher further randomly selects one hundred and two young children as objects of observation who come from three mixed-age classes and three cohorts in the A kindergarten.The researcher use a table of young children's helping hehavior to observe,Which focuses on the number of young children's helping behavior,the gender of helper,the situation of help,the object of help,the reason of help,the motivation of help,the emotion of help,the type of help,the strategy of help,the result of help,the feedback of beneficiaries,the teacher's reaction of young children's helping hehavior.Through comparative analysis,they find that there are some commonalities in the children's behaviors of helping between mixed-age classes and peer classes:(1)The number of young children's helping behavior increases with age;(2)There is no significant gender difference in the behavior of children's helping others;(3)The situation of life activities is the most important situation in which children's helping behavior occurs;(4)The asks of teacher is the main reason for young children to help others;(5)There is no significant difference in motivation for helping children;(6)The positive emotions of young children are more than the neutral and negative ones;(7)Helping others of children is significantly more active than passive;(8)Strategy for helping with physical strength is most used by young children;(9)The situation in which children's helping behaviors are resolved is significantly more than that in situations that have not been successfully resolved,The situation in which the helping person is satisfied is significantly more than that in the unsatisfied situation,Satisfaction is significantly more than dissatisfaction.At the same time there are some differences:(1)The number of assisting children in mixed-age classes is significantly higher than that of peer classes;(2)There are significantly more helping behaviors of mixed-age classes in the context of games than in learning activities,while there are significantly more helping behaviors of the same-age classes in learning activities than in the game activity situation;(3)The most important helper for mixed-age children is same-sex peers,and the most important helper for young children in the same-age group is the teacher;(4)Children of the same-age group have significantly more helping behaviors than the mixed-age classes because of teachers'requirements.The children of mixed age classes have significant help behaviors due to their peers encountering problems such as learning,living,lack of articles,interpersonal communication and physical problems,which is more than the same-age classes;(5)The positive emotions and neutral emotions of the mixed-age children are more than those of the same-age classes,and the negative emotions of the children of the same-age classes are more than those of the mixed-age classes;(6)Children of mixed-age classes have significantly more active than their peers to help people,while children of the same-age group are significantly more passive than others;(7)Strategy for helping with physical strength in the same-age group is used more than mixed-age classes,and the language reminders,material help,help for others,and psychological help used by the children in the mixed-age classes are more than those in the same-age classes;(8)There are more children's helping behaviors are resolved,more satisfaction are made with mixed-age classes.However,there are more cases in which help behaviors for children of the same-age class do not resolve successfully,and the helpers and the recipients are not satisfied;(9)The positive feedback of the mixed-age children's helpers is significantly more than that of their peers,while the non-feedback and negative feedback of peer helpers are more than that of the mixed-age classes;(10)Teachers of mixed-age classes pay more attention to positive feedback,absence of presence,and unattended attention than those of the same-age class,while teachers of the same-age group pay attention to the absence of feedback and attention to the presence of negative feedback is more than mixed-age classes.The reasons why there are similar helping behaviors between the mixed-age classes and the same-age classes include the following:children's own factors(such as ability and maturity)and teacher factors(such as teacher selection and control).The reasons for the differences include:form of class organization,schedules for day-to-day activities,feedback for help,and teacher factors(such as the roles of teachers,management methods,interactions between teachers and children,education methods,and awareness of helping people).Therefore,teachers should work hard to provide children with opportunities for mixed-age communication,use democratic management methods,establish good model demonstrations,and provide appropriate positive feedback in a timely manner in order to better promote the development of child-friendly behavior.