Social Interaction in Heterogeneous Pre-Schools in Israel

A 2-year-project with 48 disadvantaged (D) and 48 middle class (P) Israeli 2-year-olds was set up to study how heterogeneous or homogeneous grouping influences social interaction. Twenty-four D's were the homogeneous group, 48 P's and 24 D's were equally divided into three heterogeneous groups with a ratio of 2:1. This report is based on an analysis of narrative records of subjects during 1-hour free play observations. The records were first divided into Social Interaction Units (SIU's). SIU's were then classified into seven categories, and the percentage of SIU's of each child in any one of the categories and with any type of possible interactee (adult, D child, P child) computed. The overall amount of social interactions increased more for the heterogeneous D's than for the homogeneous D's. However, both heterogeneous D's as well as P's interacted more within their own group than with each other, despite the 2:1 ratio of P's to D's in each group which should have favored interaction with P's by the heterogeneous D's. Moreover, the homogeneous D's (like the P's) developed a better ability to cooperate with peers while the heterogeneous D's remained very dependent on adults. (Author)