Enhancing social problem-solving performance in an elementary school setting

Social problem-solving training, conducted as part of a social studies curriculum with 185 3rd- and 4th-grade children, was assessed by a measure of problem-solving thinking, a structured adult-child interaction, a structured group interaction, and the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children. The experimental design used 4 training groups: no treatment (control), video modeling tapes (TV), video modeling tapes plus discussion exercises (discussion), and video modeling tapes plus role-play exercises (role play). The major findings revealed significant overall treatment effects on problem-solving thinking, the group interaction, and locus of control. Findings are interpreted as indicating that the role-play treatment is more likely to transfer to everyday social interactions and enhance children's social competence. (25 ref)