Download full textERIC Number: ED058574
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1970-Sep-6
Pages: 14
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Delayed Instructional Control of Head Start Children's Free Play.
Pierce, Charles H.; Risley, Todd R.
The free play of 5 black preschool Head Start children was observed. The variables manipulated in the study were delayed instructions and reinforcement for play with selected toys, and specific versus general instructions; the correspondence between the adult's instructions and reinforcement to the children's play was assessed. The data indicated that the children's free play was significantly differentially affected by the combination of verbal instructions and reinforcement even when free play occurred 21 hours later. The combination of instructions and reinforcement was effective, however, only when the selected toy was specified which suggests that the discriminative properties of the adult's instructions were a critical variable influencing children's free play. The results also suggest that not only should instructions be specific, but any changes in instructions should be specific too. (KS)
Descriptors: Behavior Change, Discrimination Learning, Instruction, Operant Conditioning, Play, Preschool Children, Reinforcement
Charles Pierce, Depts. of Recreation and Kinesiology, Univ. of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada or Todd Risley, Juniper Gardens Children's Project, 2021 N. 3rd St., Kansas City, Kansas 66101
Publication Type: N/A
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: National Inst. of Child Health and Human Development (NIH), Bethesda, MD.; Office of Economic Opportunity, Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Kansas Univ., Lawrence.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: Paper presented at American Psychological Association Annual Convention (78th, Miami, Fla., September 3-8, 1970)
