Chapter 10: Sociological Aspect of Children Moving

Standards Based Education

Standard 5: Students demonstrate and utilize knowledge of psychological and

sociological concepts, principals, and strategies that apply to the learning and
performance of physical activity.
Activity: Number off K through 6
Select one sub-standard for grade (St. 5)
Share with class (include rationale)

The Socialization of Children

Socialization is education

It is the process through which children

o Acquire a sense of personal identity
o Learn what people in the surrounding culture believe
o Discover how to behave according to the expectations of that culture

The process involves both nature (heredity) and nurture (environment)

The process involves a collaborative effort between the child and society

Abraham Maslow
The Theory of Human Motivation 1943

Socialization Agents

Parents/family

School and peers

Mass media

Socialization Agents: Parents

The family is the primary agent of socialization

Messages delivered vary based on size and composition of the family unit as well as the
parenting styles used by the parents

Most effective parenting style is authoritative

(not the passive or authoritarian styles)

Socializing Children to Be Physically Active

The influence of parents

o Parental encouragement
o Parental involvement
o Parental facilitation
o Parental role modeling

The teacher-parent partnership

o Parents and teachers need to become major partners in their efforts to produce
physically active children

Socialization Agents: School and Peers

Basic function of the school is to socialize the child into becoming an adequately
functioning adult in the society

Schools allow friendships between and among peers to develop, which is essential to the
healthy development of the child

Socialization Agents: Mass Media

Mass media is a particularly enticing socialization agent

Messages conveyed are problematic in the areas of violence, gender and race
stereotyping, and boy/girl relationships

The time spent playing video games and watching television lessens the childs time
available to be physically active

Inclusion as a Socialization Issue

Dominant culture (values, beliefs and behaviors) in United States today comes primarily
from Anglo Saxon thought and perspective

Culture contains attitudes and perceptions about people of certain socioeconomic

conditions, with particular physical characteristics (gender, skin color, body size, shape,
and weight), and from different ethnic backgrounds

Culture can lead to exclusion based on its attitudes and perceptions, thus inclusion is a
socialization issue

Providing Quality Instruction

In terms of ethnicity including cultural integration

In terms of varying motor and mental abilities developmentally appropriate instruction

In terms of gender (includes eliminating use of gender specific sports terms play like
a girl; boy/girl push ups; boys vs. girls; lining up by gender, etc.)

Cognitive Bias Social Bias

Be aware of our own biases and stinkin thinkin
The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, refers to the phenomenon that the greater the
expectation placed upon people, often children or students, the better they perform.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4wL5t8YH1Q
Teacher expectations for improving student performance include the following 4 factors:

Climate factor creating a warm, welcoming environment

Input factor engaging material is taught

Response opportunity factor student is allowed and encouraged to speak in class

Feedback factor positive reinforcement and appropriate corrections are made

Issues in Teaching and Assessing Social Skills in the Movement Setting

1. Many terms can be used to describe and name the social skills important for children to
learn (ex: Character Development, Peer Interactions, etc)
2. The educators role in teaching social skills must be specified. Teachers role is
a. To know what kind of behavior he or she wishes to see (observable) Affective
goals
b. To develop a plan for making certain that is the kind of behavior that occurs
c. To model the expected behavior
Models and Strategies for Developing a Plan to Teach Social Skills

Common beliefs in most of the models:

o Social interaction is a learnable skill
o Children are responsible for their own behavior
o Children are valued members of the learning community
o Children learn best through student-centered activities
o Adults model appropriate behavior

Character Counts charactercounts.org

Assessment of Social Skills

Student self-awareness: Used to give students an opportunity to reflect on their own

behavior at a certain point in time
o Verbally
o In writing (logs and journals)
o With checklists
o IEP Goals are required mandates for Students with Special Needs

Student Self-Assessment of Social Skills

Assessment of Social Skills: Classroom Behavior Observation

Models for Teaching Social Skills

A number of models are based on a framework that says successful people possess
resilience, as well as certain skills and perceptions about themselves

These perceptions and skills are called Significant Tools (Glenn & Nelsen, 1989)

In this context, perceptions are what a person thinks of him or herself after reflecting
upon past and current experiences

In this context, skills are things a person can do

Models for Teaching Social Skills

Developing Capable People Kahan & McKnight, 1998

SEVEN SIGNIFICANT TOOLS:

Three self-perceptions (what I think)

o I am capable
o I am significant
o I am influential

Four skills (what I can do)

o Maintains self-identity
o Develops friendships
o Maintains flexibility and integrity
o Maintains a code of ethics

Create two lists:

Your skills (1 or 2 things you can do)
Your perceptions of yourself (could be related to your skills or other general
characteristics . . . I am)
Share with a small group . . .

Cognitive Bias Social Bias

Jane Elliotts Brown Eyed Experiment she created the famous blue-eyed/brown-eyed
exercise, first done with grade school children in the 1960s after the assassination of Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Introduction by Dr. Philip Zimbardo, President of the Heroic Imagination Project and
renown researcher of the Stanford Prison Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8c6IWIAFUI
Frontline: A Class Divided (full version)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html