Action Research Of Role Play In Cultivating Middle Class Children’s Prosocial Behavior

Prosocial behavior refers to any behavior that conforms to social expectations.It is beneficial to others,the group or the society,and can promote the coordinated development of interpersonal relations.Prosocial behavior includes cooperation,sharing,help,comfort,donation and other types.The cultivation of prosocial behavior is of great significance to enhance self-esteem and self-confidence,interpersonal communication and social harmony.Studies have shown that prosocial behavior in preschool children increases with age and that different types of prosocial behaviors have different developmental characteristics,However,such studies mostly adopted cross-sectional design,and failed to essentially reveal the developmental characteristics of prosocial behavior changes over time in preschool children.In addition,relevant studies have shown that role play has an important impact on prosocial behavior.It can be used as an educational way to cultivate prosocial behavior.However,there is a lack of research on the role play training of children’s prosocial behavior in practical education.Therefore,to provide practical direction for preschool children’s education,this study firstly adopted longitudinal design to comprehensively investigate the developmental track of children’s prosocial behavior.Then,based on the developmental characteristics of local children’s prosocial behaviors,conducted an action research about prosocial behavior by the way of role play activities.Finally,tested the teaching effectiveness of role play on children’s prosocial behavior,and provided practical suggestions for teachers to foster prosocial behavior.The study first selected 140 children（69 boys and 71 girls）from two kindergartens in city H as subjects for the longitudinal study.Children completed prosocial behavior tests at three time points（spaced 14 months apart and 6 months apart,respectively）and that each time point tested for helping,sharing,and donating behavior.A latent growth model was constructed using Mplus to describe the developmental trajectory of prosocial behavior.The results showed that:（1）The prosocial behavior of children in H city consistently remained at the same level and did not show a developmental trajectory with age;（2）Different types of prosocial behaviors have different development trajectories:Helping behavior had a significant linear growth trend,but sharing and donating did not show an aging trend.Secondly,in order to improve the developmental level of local preschoolers’prosocial behaviors,the study chose two middle-class children from H kindergarten as action research objects.Among them,35 children in Class A served as experimental class,including 15 boys and 20 girls,M_age=4.38 years old,SD=0.19;and 33children in Class B served as control class,including 17 boys and 16 girls,M_age=4.29years old,SD=0.22.The study adopted a pretest-posttest experimental design with an experimental class and a control class.There was no significant difference in age and prosocial behavior（helping,sharing and donating）in the two classes in the pretest.The experimental class carried out three rounds of role play activities for one month,following the action research path of“Planning-Implementation-Reflection-Adjustment-Reimplementation-Re reflection”.The control class conducted regular picture book teaching activities.After the action research,prosocial behavior of children from both classes was tested again,and the results showed that:（1）The posttest scores of helping,sharing and donating behaviors in the experimental class were significantly higher than those in the pretest,while there was no significant difference in the pretest and posttest scores in the control class.（2）The performance of helping,sharing and donating behavior of the experimental class was significantly higher than that of the control class in the posttest scores.These findings suggest that themed role play can significantly promote the development of prosocial behavior of middle-class children.Based on the research results,this paper summarized several educational recommendations for fostering prosocial behavior in young children.Firstly,the design of role play should be around prosocial behavior:According to the developmental characteristics of young children to determine the prosocial theme and content of the game activities;The form of activities should also be suitable for the interests of young children.Secondly,the implementation of role play should focus on prosocial behavior:Let children try role swapping to experience the emotions of different roles;The activities should be closely linked to the story context to enhance the prosocial atmosphere;Teachers should optimize the way of guidance to deepen children’s understanding of prosocial behavior.Thirdly,the summary of role play should focus on promoting prosocial ability:Through strengthening reflection to improve children’s prosocial awareness;Pay attention to the evaluation method to consolidate the prosocial behavior.