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幼稚園の1クラスにおける4歳児の仲間関係進展の事例的検討
―社会的能力と仲間関係の重なりとしての3つの発達ライン―

 利根川彰博*　　無藤隆**

Case Study of the Development of Peer Relationships in a 4-year-old Kindergarten Class:
Three Developmental Lines as Overlaps of Social Abilities and Peer Relationships

 Akihiro TONEGAWA　　Takashi MUTO

 In this study, the process of developing peer relationships and social abilities in a 4-year-old kindergarten class was examined. Since peer relationships become complex in a 4-year-old class, an analysis was carried out by ­setting the 3 developmental lines, i.e.: first, relationship where a child plays every time with a suitable temporary partner (discretionary relationship line), second, relationship where a child continues to play with a specific partner (close relationship line), and third, relationship where a child takes charge of the role in the activity of a group (relationship-as-group-members line). As a result, the weights of the 3 developmental lines were different during different periods. With the “discretionary relationship line” as the basis, the “close relationship line” was derived starting in the second period and in the third period the “relationship-as-group-members” was seen involving “cooperative activities”. In previous studies it has been said that the experience of social conflict contributes to the development of social abilities; it was shown that support by other participants is important in this process. Furthermore, influences of “cooperative ­activities” were also suggested.

 Key words: peer relation, 4-year-olds, discretionary relationship line, close relationship line, relationship-as-group-members line

取り組み段階の観点からみた
地方自治体の幼小連携体制作り

  一前春子*　　秋田喜代美**

Local Government Support Systems to Facilitate the Transition from Kindergarten to Elementary School

Haruko ICHIZEN　　Kiyomi AKITA

  The present study investigated support systems organised by local governments to facilitate the transition from kindergarten to elementary school from the perspective of the developmental status of such programs. Seventy-eight Kanto districts and government-ordinance-designated cities responded to questionnaires, and these responses revealed a variety of current projects and contributors as well as impediments to the development of support systems. These factors varied according to the stage of program development. According to local governments, the most critical impediment to starting systems to facilitate the transition from kindergarten to elementary school was budgetary ­deficits. In contrast, local governments currently working on such systems cited the “lack of understanding among ­elementary school teachers” as the major impediment to implementation. Local governments that had already ­developed advanced systems for facilitating this transition underscored the importance of “improvements in curricula based on an understanding of child development.” Despite the obstacles to the establishment, implementation, and maintenance of systems to facilitate this transition, including the challenges posed by differences between private and public schools and the heavy workloads of kindergarten and elementary school teachers, local governments supported ­reforms in the management, quality, and training of teachers as well as improvements in the calibre and distribution of educational resources.

  Key words: transition from kindergarten to elementary school, local government, support system

幼稚園における集団への同一絵本のくり返し読みの意義の検討
―入園年齢の幼児の身体的反応・言語的反応とクラスの育ちとの関連から―

 並木真理子*

A Study of Repeated Reading Picture-books to Entering Age at the Class in the Kindergarten:
Relationship between Infants’ Physical Responses and Language Reactions and Growth of Class

Mariko NAMIKI

  The purpose of this research is to know a study of repeated reading picture-books to entering age at the class in the kindergarten by relationship between infants’ physical responses and language reactions and growth of class. The research method was an analysis of four-years old children’s action observations at two kindergartens. The action ­observation was recorded by the category of a physical response and a language reaction. The results were as follows:
(1) The infants’ physical responses and language reactions was related to the process of the growth of the classes of four years old.
(2) A study of repeated reading picture-books in the classes is promotion of oneness of the classes by stability of child and sharing of images between children.
(3) The problem of repeated reading picture-books in the classes is devices of appropriate times of reading and the methods of reading and showing.

  Key words: repeated reading picture-books, entering age in the kindergarten, infants’ physical responses, infants’ language reaction, growth of class

保育援助に対する幼稚園教諭のふりかえりプロセス
―異なるティーチング・スタイルに着目して―

 上田敏丈*

A Study on the Reflection Process of Kindergarten Teachers:
Focusing on Different Teaching Styles

Harutomo UEDA

 In Recent times, considerable attention has been paid to appropriate interaction patterns of kindergarten teachers. However, each kindergarten teacher has a different and preferred teaching style. The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges in improving, their teaching styles through conferences.
The subjects of this research belonged to X kindergarten and were
(1) Teacher A (female, 42 years old, controlling style) and (2) Teacher B (male, 32 years old, responding style). The research was conducted as follows. First, the ­author videotaped the teaching of the two kindergarten teachers. The videotaping was done once a week, from October 2005 to March 2006. On the basis of the observations made from the footage obtained from the recordings, we held three conferences, and the two teachers’ narratives were analyzed using the Trajectory Equifinality Model.
The research was conducted that narrative of practices progresses form A to B phases. While the controlling style of Teacher A aimed at designing achievement tasks for the children, the responding style of Teacher B aimed at designing tasks that fit the course of the children’s lives. Both the teachers enhanced their teaching styles through the con­ferences.
In this respect, this study would contribute to improving the specialties of the kindergarten teachers.

  Key words: Kindergarten teacher, teaching styles, TEM, conference

幼児の期待と不安から見る入学後の学校生活
―子どもへのインタビュー調査と絵画から―

椋田善之*　　鈴木正敏**

Examining Children’s Lives after Entering School from Their Perspectives
of Hopes and Fears about Schooling:
Analysis of Interviews and Drawings of Children

Yoshiyuki MUKUDA　　Masatoshi SUZUKI

 The purpose of this study is to speculate how children feel about the school life after entering school from their perspectives of hopes and fears about schooling. 31 children interviewed before and after entering school were categorized whether their feelings inclined to hopes or fears. The result shows that: (1) children who felt fear before entering school, such as school lunch, studying, or peer relationships, tend to experience difficulties related fears they had before; (2) the transition to school will be easier if they have interest in learning prior to their schooling; (3) there is more possibility to have satisfaction for school lives when they had physical activities to make them establish friendly relations with their peers. It is suggested to be important to have children to experience that they could make good ­relationships with peers and hold motivations to learn during preschool, and that school can prepare physical activities for children to have friendly relations with their peers.

  Key words: interviews of children, hopes, fears, transition to school

明治期の北海道における小学校から見た幼稚園
―ヘルバルト派教育学の流行の中で―

北川公美子*

The Significance of Kindergartens from the Perspective of Elementary Schools in Hokkaido during the Meiji Era:
Under the Influence of the Vogue for Herbart’s Pedagogy

Kumiko KITAGAWA

 The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of kindergartens in Hokkaido during the Meiji Era from the elementary schools’ and the Teacher’s Colleges’ points of view which were affected by Herbart’s pedagogy. During the Meiji Era, the kindergarten teachers were women who had elementary school teacher’s licenses as a rule, therefore the kindergarten teachers would be affected by the education and the idea of the Teacher’s Colleges. It was known that the kindergartens during the Meiji Era were strongly influenced by Frobel. On the other hand, the elementary schools in the same period were affected by various kinds of ideas and methods in fashion which were replaced one after ­another. There was little study how the vogue in the elementary schools had effects on the kindergartens during the Meiji Era. Also, it was unclear how the existence of kindergartens was interpreted by the elementary school teachers and the faculties of Teacher’s Colleges at that time. This study focused on the trend in Hokkaido area during the Meiji Era ­because Hokkaido was treated with special consideration in that of educational policy as well as Okinawa by ­Japanese government at that time and also the trend of education in the area was plain. Moreover, this study concentrated on the period that Herbart’s pedagogy was predominant at elementary schools. To research the trend in the ­period of ­Herbart’s ­pedagogy would reveal the significance of kindergartens from the viewpoint of elementary schools.

  Key words: Meiji Era, Hokkaido, kindergartens, Herbart’s pedagogy, elementary school

幼児の運動遊びに関する研究
―運動遊びの種類による運動スキルの向上への影響の違い―

松嵜洋子*　　無藤隆**

A Study on the Physical Play of Young Children:
The Differential Impact of Types of Physical Play on Their Physical Skills

Yoko MATSUZAKI　　Takashi MUTO

 The purposes of this study are two folds: First is to examine the influence of the practice of physical play in young children on their physical ability and second is to explore the possibility of improvement of their physical skills by play types. This educational program observes a total of 564 young children aged four and five years attending preschools or kindergartens as the object of study. At each preschool and kindergarten, one of the following three types of physical play was carried out for a four-week period: “ball play (BP),” in which children manipulate tools and control the body; “mat play (MP),” in which children control the whole body flexibly; and “Ninja play (NP),” the one that requires a large amount of activity, in which children use the whole body to make various movements. Six parameters that determine their physical skills were measured before and after the program; shuttle run, standing long jump, jump and pass under, body supporting duration, ball catch, and softball throw.
The findings of the study show improvement in such physical skills as “standing long jump,” “jump and pass under,” “body supporting duration,” “ball catch,” after the program. Furthermore, the degree of their improvement varied ­depending on the types of physical play, not on age or sex. Children in the NP group made particularly significant ­improvement in such physical skills as “shuttle run,” “body supporting duration,” and “ball catch,” compared with those in the BP group, but there were no differences observed in the improvement of “softball throw” between the BP groups and the other two groups. These results suggest that the program improved skills in coordination and endurance, though it had little influence on skills in throwing or jumping. The features of each physical play were reflected on the improvement in physical performance to a certain degree. The practices of physical play requiring various movements proved to improve the overall physical-activity skills of young children.

  Key words: early childhood education and care, physical play, body control, educational program

生活科に繋がる幼児の自然との関わりにおける気付きの検討
―KJ法を用いた年長組担任保育者の記録から―

亀山秀郎*

A Study on the Children’s Awareness of Nature in Conjunction with Life Environment Studies:
The Classification of Teachers’ Episodes by the KJ-Method

Hideo KAMEYAMA

 This study tries to examine the children’s awareness of nature through their interaction with natural environments and phenomena. The author analyzed teachers’ observation episodes, and categorized them in relation with Life Environment Studies in Elementary School.
36 five-year-old children from a private kindergarten participated in this study. The researcher selected 213 episodes of interaction with nature from 1,744 teachers’ observation episodes. The episodes were analyzed using the KJ (Kawakita Jiro) Method. The results showed that eight categories “interests connected with awareness”, “awareness about characteristic”, “awareness about touching and using”, “awareness about changes”,“awareness about life”, “awareness about causal relationship”, “awareness about place”, and “awareness about season and weather”. The following points are figured out from the analysis.
1) Continuity and diversity of interest and concern about nature lay basis of awareness of nature, 2) teachers should deal with children’s emotional aspect as well as their knowledge of nature, 3) raising animals or growing plants/vegetables would increase children’s awareness of nature, and 4) to cultivate children’s awareness of life, it would be useful to include events arousing awareness of negative emotions. The results suggested that enhancing children’s awareness of nature is effective to make connections with Life Environmental Studies.

 Key words: preschool children, nature, observation episodes, awareness, Life Environment Studies