Mixed Gender Play

The effects of gender in play within the foundation stage.

FINDINGS

The findings that emerged from my observations of children in the foundation stage participating in play activities will be discussed in three broad categories. Firstly, I will discuss observations of mixed gender play activities that involved equal participation of both girls and boys. Secondly, I will discuss observations made in exclusively male and exclusively female play activities.

I will pay particular attention to the organisation of the activities, the roles that each child takes within this organisation, and aspects of the social interactions displayed by the children such as their willingness to share, listen, and respond to the needs of the other children.

A Duplo model building activity involving three girls and three boys was the first mixed-gender play activity that I observed. The focus displayed by each girl during this activity was mainly placed on ensuring the accurate and precise building of their models. Each aspect of their models was pondered deeply with the girls all placing considerable emphasis on building their models as well as they possibly could. On the occasions that these models were destroyed they would react negatively and insist on re-building their initial creations as close to their original composition as possible.

This was in stark contrast to the boys who at first appeared to be building their models for the very purpose of being able to destroy it once it was completed. Generally, the boys gained the most enjoyment from this activity from the destruction of their models and the building of new models. Eventually the boys decided to play a game among themselves with their completed models. They created an exclusively male game in this mixed-gender activity which was competitive in nature and consisted of two opposing sides labelled 'goodies' and 'baddies'.

Conflict arose during this game between two of the boys who fought over the relative ability of the model built by the other boy. This feud was eventually ended through an aggressive threat from one boy to another that their friendship would cease if he did not submit to the other. Apart from this isolated incident I also observed co-operative behaviour between the males and females when they joined together to build a swimming pool complex. During this activity the children used strategies that they developed together and persevered through any problems that arose through providing instructions and assistance to each other in order to implement these strategies.

The second mixed gender activity that I observed involved three girls and three boys who were jointly participating in an aeroplane role play activity. This game involved the construction of a basic aeroplane structure and the simulation of a flight using props found in the classroom. Two main leaders emerged during this game, a girl named Mia and a boy named Brendan. These two children showed highly developed co-operative skills and regularly consulted with each other about how the game should operate.

These leaders assigned roles to each of the children who all embraced their roles, putting significant concentration and effort into their individual roles within the wider group. A female child, Rosin, was chosen to be captain and proceeded to pilot the plane but eventually shared this duty with a male student named Peter. At one point in the activity Peter expresses hunger which was responded to by a female student named Ruby who decided to play the role of air hostess and handed out food to the other children.

When the children pretend that there is a problem with the plane, it was always a male child who 'fixed' the problem with his pretend tools. This activity went very smoothly with the two leaders directing those around them with ease and the other children willingly submitting to the leadership ambitions of Mia and Brendan.

A sorting, measuring, and weighing activity that two girls, Mia and Ciara, were participating in was the first of two play activities observed that were exclusively female. The activity involved sorting out objects into different boxes according to their relative size and weight. The two girls showed high levels of interest in this activity and invested considerable amounts of concentration into ensuring that each objected was sorted correctly.

They worked in an extremely co-operative manner to classify each object, employing different strategies to measure each object including measuring each object with a ruler and by placing one object in each hand to ascertain which object was heavier. Mia took on a leadership role in this activity, regularly giving advice and overseeing Ciara's activities. At certain intervals Mia took it upon herself to correct Ciara's decisions in regards to the sorting of objects and decided that she would move some of Ciara's objects into different boxes. At no stage did this bother Ciara who appeared to be content to submit to Mia's conviction that she could sort the objects in a more accurate manner.

The second female exclusive activity that I observed was a junk modelling activity where the children could make anything they desired from various recycled items. During this activity the girls all showed high levels of concentration on building their individual models but at the same time were also willing to lend assistance to each other when they felt it was required. For example, one girl suggested to another girl that the use of alternative size boxes for her model would be more appropriate and her advice was promptly employed with success.

This was one of many problems that was successfully solved by the girls who employed numerous strategies to achieve their goals, including searching the rest of the classroom for additional resources and asking for assistance from me and their teacher. The girls were eager to interact with me during this activity, with one girl asking me to assist her in cutting a thick piece of cardboard.

Despite asking for my assistance she proceeded with the task with determination until she eventually completed it. Despite the fact that these girls were showing immense concentration on building their own individual models there remained a sense of community during this activity with pleasant social interactions and conversations among the girls.

A Dulpo based model building activity which involved four boys all making their own individual models was the first play activity that I observed which was exclusively male. After all of the boys had completed their models they invented scenarios in which they played out scenes with their completed models. One boy named Reece built a small house with female figures inside and enacted a scene where he was the father returning home from work to his wife and daughter.

Reece pretended that the figures were kissing until he realised that he was being observed by the other boys and promptly changed this scenario to pretending that the figures were having a fight. It was interesting to observe the peer pressures that were present in this activity with Reece changing his initial peaceful exchange between the characters in his scenario to an aggressive scenario in a direct response to observations of the other boys.

While Reece was engaged in his own individual scenario with his models, the other boys were engaged in making models which resemble robots and were participating in a co-operative robot game in which they displaying responsive behaviour to each other, listening and talking in a relatively peaceful manner.

However, at one stage a boy who was playing this robot game decided to interrupt Reece's game through attempting to destroy his models. Reece endeavoured to reconcile this conflict through explaining how important his model was to him but the other boy was intent on destroying his model and ignored him. At this point I interjected and led the other boy away from Reece so he could continue on with his activity.

The second male exclusive activity that I witnessed was another role play scenario which involved the simulation of a flight on a plane. The organisation of the game was haphazard with Brendan taking on the role of the leader once again, but this time was being ignored by the other boys who refused to accept his instructions. While Brendan was upset that the other boys refused to accept his desired leadership position within the activity he eventually accepted this and proceeded to play the game alongside the other boys

The game eventually disintegrated into a rowdy and loud game with little organisation.  The boys were behaving in a verbally and physically aggressive manner, pushing each other around until their teacher interjected and told them to calm down. At this point and the boys appeared to respond positively until the teacher left and the game continued on as it had prior to the teacher's interjection. However, when two girls joined in this game the mood of the game changed significantly. The boys became calm and quieter, responding in a sensitive manner to the feelings of the two girls.

At one stage a doll was placed on a girl's lap and she was instructed to care for the doll. It was interesting to note that the presence of these two girls in this male exclusive activity had achieved what the teacher attempted to do previously but had failed to achieve.

ANALYSIS

The ways in which children interact with their environment, authority figures, peers, and objects during play activities vary significantly amongst individual children. Despite this wide variation in the play styles of individual children, it is widely believed that the gender of children heavily influences the way in which they play. This research project will place its focus upon whether or not the gender of a child influences the typical styles of social interaction that occur between children during play activities.

Social interactions during play will be taken to include such things as the levels of co-operation between the children, the willingness of the children to listen to one another, the amount of competitive behaviour displayed, the rates of conflict that arises during the course of play and how the children respond to conflict. This project will initially focus on the social interactions that I observed during play activities that were either exclusively male or exclusively female activities and how these observations comply or contradict published research studies.

I will then explore how the social interaction styles that I observed during these single gender play environments changed when play environments shifted from a single gender environment to a mixed gender context and compare these observations with the conclusions reached in studies of a similar nature.

Social interaction styles that are typically associated with play in exclusively female environments are generally thought involve higher levels of cooperation and less aggressive behaviour then the styles of interaction typically displayed in exclusively male play environments (Millar, 1968, p. 195).

For example, a study conducted by Janet Lever (1976, p. 483) entitled Sex Differences in the Games Children Play concluded that the games girls play with each other are typically turn-taking games where the girls do not directly compete against each other. Lever (1976, p. 479) observed the play styles of children in both single gender and mixed gender play environments and collected extensive diary entries from children about their daily activities.

Based on these observations and diaries, Lever concluded that girls rarely fought amongst themselves but when a disagreement did arise, the girls in her study employed avoidance techniques and evaded the need to explore the conflict and invested little effort in finding a solution to the conflicts and problems that arose (Lever 1976, p.483).

When a disagreement did arise it generally resulted in the end of a game or activity. According to Lever (1976, p.484), "girls play, to a large extent, is spontaneous and free of structure and rules; its organisation is cooperative more often than competitive." This notion that play between girls is more cooperative than competitive is echoed in Promnitz's (1992) study of the social interaction techniques observed among three to five year old children.

In the course of her observations Promnitz (1992, p. 69) witnessed less conflict and friction within play environments that were female exclusive than she witnessed in male exclusive play environments. Promnitz (1992, p. 72) also found that girls were more willing than boys to engage in sophisticated conflict mediation techniques that acknowledged the feelings of the other girl who was engaged in the conflict. While both of these authors are in agreement in regards to the fact that there is less conflict in female exclusive play activities as opposed to male exclusive play activities, they disagree in regards to the willingness of girls to work through the conflict in order to solve it.

This discrepancy in regards to the reactions of girls to conflict in play and their willingness to solve these problems may ultimately depend on the individual personalities of the children involved in the conflict but irregardless of this issue I will discuss my observations in the context of the observational framework adopted by these researchers.

The relationships and social interactions that occurred in my observations of girls within the foundation stage were in agreement with Lever (1976) and Promnitz's (1992) conclusions in regards to the relative lack of conflict and disagreement that typically occurs in girl exclusive play activities.

For example, the interactions that I observed between two girls, Mia and Ciara, during their tidying and sorting resources activity were cooperative and amicable. The very activity of sorting objects was a non-competitive activity yet the two girls were completely engaged in deep concentration throughout the entire activity. Mia assumed the position of leader during the activity and Ciara followed her instructions without question and at no stage did a hint of conflict arise.

Similarly, the large group of six girls playing with recycled craft items illustrated the same non-competitive and cooperative social behaviour throughout the entire activity session. The girls all concentrated deeply on their individual projects but were also willing to lend assistance and advice to each other when they felt it was required. This behaviour illustrates a communal bond between the girls and empathy for each others needs which went beyond the requirements of the activity. When unwanted interruptions did occur they were simply ignored and both girls continued on with their activities without conflict.

While this singular observation does not entirely run contradictory to Lever's (1976) conclusions that conflict in girl dominated activities are rarely solved, it does show evidence of conflict mitigation techniques and a generally willingness on the behalf of the girls to behave in a cooperative manner in order to avoid confrontation. Through the practice of ignoring unwanted interruptions to their play the girls were avoiding the need to deal with potential conflict. While this approach may not solve the issue it is none the less a legitimate conflict mitigation technique.

Literature which explores research conducted into the social interactions and play styles of boy exclusive activities generally concurs that boy exclusive play is more competitive, aggressive, and causes more conflict than girl exclusive play (Millar, 1968, p. 195). For example, a study into the interpersonal conflict that arises during play activities in children found that the very nature of the activities that boys commonly engaged in was more competitive and therefore naturally resulted in substantial amounts of conflict (Miller, Danaher & Forbes, 1986).

This study suggests that when this conflict does arise boys are unlikely to attempt to mitigate this conflict through communicative skills such as listening and discussing the issue and are more likely to attempt to resolve their conflict through aggressive and dominating behaviour (Miller, Danaher & Forbes, 1986, p. 546). These findings are in direct contradiction to Lever's (1978, p. 482) study which found that boys showed more general co-operative skills than girls and resolved their conflicts quickly and efficiently through references to rules and regulations.

It is clear from these conclusions that the ways in which boys interact with each other during play and the activities that they most frequently engage themselves in differ dramatically to girls. What appears to be a site of contention in these two pieces of research on the subject is the relative ability of boys to deal with the conflicts that inevitably arise in the course of the competitive play that they most frequently engage in. I will now discuss my observations in light of this discrepancy and seek to ascertain if such a large amount of conflict does arise in boy exclusive play environments and the ways in which boys react if this does occur.

Conclusion

In line with the conclusions reached by the above literature, my observations of three episodes of boy exclusive play activities showed evidence of constant conflict between the boys. The boys were engaged in the same type of activities as the girls such as building models with Duplo. The main difference was that the girls concentrated on building their models and got upset when these models were destroyed but the boys took delight in the destruction of the model after it was built. At one stage an argument erupted between two boys which were ended by one boy threatening the other with the cessation of their friendship.

Two other conflict-ridden situations that arose, one involving the unwanted destruction of another's model and another involving aggressive, loud, and violent behaviour necessitated the interjection of an authority figure to defuse the conflict. The second incident continued after the authority figure had interjected and left the scene. Despite the fact that the boys were engaged in similar activities to the girls, their interpretation and interaction with the activities were often aggressive and riddled with conflict.

The one conflict situation that was solved by the boys themselves was ended through the employment of a threat by one boy to the other, and the other two necessitated the involvement of an authority figure, lending credence to Miller, Danaher, and Forbes (1986) findings that boys rarely employ empathetic conflict mitigation techniques to solve their conflicts, instead turning to aggressive behaviour.

While this is obviously a blanket assumption which generalises significantly, all observations undertaken by me fit with this general pattern of behaviour of social interaction between boys while playing being characterised by aggressive behaviour and a lack of listening between the children.

The final aspect of my research aims in this project was to ascertain how this behaviour displayed in single gender play environment changes when genders are mixed. The ways in which social interaction styles transform when boys and girls play together (opposed to playing separately) is debated within the literature on the topic. Much of the research places focus on how the social interaction styles of girls transform when they interact with boys during play.

For example, Phinney and Rotheram's (1982) study into the subject concluded that girls became more aggressive when interacting with boys, arguing that girls adjust their behaviour to become more like the boys they interact with. Contradicting this conclusion is an observational project conducted by Jacklin and Maccoby (1978) which found that girls generally behaved in a more passive and agreeing manner when playing in a mixed gender environment.

To account for this discrepancy in results it is possible that the fact that in Phinney and Rotheram's study the children that were observed had previous experience in a pre-school environment and had interacted with the other children regularly in the past but the children in Jacklin and Maccoby's study had neither prior pre-school experience or prior interaction with the other children who they were observed playing with. This may be a crucial factor in influencing the behaviour of the children in both studies.

If this is the case, the children that I observed had prior interaction with each other and previous experience in a pre-school environment and therefore my results would be more in line with the conclusions reached in Phinney and Rotheram's study. That is, the girls would quite simply become more aggressive when playing with boys.

The results of my observations of one girl named Mia in both girl exclusive play and mixed gender play illustrated the complex behavioural changes that take place when genders are mixed in play activities. Mia's methodical and systematic nature was revealed in her interactions with Ciara in their sorting and tidying resources activity. Mia felt at ease with the goals of the activity and assumed a leadership position in the activity. Mia also took on this position in a mixed gender aeroplane role play activity but shared the role jointly with a boy named Brendan.

Despite her obvious role as leader in this activity, Mia's leadership role was somewhat passive compared to her role in the exclusively female sorting and tidying resources activity. Brendan regularly consulted Mia for her opinion during the aeroplane role play game but at no stage did Mia actually give directions to the other children. For example, Brendan directed the other children to the roles they should play, assigning Peter as the Captain of the flight, whereas Mia simply expressed concerns such as "nobody has tickets to go on the plane" and the boys acted upon these concerns without specific direction from Mia. Mia was still playing the role of leader in the activity, albeit in a passive and indirect way.

However, a more significant change occurred in the behaviour of the boys when playing in the company of the girls. When girls joined in a previously male exclusive role play game that was aggressive and loud the behaviour of the boys changed dramatically. When the girls joined the activity cooperation, empathy, listening and responding to each other was displayed by the boys. The boys adjusted their behaviour to reflect the behaviour that was displayed by the girls.

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This phenomenon illustrates that the more significant changes in behaviour when genders are mixed in play activities are displayed by the male children. The boys became more aware of the need to listen to one another and respect each other's point of view.

REFERENCES

Jacklin, C. & Maccoby, E. 1978, 'Social Behaviour at Thirty-three Months in Same-sex Dyads', Child Development, 49, pp. 557-569.

Lever, J. 1976, 'Sex Differences in the Games Children Play,' Social Problems, vol 23, no. 4, pp. 478-487.

Millar, S. 1968, The Psychology of Play, Penguin Books LTD, Middlesex, England.

Miller, P., Danaher, D., & Forbes, D. 1986, 'Sex-related Strategies for Coping with Interpersonal Conflict in Children Aged Five and Seven', Developmental Psychology, 22, pp. 543-548.

Phinney, J. & Rotheram, MJ. 1982, 'Sex Differences in Social Overtures Between Same-sex and Cross-sex Pre-school Pairs,' Child Study Journal, 12, pp. 259-256.

Promnitz, J. 1992, 'Peer Interactionism in Young Children,' in Heaven, P (ed), Lifespan Development, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Sydney, Australia, pp. 65-93.

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