Preschool Teachers’ Mental Models for Understanding Young Children

Abstract

Preschool teachers’ perceptions of children’s behavior are important components of the teaching profession. This study used the concept of Mental Models to examine preschool teachers’ understanding of children. Participants (N=33) completed semi–structured interviews after being shown hypothetical vignettes describing children aggressive behavior and exhibiting shyness. A modified grounded theory approach was then used to categorize and analyze the data. The results showed that there are three common categories for understand child behavior: (a) filtering a child’s individual information, (b) knowing child developmental standards, and (c) considering the expectations for child development at the preschool level. Teachers must first focus on the child’s personal information—individual characteristics, feelings, interests, and family background, among other things. By comparing that information with child developmental standards based on a relative viewpoint, teachers’ perceptions will be led to a more proper understanding of each child. In addition, considering the developmental expectations commonly placed on preschool children leads teachers to build relationships between experiences with the actual child and their professional understanding of how the child should be developing.