T-patterns integration strategy in a longitudinal study: a multiple case analysis

Abstract

This work analyzes stability and change of T-patterns related with on-task persistence and social interaction of preschool-age children. Stability and change are considered as natural setting indicators of time allocation processes and social dynamics with teachers and peers, within the fields of educational neuroscience and developmental science. In contrast with descriptive observations, developmental scales or ratings, T-pattern analysis clarifies and allows predictions on otherwise hidden behavioral patterns and their stability and change processes in natural settings. Here, T-pattern analyses were applied on observational behavior profiles of three preschool children, their teacher and their interacting peers in classroom and playground natural settings, to identify the structure and dynamics of daily activities in a multiple case study strategy about persistence and social interaction processes, considering teachers' and peers influence on children's behavior. Behavioral data were obtained with the Observational System of Social Interaction in a nomothetic, following and multidimensional observational design. Main results include the identification and description of patterns, their stability and change over time, and their subsumed structure regarding setting, child, and diachronic information. Two main behavioral patterns identified were: (1) teacher's attempts at redirecting child behavior to on-task were followed by on-task and off-task alternation loops, and (2) peers or teacher not responding to child social emissions, predict the kid going off-task. This constitutes a methodological contribution to Educational Neuroscience's efforts to describe real-world group contexts and predict the use of time in preschool contexts by children, their subsumed behavioral patterns and the influence of peers and teachers.

Keywords: Leisure behavior; Longitudinal study; On-task behavior; Preschool-age children; Social interaction; T-patterns.