Student Teacher Attitudes Toward Child Aggression and Dependency in a Child Development Laboratory

A child development laboratory in a university finds its first justification in its ability to contribute to the education of college students. After this justification has been established, the laboratory has a responsibility for serving the children enrolled in it. The Child Development Laboratory at Utah State University serves college students in several ways. Students are able to observe and participate in the nursery school laboratory through experiences in various courses. The culmination of their course work comes when, as juniors or seniors, they do student teaching in the nursery school. Some of the purposes the nursery school attempts to accomplish are to increase the development of students\u27 understanding of children, to help them feel secure and comfortable with children; to make students aware of children\u27s normal growth expectancies and aware of children\u27s needs; to help students learn techniques of guidance so that they may eventually develop their own philosophy of guidance; to help clarify the concept of freedom within limits ; to increase students\u27 enjoyment of children; and to increase understanding of one\u27s self. The values of the nursery school to children is perhaps best expressed in the philosophy as it was expressed by Louise Godfrey (7): We see the nursery school as a place where the child is valued as a real person possessing a spontaneity and a creative sensitivity to life. We see the nursery school as a place where the child should be able to find a new and oftentimes better image of himself. We see the nursery school as a place where the child can make his own discoveries--where he is allowed to solve many of his own problems--whether the discovery or the problem involves constructing a gabled roof of blocks, covering one\u27s arms with fingerpaint, or seeing the result of red poured in blue poured in yellow. We see the nursery school as a place where the child encounters other human needs and desires and ideas besides his own--where he learns to live with each. Most importantly, we see the nursery school as a place where the child is allowed to be a child. (7, p. 1) Throughout the different courses that in which students study the development of children and theories of guidance, attitudes toward child behavior are formed. These attitudes may change as a result of the nursery school student teaching experience where the students have close daily contact with three and four year old children, and are confronted with practical realities and experience. The words child development laboratory and nursery school as they are used in this thesis may be considered to be synonymous