Dyadic and tetradic nursery nurse — preschooler interaction in a numerical reproduction task

Background . Adult‐child teaching interactions have been found to help children move to higher and more advanced levels of cognitive thinking and reasoning. Aims . The investigation of whether nursery nurses offer more verbal and non‐verbal instructions when interacting with 3‐year‐old than 4‐year‐old children, a dyad than a tetrad, girls than boys and as the difficulty of the task increases. Samples . Four hundred and eighty 3‐ and 4‐year‐old preschoolers (240 boys and 240 girls) of middle class background from 25 nurseries in the area of Athens, Greece, were observed interacting with 40 nursery nurses while reproducing a numerical task. Methods . Each nursery nurse interacted with a dyad and a tetrad of children of each age group while solving a task of numerical correspondence consisting of three, six, or nine elements. Each child was expected to reproduce in succession a model array of cubes that the nursery nurse presented to them. All sessions were videotaped. Results . Nursery nurses made significantly more verbal and non‐verbal instructional shifts when addressing 3‐year‐olds, dyads, and as the level of the task became progressively more difficult. Sex was not found to significantly affect nursery nurses' behaviour. Furthermore 4‐year‐olds were more successful in completing the task at all levels of difficulty. Conclusions . Nursery nurses adjust both the quality and quantity of their instructions according to the demands of the children with whom they interact. Their teaching methods in small groups are influenced by variables such as age, group size and task difficulty level.