The Initiation of Social Interaction in a Mixed Physical Education Class of 6-9 Year Olds.
The hypotheses that is being tested in this study is as follows:
In a mixed (special education students with regular students) physical education class of 6-9 year olds, special education students will initiate social interaction with regular students at a higher level than regular students will initiate social interaction with special education students.
The following study was designed to test this hypothesis.
The subjects of this study consisted of forty 6-9-year-old students in a mixed Physical Education class. The mixture of students included 12 special education students and 28 regular students. The student population consisted of both boys and girls and the mixture represented a variety of socio-economic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.
The study was conducted through direct observation and statistical record-keeping of different measures of socialization skills as witnessed in student interactions during physical education class. The observation and statistics gathering focused primarily on whom among the group initiates interaction in the physical education setting. The study was conducted approximately two or three times per week for one hour intervals over approximately a three month period of time. Statistics were kept based on personal observation during the physical education classes.
Each set of statistics gathered was dated, and interaction initiation was divided into the following five types of socialization: 1)Teacher Special Education to Regular Education Student, 2) Regular Education Student to Special Education Student, 3) Special Education Student to Regular Education Student, 4)Teacher Regular Education to Special Education Student, and 5) Special Education Student to Special Education Student.
The Data were gathered approximately two or three times per week with one stroke being recorded f...