Chapter 2: Social Dynamics Of Early Childhood Classrooms: Considerations and Implications for Teachers¹

Beginning as early as the preschool years, classroom social dynamics impact children’s behavioral adjustment and interpersonal adaptation. When children are grouped together in classrooms during early childhood, they typically form social structures and a peer culture that both reflects and influences their interpersonal characteristics and behavior patterns (Corsaro & Eder, 1990; Estell, Farmer, Cairns, & Cairns, 2002; Strayer & Santos, 1996). As suggested by the quote above, the classroom societies that children construct involve distinct interchanges with adults and peers and are the product of the interactions that they experience within these two different forms of social relationships (Cairns, 1979). As teachers work to support students during the early school years, it is important to understand the two social worlds of children and to scaffold between the interpersonal rules and expectations they learn from adults in the home and the interactional contexts they coconstruct with peers in school. Accordingly, the goal of this chapter is to consider how social interchanges and classroom social dynamics contribute to children’s early school adaptation, particularly in contemporary classroom contexts with children from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and abilities.