Se você estiver aqui, você é nossa amiga, senão não é: as interações entre um grupo de crianças no ambiente da Educação Infantil

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to comprehend and analyze how children from five to six years of age in a primary school classroom interacted in groups within the environment of a Municipal Childrens Education Unit (UMEI), in Belo Horizonte/ Minas Gerais (Brazil). The theoretical reference used iscomposed of contemporary studies on Childhood and Childhood Education, with emphasis on the Sociology of Childhood, based on studies of Historical-Cultural Psychology and Social Psychology.The central concepts are geared towards understanding the institutional environment, and of the formation of groups and interactions between the children, as well as the culture of pairs and cultures of childhood.. From the theoretical-methodological point of view, we employed qualitativeresearch employing the instruments of participant observation, document analysis and semistructured interview with the two teachers that worked directly with the children. Observations were recorded in a field diary, on video and in photographs. Analyses revealed that institutional environment acted as a regulator of interactions between children. We noted different interactions and organizations of groups of children within the distinct environments of the institution. More open spaces had a lesser quantity of artifacts and short-lived interactions with different partners. Closed off spaces had a greater number of artifacts and produced longer interactions between children. Research results also showed that the children used so reiterated some strategies to develop their interactions, with actions that sought to bring about the entry and permanence in peer groups. The following behaviors were identified: a request or invitation to develop an action and interference like entry strategies, and dialog and cooperation like permanence strategies, as well as support or help was noted as a strategy for entry and permanence. Every strategy used by the children received a positive or negative response and both the strategy and response could be verbalor non-verbal. With regard to the childrens perspective about group participation, it was identified that for the children surveyed, participating in a group meant being the friend of the other. Friendship presented itself as a condition for being in the group, or could be created based on thedevelopment of joint actions.