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Puppetry in early childhood education
Abstract
The use of puppetry to motivate and teach children in early education settings has a long tradition, yet there is very little research evidence linking puppetry training for teachers to the use of puppets in early elementary school classrooms. In this study, 120 early childhood educators completed a survey about the use of puppetry in schools and their perceived value as an educational tool. Teachers were also asked to indicate the type of training they had had in puppetry skills (college course, workshop, both college and workshop, neither), and their perceived abilities as puppeteers. The survey data were tabulated to determine overall frequency response rates. Chi Square analyses were used to examine relationships between the type of training and the following factors: the overall use of puppetry in the classroom; teachers' perceived ability as a puppeteer; the number of professional programs presented in the classrooms; and teachers' attitudes towards the effectiveness of puppetry in the classroom. Although results indicated that training by itself was not related to the use of puppets in classroom settings nor to teachers' reports on the overall effectiveness of puppetry as a teaching tool, training in puppetry was significantly related to the teachers' perceptions of their own abilities as puppeteers. And, the average frequency of use of puppets in the classroom increased with each increase in skill level. Data are also presented concerning the attitudes of the teachers toward the use of puppets in their classrooms, the various curriculum areas in which puppets have been used successfully, limitations on puppetry use and student classification (emotionally disturbed, developmentally delayed, physically challenged, "typical"). The implications of these findings as they relate to teacher inservice training are discussed. A training module to teach puppetry skills to early childhood educators is outlined as are topics for possible future research.
Subject Area
Preschool education|Teacher education|Special education
Recommended Citation
Tierney, John Lester, "Puppetry in early childhood education" (1995). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9524755.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9524755