The effects of teachers' playfulness and creativity on teacher- child interactions

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the relationships among teachers' playfulness scores and creativity scores and their styles of interaction with children in a play environment. The Play Interaction Scale, the Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure (MSFM), and the Adult Behavior Inventory were administered to 46 students (future teachers) and 37 teachers of three- and four-year-old children in group settings. The Play Interaction Scale, developed for this study, was based on the five environmental components identified by Rubin, Fein, and Vandenberg (l983) as facilitative of play. The instrument was comprised of 20 play vignettes. Subjects indicated the frequency with which they might respond in a structured, elaborative, or unstructured manner to each vignette. The subjects' creativity was measured by using the MSFM and playfulness was determined by each subject evaluating themselves on the Adult Behavior Inventory.

Pearson product-moment correlations were computed for the teacher group and the student group. The expected relationships between creativity, and playfulness, and an elaborative teaching style were found for the student group. However, the elaborative style of interaction and ideational fluency were not significantly related in either group. The predicted negative correlation between creativity and a structured interaction style was found only for teachers.