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Primary Source Analysis

Decent Essays

The primary source I located in the Journal of Social Forces was titled, “The Kindergarten and Other School Social Work”. This primary source provides information on the social side of kindergarten. The information provided allows the reader to gain a better understanding of how the foundations of social skills are formed in kindergarten.

Gutek (2013) discusses kindergarten and how it has evolved over the years in chapter 7. He writes about Friedrich Froebel who “developed an enlightened concept of childhood and designed a method of early childhood education that led to the establishment of the kindergarten” (Gutek, 2013, p. 252). Froebel emphasized play as a healthy means by which children could express their inner insights and feelings with one another (Gutek, 2013, p. 253). After reading the section about Froebel, I wanted to know more about the establishment of kindergarten and how this structure aided in the development of a child’s social skills. …show more content…

Leeper (1923) explains that “the informal character of kindergarten work makes it possible for children to find themselves in situations like, or very similar to, those they find in society outside of school” (p. 2). He goes on to explain that working in cooperative groups helps to give them the moral and social training that is effective (p. 2). Later on in the article Leeper (1923) discusses a study that was conducted and found that over fifty percent of the activities of children between the ages of four and seven are social in character and require cooperation of the group (p. 2). Leeper (1923)

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