Associations between emotional scaffolding, classroom quality and dialectical thinking support in kindergarten

Abstract

Emotional scaffolding by the teachers of kindergarten children facilitates children's emotional well-being and contributes to their achievements in school. Our aim was to analyze the association between emotional scaffolding, dialectical thinking support and classroom quality. We used the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-R), Dialectical Thinking Support (DTS) scale and Emotion Socialization Observation Scale (ESOS). The study involved 22 kindergarten groups attended by 6-7-year-old children and their educators who have worked with these children for several years. The actions of teachers aimed at emotional expressiveness modeling and teaching about emotions are positively associated with high-classroom and dialectical thinking support. We revealed for the first time associations between dialectical thinking support and emotional scaffolding in children. This suggests that the discussion of opposites and contradictions in objects and situations in the classroom environment and the study of them in the process of change is positively associated with emotion socialization.       

Keywords: dialectical thinking; teaching about emotions; emotional scaffolding; preschoolers; quality of educational environment