Behavior characteristics of children during the first year of kindergarten attendance.

The field research reported in this paper was intended to detect changes occurring in the early behavioral repertoire of children during their first exposure to the classroom environment. Fourteen kindergarten children were observed during structured classroom activities in their first and seventh month of school attendance. Behaviors were videotaped and analysed according to a behavior catalogue which covered six broad areas--visual, facial, head, upper limbs, postures and locomotion. The analysis showed that school experience is related to an increase in peer-oriented and work behavior, while teacher-oriented behaviors tend to decrease, along with a reduction in periods of inactivity and aimless movements. These results and some detected sex and age differences are discussed in terms of environmental effects and developmental tendencies.