From: Jenny McCloskey and Kate Snowden
Email:
Course: 100K, Development of Thought and Language
College: University of California at Santa Cruz
Instructor: Matusov, Eugene
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/psych100K
ChildrenObservations: Yes
Date: 19 Mar 1997
Time: 22:43:51
Remote Name: tsa-56.ucsc.edu
This paper explores how undergraduates are viewed as role models at a local Latino youth center. It discusses what the undergraduates hoped to gain from their involvement with the children, and what they hoped to bring to the program. The researchers found that children do view the undergraduates as role models, and that the undergraduates should be aware of this while they are interacting with the children. Not only did the children view the undergraduates as role models, the undergraduates also viewed themselves as role models.
This program is involved with the UC links project. The purpose of the UC links project is as follows:
"to help underrepresented children access higher education through the development of a partnership between the University of California and local children’s organizations. The University of California integrates education of undergraduate students (the practicum of field note collection) with helping the educational games. The expectation is that the partnership between the children, undergraduate students, university professors, researchers, staff of local organizations, and parents will create an environment that supports and motivates learning in the children and undergraduates students and will give underrepresented minority children resources and impetus for pursuing higher education" (Matusov, 1996 ).
We have emphasized the information that pertains to our specific research. In our study we will be exploring the idea of the undergraduates as role models and the children looking to the undergraduates as role models. We began this project with the idea that the undergraduate participants had a purpose when they decided to participate in this course. Many of these undergraduates seemed to feel that they would have a positive effect on the children’s cognitive development. According to research by Hunt (1983), “Mentors often get satisfaction and confirmation through helping less experienced individuals in their development.” Through the study of past research, we came to realize that the undergraduates would also be deriving benefits from the experience of being a mentor. Levinson (1978) “believes that serving as a mentor provides a creative and rejuvenating life challenge to an adult.” We reviewed the class postings for supportive evidence of undergraduates benefiting from the interactions with the children.
We also looked at the fact that the children benefited from the interactions with the undergraduates. “According to the social learning theory (Bandura, 1977), when people see role models with similar characteristics perform successfully their expectations about their own ability to perform a task are raised” (Haas, 1991). The reason why we felt that the undergraduates were role models was that they often had similar attributes as the children they were interacting with. These attributes included gender, ethnicity, and cultural background.
“Several studies state that mentors must be old enough to have accumulated the experience necessary to benefit the protégé. Levinson (1978) found that mentors were usually older than their protégés by half a generation, roughly eight to fifteen years” (Hunt, 983). The majority of the undergraduates were between the ages of 20 and 24. The children were all elementary school students, roughly between the ages of six and eleven. This fits in the research found by Levinson, in that the undergraduates were an appropriate age difference from the children in order to be considered mentors. On the average, the undergraduates had greater experience with computers than the children. The children were also aware that the undergraduates attended college, therefore showing what it would mean to attend college.
METHOD
Participants: The participants consisted of approximately 20 undergraduate university psychology students, whose field notes and messages were a requirement of the class. There were also approximately 30 children involved in the research.
Data Source: We looked at the undergraduates original introduction, which stated why they were interested in taking the class and what they expected to get out of it. We looked for evidence of mentorship and role-modeling in people’s field notes. Information was also derived from undergraduates reflective statement of learning, posted at the end of class. The observations were made at a local Latino youth center. This was an after-school program targeted at underprivileged grade school children in the surrounding area. The children voluntarily participated in the program. The main purpose of the program was to familiarize the children with computers and to engage them in educational computer programs.
RESULTS
Our basic findings were that the undergraduates came into the program with the expectation that they would both give to the project by being a positive adult influence, and benefit by working with the children. The undergraduates' expectations were discussed in their first message to the class. One undergraduate stated that,
“This class is an excellent way for me to add my hands on experience with children...The opportunities for these children are so vast, and I want to not only open their eyes to these opportunities but actually make them available” (M.B., 1997).
This quotation describes this undergraduate's opinion of what his role will be at the local Latino youth center. Tammy (another undergraduate) says that,
“I think that our most important role is being a friend to the children! I think that forming this type of friend relationship with the children is the most important thing we can accomplish at the Latino youth center” (T.V., 1997).
This statement highlights the fact that the undergraduate being a trusted supporter is more important than the actual educational learning that goes on within the program.
“I would like to look for ways to reach all of our students, as certain groups tend to get left out for reasons such as language barriers. I am really looking forward to this class because I think that everyone involved in this experience has something to gain” (M.G., 1997).
This undergraduate discusses how the program can benefit both the children and the undergraduates. One of the main reasons undergraduates felt they would benefit would be through gaining experience interacting with children, especially in the context of being bilingual.
“This class is an opportunity for me to gain experience with children as well as to develop my understanding of how different cultures may develop in different ways” ( M. C., 1997).
Another undergraduate states,
“I am hoping to feel more comfortable working with bilingual children and to be able to put some of the information concerning bilingual education in a real life picture” (A.W., 1997).
These quotations represent examples of the undergraduates' expectations of their own benefits, from their interactions with the children.
As the quarter progressed the undergraduates began to recognize themselves as role models.
“I think that as each one of us becomes closer to the children that they will look at us more and more like role models for adults” (C.V., 1997).
According to Will (1996) a role model is someone you try to emulate.
"I feel that we also need to think about other things that are discussed in front of the children. They are at an age that is influenced greatly by others. Some people at the lab have been discussing their party lives quite vividly at the lab. It might not be the best kind of talk for the kids to over hear. Try to watch what you discuss in the lab" (G.B., 1997).
These quotations show how the undergraduates became more aware of their responsibilities of being role models to the children.
DISCUSSION
The director of the program at the local Latino youth center also looked to the undergraduates as role models. One undergraduate stated in his field note:
"Mike (program director) has known Chris’s mother for a very long time, and she asked Mike if there were any good male role models at the local Latino youth center because Chris needs a good male role models in his life. Mike said that he thought of me and told her to bring Chris on Wednesday when I would be there. Mike asked me to play with Chris, and of course I accepted" (J.T., 1997).
According to Levinson (1978), mentorship is the most important aspect of the psychosocial development of men. Mentorship is also an important device for influencing commitment and self-image of a child (White, 1970). The same undergraduate also noted after his experience of being considered a “good male role model”:
"I recognize that one of my roles at the local Latino youth center is to model good behavior, but it has never been verbalized in quite this way before....A good role model can show good behavior that a child will strive to copy or poor behavior that the child will strive not to be like; both are good example of good role modeling...Sometimes a child needs a person of the same background, but sometimes someone different is a better role model" (J.T., 1997).
Considering the fact that the program took place at a Latino youth center the issue of ethnicity should be taken into account. “...Both of the career descriptions with Hispanic role models and those with non-Hispanic role models produced positive effects, the overall results favor the use of ethnically matched role models” (Haas, 1991). We would have further explored the fact of ethnically matched role models to see if there was a difference in the child’s overall performance.
If we had had more time to explore this issue we would have asked the undergraduates to specifically address the issue of being a role model, when writing their field notes. This might have led us to obtain more data on the influences the undergraduates have as positive role models to the children. Another aspect we would have explored was the interactional effect of gender on role modeling.
Through this study we have found that it is important to pay attention to the fact that one of the undergraduates major roles at the local Latino youth center is a role model. This information will benefit future classes as it will make them aware of their influence and behavior when they enter the program. The undergraduates will hopefully take into consideration the things they do and say while attending the program.
REFERENCES
Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Haas, N. S. & Sullivan, H. (1991). Use of ethnically matched role models in career materials for Hispanic students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 16 (3). 272-278.
Hunt D.M. & Michael, C. (1983). Mentorship: A career training and development tool. Academy of Management Review, 8 (3). 475-485.
Levinson, D.J., Darrow, C.M., Klien, E.G., Levinson, M.H., & McKee, B. (1978). The Seasons of a Man’s Life. New Tork: A.A. Knopb.
Matusov, E. (1996). Santa Cruz UC links project: Tele--Araña Mágica. http://www.ematusov.com/sc.uclinks/.
Matusov, E. (1997). Psychology 100K, web site. http://www.ematusov.com/psych100K.
White, M.S. (1970). Psychological and Social Barriers to Women in Science. Science, 170 (3956), 413-417.
Will, R. (1996). Role models are not heroes! http://www.uwsp.edu/acadd...m/391sum/6/hero4.htm