Audrey Barthélémy & Valérie Tartas Octogone – ECCD Laboratory University of Toulouse – Le Mirail University « Sapienza » ISCAR Congress - Rome September, 5-10, 2011

« Vygotski proposed a developmental theory of creativity in which creative imagination develops from children’s play activities - object’s substitution- into a higher mental function that can be consciously regulated through inner speech. » (Smolucha, 1989) 2 Introduction

 Symbolic object play: not a solitary activity as Piaget claimed but a social one initiated by the adult (Vygotski; Rodriguez, 2006)  After 3, more than 50% of symbolic play takes place with another child (Haight, 1988)  Lack in the literature : preschool and elementary school children’s object substitution development 3 Introduction

First Research (Barthélémy & Tartas, 2009)  in an adult-child-object interaction, we showed that symbolic uses of objects develop from 3 to 8 years-old  3 y.o. need scaffolding (question and demonstration) by adults and it is less important later.  5 and 8 y.o. produced more object substitutions than 3 y.o. 4 Introduction

Research questions  1- Do symbolic uses of objects develop in peer interaction after 3 years of age?  2- How are shared symbolic meanings developed between 3 and 7 years of age? First question 5

First Steps in Developement of Symbolic Uses of Objects Up to 36 months-old 6 Theoretical context

Different Socio-cultural Approaches of Development  The « cultural learning by imitation » approach (Tomasello, 1999)  A key role to adult imitation (Striano, Tomasello & Rochat, 2001)  Child  imitator  Developement of 3 levels of object’s uses sensorimotor/conventional/symbolic  The nature of objects and their role: Figurative/Natural/Artifactual  The « semiotic and pragmatic » approach (Rodriguez & Moro, 2005)  A key role to communication and pragmatic in triadic interaction  Child  an interpretator /Adult  an educator  Developement of symbolic object uses from m.o. ( Palacios & Rodriguez, 2010) 7 Theoretical context

Development of Symbolic Objects Uses After 3 y.o. in peer pretend play 8 Theoretical context

In Peer Interaction  Nadel & Baudonnière (1985) - in the wallonian tradition  Peer dyadic play of 2, 3, 4 y.o. with duplicate objects  Main results : At 3 y.o., objects are the main tool to communicate through immediate and reciprocal imitation  Verba (1983)  Peer dyadic play of 3 y.o. children  Results : Co-construction of meanings in fiction play  Important role of verbal communication in shared play more than objects Theoretical context 9

Hypothesis  1- The symbolic uses of objects develop after 3 y.o. in/through peer interactions  2- Co-construction of symbolic meanings develop through the uses of objects Hypothesis 10

 N = 96 Method Age Group Mean Age Nb of Girls-Dyads Nb of Boy- Dyads Total Nb of Dyads 3 y.o. (N=24) 3 y. 6 m y.o. (N=24) 4 y. 6 m y.o. (N=24) 5 y. 6 m y.o. (N=24) 7 y. 6 m Participants

Task  Children play was video-recorded at school for a period of 10 minutes  Purpose  Prepare a meal for a baby-doll that is very hungry  Play together  Use all the presented objects Method 12

Material : 3 kinds of objects Method 13  No objects can be used conventionally in the pretend meal-play 4 “Ambiguous” a shell, a wooden board, a woodblock, a pebble 6 “Artifacts” A piece of cardboard, a music cd, a brush, a tube of glue, a ball, a bottle of shampoo 1 “Figurative ” a baby-doll  Different kinds of objects are chosen in relation to previous studies (Striano, Tomasello, Rochat, 2001; Palacios & Rodriguez, 2010)

Coding Procedure (1)  1- Thematic play related to « the meal »  Feeding the doll  Putting away the symbolic food  Preparation of a meal (pouring, cooking,…)  2- Shared play begins :  When the attention of both children focuses on the same object and,  when one child starts an action with an object Method 14

Method With Object Uses With no Object Use (detached/distantiated) Verbally specified symbolic iidentity Substitution + verbal identity Verbal identity only Symbolic identity not verbally specified but vocalizations are produced (sound effects) Substitution + vocalization Symbolic identity not verbally specified Substitution only Verbally specified conventional identity and incongruous use Substitution + conventional identity Coding Procedure (2) D17-18 – 5 y.o. D1-2 – 7 y.o. D7-8 – 7 y.o. D 7-8 – 5 y.o. 15  3 types of symbolic uses of objects in 'meal play'

General Results : Shared Pretend-Meal Play Results Number of dyads which pretend to prepare a meal in shared play 16

General Results : Type of Shared Pretend-Meal Play Results Feeding Putting away CookingTotal 3 y.o.620 N = 8 4 y.o.313 N = 7 5 y.o.245 N = 11 7 y.o.1110 N = 12 Total decreasing increasing * * 17

Complexity of Symbolic Uses Results 18

Effect of Object Type Results 19

Extension of the Shared Field of Meanings 20 * * Results

Discussion  From 3 to 7 y.o.  Development of the symbolic uses of objects :  From symbolic use only (first distanciation) to use of language to create a new object identity and share it  More elaborated co-construction of the meal play   From symbolic uses of object to word play (language/verbal games)  Illustration of the first steps of the creativity in peer pretend play 21 Discussion

Perspective  Comparing the uses of the same objects in two other play contexts :  Free-play (« play with these objects »)  Humoristic play (« Both of you, do something funny with the objects »)  Following 3 different contexts of play to examine the way object substitution, language and imagination interrelate and develop. 22 Perspective

Thank you for your attention 23 End