For some children putting all the little tabs into the correct slots was not difficult, for others the task seemed challenging and somewhat frustrating. But each child worked with determination until they had a finished product, and many children offered their morning's work, and a smile, as souvenirs for the visiting Americans. These differences are highlighted by the ways we interact with children and how we make decisions about classroom environments. The sparsely equipped toy shelves we saw in China indicated teachers' expectations that children would share toys and materials. Instead of providing duplicates of the most popular materials, as American preschool teachers are likely to do, these teachers intentionally limited children's choices.
Youngsters have to share, wait their turn, and negotiate with their peers during play.
What's more, instead of adding additional materials as the school year progressed, we were told that teachers periodically removed toys so that there was even more pressure to share and cooperate. This approach to equipping classrooms presents a striking contrast when compared with American teachers' efforts to provide children with a frequently-modified selection of developmentally appropriate materials. In addition to classrooms with intentionally-limited resources, we also saw a number of classrooms where everyone was doing the same thing at the same time. Each child was expected to work on the same paper folding, clay modeling, or drawing project. Closer to home we would expect to see a classroom that invites children to choose what they want to do, and to work individually in centers, using materials in individualistic and creative ways.