Abstract

Abstract (Summary) Sibling teaching can be theoretically understood within current social cognitive frameworks via concepts of guided participation and scaffolding (Vygotsky, 1978), where the teacher creates supportive situations to help the learner extend current skills and knowledge (Rogoff, 1990). Evidence suggests that young school-aged children adjust their problem-solving strategies according to task requirements and characteristics such as speed and accuracy (Garner & Rogoff, 1990). Moreover, young school-aged sibling teachers demonstrate early signs of scaffolding during teaching (Perez-Granados & Callanan, 1997). The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether older siblings would adjust their strategies while teaching their younger siblings a series of block tasks increasing in difficulty. Results indicated that older siblings effectively scaffolded for their younger siblings by providing a greater number of teaching strategies in the more challenging tasks. Also, across all tasks, siblings were more likely to employ a greater number of strategies when learners were younger. Finally, a larger age gap between older and younger siblings was related to use of a greater number of teaching strategies across all tasks. Findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to the knowledge of children's abilities to teach their younger siblings and how these interactions may promote cognitive, social and emotional skills for both teachers and learners. Clearly, teachers took account of developmental differences in their scaffolding strategies and results provide strong support for current social cognitive approaches (Rogoff, 1990)