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20 February
NO 1267
Activities
Every child-care worker knows that he can do certain things even before the start of the activity that will influence the course the activity will follow. Group-work practitioners know that manipulation of space, time, props, and materials can alter the way in which groups will approach and carry out activities (Churchill, 1959); but the activities themselves, also have "built-in" dimensions, or component parts, which have a good deal to do with the behavior of the participants. Since these six dimensions are relevant to all activities, they bear obvious relevance to the child-care worker who is attempting to select an activity for his group. The six dimensions are explained below (Vinter, 1967, pp. 98-100) :
1. Prescriptiveness of the pattern of constituent performances. This is simply the degree and range of rules required by the activity. For example, contrast the complex set of rules governing a game of chess and the relatively few rules governing a simple children's game like "Leapfrog." "Monopoly" is a more prescriptive board game than "Chutes and Ladders," and arts and crafts activities usually have a fairly high degree of rules and structure compared to an activity like free swimming, which has a low degree of prescriptiveness.
2. Institutionalized controls governing participant activity. This refers to the form and source of controls exercised over participants during the activity. Controls are sometimes embodied in a person (participant) or in a person representing a body of rules (umpire, referee) or simply in a set of rules commonly accepted by the participants. Controls, whether personal or impersonal, not only determine the conduct of the activity at a given moment but also determine who may participate. The "It" person in a children's game may exercise a high degree of control over fellow participants (as in "Redlight" or "Simon Says"), or a relatively low degree of control (as in "Hide and Seek").
3. Provision for physical movement. This is the extent to which participants are required or permitted to move about in the activity setting. Some activities (running, swimming) have considerably more provision for physical movement than others (contract bridge).
4. Competence required for performance. This dimension refers to the minimum level of ability required to participate in the activity, but not to the competence required to excel or win. For example, some activities require a low level of beginning competence for participation (group singing, dodge ball) while others require a fairly well developed skill (water skiing, horse-back riding).
5. Provision for participant interactiveness. This is the way in which the activity-setting locates and engages participants so that interaction among them is required or provoked. For example, building individual airplane models in a crafts' room would have less provision for participant interactiveness than a game of baseball or "tug-o-war." Interaction may he verbal and/or nonverbal.
6. Reward structure. This refers to the types of rewards available, their abundance or scarcity, and the manner in which they are distributed. Some rewards are intrinsic to the activity (creating a piece of sculpture), while others derive from secondary sources in the setting (receiving praise for excelling, releasing tension legitimately, and improving skill). The distribution of rewards may be distinguished from their scarcity or abundance, although these characteristics are related. Obviously. if there are fewer rewards than participants, they must be unequally distributed. In competitive play – whatever intrinsic gratifications are derived by all players through participation – only one side may win. In many activities, certain positions or roles provide more rewards for their occupants than do others. In baseball, for example, the pitcher, catcher, and infield may gain greater rewards than their fellow players in the outfield.
One final dynamic in examining the reward structure concerns who is leading the activity. For example, some activities become almost completely associated with a particular staff member to the point where suggestion of the activity on the part of another staff member will lead to apathetic responses or significantly less enjoyment on the part of the participants.
JAMES K. WHITTAKER
REFERENCES
Churchill, Sally. (1959) Prestructuring group content. Social Work, 4, 3. pp. 52-59.
Vinter, Robert, D. (1967). Program activities: An analysis of their effects on participant behavior. (Vinter, Robert D. Ed.). Group Work Practice. Ann Arbor, Mich. Campus Publishers.
Whittaker, James, K. (1969). Program activities: Their selection and use
in a therapeutic milieu. In Trieschman, Albert, E; Whittaker,
James, K. and Brendtro, Larry, K. The Other 23 Hours: Child care
work with emotionally disturbed children in a therapeutic milieu.
New York. Aldine de Gruyter. pp.103-105.
