SIMPLE INTERACTIONS

  • HOME
  • WHAT WE DO
    • SI Overview
    • SI Process
    • Q & A
  • THE SI TOOL
    • Connection
    • Reciprocity
    • Inclusion
    • Opportunity To Grow
  • SI IN ACTION
    • Early Childhood
    • Out of School Learning
    • Community
    • K-12 Schools
    • Residential Care
    • Children's Health
    • SI + Technology
    • SI during COVID
  • Our Colleagues
  • Resources
    • Publications
    • Talks
    • SI Tool Kit
    • Featured SI Stories
  • CONTACT
  • HOME
  • WHAT WE DO
    • SI Overview
    • SI Process
    • Q & A
  • THE SI TOOL
    • Connection
    • Reciprocity
    • Inclusion
    • Opportunity To Grow
  • SI IN ACTION
    • Early Childhood
    • Out of School Learning
    • Community
    • K-12 Schools
    • Residential Care
    • Children's Health
    • SI + Technology
    • SI during COVID
  • Our Colleagues
  • Resources
    • Publications
    • Talks
    • SI Tool Kit
    • Featured SI Stories
  • CONTACT

REciprocity

When we engage with others, whether to play, talk, learn, or teach, we take on different roles. The root word for “reciprocity” is to receive. The dimension of Reciprocity is trying to capture the giving and receiving within an interaction.
​
We identify three common modes of the roles of engagement in joint, reciprocal activities.
  • X: Interaction with one-sided direction from an adult and children resist or disengage.
  • Y: Interaction with one-sided direction from an adult and children comply or engage.
  • Z: Interactions where the adult and child(ren) share a balanced, reciprocal partnership (it is difficult to tell who is directing or who is following).

Note: For both X and Y, a child can be the one doing the one-sided direction as well. As one of our colleagues often says, “Don’t be stuck on the sizes of the heads”. For those who use the tools for more general purposes (beyond adult-child), you can even consider all the heads to be the same size.

In cultures where individual agency and initiative are particularly valued, there is a tendency to prefer “child-directed” or “youth-led” interactions over “adult-led” or “adult-directed” ones. In fact, observational and assessment tools (e.g., classroom quality assessment, teacher evaluation) often assign higher scores to moments driven by children or students rather than adults or teachers. In our fieldwork and research, we find that it is developmentally necessary for children to experience diverse modes of interaction. Often, adults do have to lead and direct, even when children are resistant. Sometimes, children are quite happy to follow adults’ lead to learn and emulate. That is why we did not put a “child-led” illustration at the Z end of the dimension. Our analysis of engagement roles can go beyond ideologies (e.g., always youth-led or always teacher-led) and consider the specific activity contexts and situations.

What is important is not the particular mode we happen to be in at the moment, but how and why (developmentally) we move between the modes. That applies to all the dimensions as well.
Picture

REciprocity in motion

<< connection
Picture
inclusion >>

our mission

To encourage, enrich, and empower human interactions around children and their helpers.
​
For more information check out our social media pages below or email us at [email protected] 

Home   what we do   the si tooL   SI in action   OUR COLLEAGUES   contact

The development of the Simple Interactions approach included contributions from many individuals and institutions.

Simple Interactions is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. All of the content and resources on this website are made free and accessible under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. Please review the terms before using and sharing.

All content is property of Simple Interactions, Inc. ©