ABSTRACT

The study investigated helping behaviors in two laboratory preschool classes in a university in thePhilippines and the contexts in which these behaviors were displayed. Using non-participant observation,34 children between 3 to 5 years old were video recorded at least one hour for nine days spread across aperiod of one month during unstructured class activities. Storytelling sessions followed the observationto identify the ideas children have about helping. Data were organized using event samples and groupedaccording to Bar-Tal’s categories of (a) sharing, (b) aiding, (c) comforting, and (d) giving. A total of 380incidents of helping behaviors were noted. Findings suggest that aiding (55.79%) is the most displayedhelping behavior followed by sharing (34.21%), giving (8.16%), and comforting (1.84%). The helpingbehaviors were mostly self-initiated (52.37%) and routine-based (32.9%) rather than adult- (13.32%),peer-initiated (10.53%) or modeled behaviors (0.79%). These findings are attributed to the socializationof the class routine and rules at the beginning of the semester.

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