Running head: CHILD OBSERVATION STUDY PROJECT

Child Observation Study Project Madeline Webb Ivy Tech Community College Central Indiana Dr. Arlene Coleman

CHILD OBSERVATION STUDY PROJECT INTAS Standard, Description and Rationale Standard #1: Learner Developments The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences. Name of Artifact: Child Observation Study Project Date: September, 18, 2012 Course: EDUC 250 Brief Description: The Child observation study project required observing a subject in early childhood in the age groups of 3-5 or 6-8. The assignment involved testing the subject for cognitive, social/emotional, physical and motor development skills through interviews, games and activities to assess the development of the child over two observations sessions. Rationale: To document my understanding of Standard #1, Learner Development, I

selected to include my Child Observation Study because this assignment demonstrates my ability to observe important developmental milestones in my future students which allow me to asses through various cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional test if there are any developmental issues. The assignment allowed me to develop a firm understanding of the different developmental stages of young children and how every child develops differently.

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To teach effectively and ensure students are learning and growing, teachers must observe and record how a child behaves or completes different activities. Observation is an important part of learning, not only for the teacher, but also for the students they are teaching. The ability to be able to observe a child and notice areas of development that are lacking will allow the teacher and the student to focus on the issue and ensure that a child gains understanding and develops further in those areas. This paper will examine the observations made of an eight year old child. Observations and recommendations will be made after observing activities that test the subjects physical motor development, cognitive development, social/emotional development and language development. The activities administered by the researcher must be easy to assess and interpret the results as well as keeping the subject engaged and responsive to the activities. The process for this observation required two separate visits that lasted for a period of one to two hours each. The first visit comprised of interviewing the subject and asking questions to get to know them and make them feel comfortable with the researcher. The second visit was devoted to doing tests and recording answers given by the subject concerning the different subjects listed above. I. General Background Information

The subject is eight years old, and in third grade in elementary school. There are five members, including herself that make up her family. These include her Mom, Dad, Step-Dad, and Step-Sister. The subjects parents divorced four years ago and the subjects time is split evenly between the Mom and Dads houses. The initial interview was held with the Dad present around the subjects kitchen table. The second meeting just the researcher and subject were present. I interviewed the subject at their fathers house, so the daily schedule is based on a normal day when the subject is with their Dad.

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A typical schedule for the subject starts at 7:00am waking up and preparing to go school. Usually around 7:30am the subject would eat breakfast which typically was a bowl of cereal. The subject walks to school from their Dads house and takes 10-15 minutes. The school day starts at 8:30am with morning work. The rest of the day is scheduled below: 9:00-9:15 Carpet/calendar time 9:15 Pledge of allegiance 9:30- 10:30 Math 10:30- 11:30 Specials (gym, art, library, computers) 11:30-12:00 Lunch 12:00- 12:30 Recess 12:30 1:30 Carpet/reading time 1:30 2:30 Stations (noun sort, computer math games) 2:30 3:00 Pack up

Once the school day is over the subjects is transported to daycare in the daycare van provided. Usually the subject has time to play and socialize with other children in the afterschool program. They will also complete any homework that needs to be done and read books while waiting to be collected by their parents after they finish work. Her dad picks the subject up from daycare and takes her home where she will have a light snack before dinner and then a little while after dinner the subject may have a treat. The subject will bath at night to save time in the morning then prepare for bed by reading quietly in her room, saying her prayers and then going to sleep. From examining the subjects daily schedule the researcher has noticed that the subject is extremely busy and the subjects day is very scheduled. The researcher also noticed the subject eats very frequently throughout the day. Due to this observation the researcher questioned about

CHILD OBSERVATION STUDY PROJECT the snacks and treats the subject was eating. The subjects Dad stated the snack that the subject consumes are healthy and gave examples of grapes and apples. The Dad also stated that as the subjects is very busy with school and afterschool daycare that he wants the subject to have

enough energy to complete all the tasks necessary throughout her day. When discussing this with the subject, they expressed the idea that they have to have these treats and snacks even if they are not hungry. The child is developing fast and needs fuel to allow the body to function and grow properly. By giving the child snacks throughout the day, her energy levels will remain constant and they will be more likely to stay focused on tasks.

II. Physical and Motor Development According to Rosalind Charlesworth during the ages of six through 8 years of age, children begin to place great emphasis on the development of their own physical ability and skills (Charlesworth, 2004). Children want to excel in different physical activities and take great pride in showing their abilities in front of friends and peers to increase social recognition and status (charlesworth, 2004). After researching important milestones in physical ability for 8 years olds the researcher created a checklist of activities to test the subjects gross motor skills and fine motor skills. The information gathered came from a range of sources including Jeanne Ormrods, Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, Puckett & Black, The Young Child: Development from Pre-birth Through Age eight and Development in Young Children and the PBS website. Gross Motor Skills Activities and Observations: Activity Subject is able to changes clothes and groom themselves without assistance Yes X No Observations Dad confirmed childs ability to complete these tasks

CHILD OBSERVATION STUDY PROJECT Subject is able to throw and catch a ball, or catch a ball that is bounced to them Subject has the ability to ride a bicycle Subject can kick a ball with ability Subject can carry out household tasks (cleaning room, making bed) X X X X

6 Could throw and catch the ball. Dropped a few times Was a little shaky to start but gained control Can kick a ball and aim Confirmed by Dad of chores completed by subject

To assess the gross motor skills of the subject we changed our location to the subjects backyard. Here the subject demonstrated their ability to catch a thrown and bounced ball, ride their bicycle and kick the ball. To assess their ability with the other two activities are asked the subjects Dad if the subject needed help to get ready in the morning. His reply was no and that the subject had a good routine and rarely needs any help. I then asked if the subject performed any household chores. The Dad responded that the subject makes their bed and also helps to pack the dishwasher when needed, as well as get the morning paper. This shows the subject has good control over her gross motor skills and is able to complete multiple tasks that are expected of a child their age. Fine Motor Skills Activities: Activity Draws multiple shapes and figures with various implements Uses comb, toothbrush, washcloth without support Prints letter, numbers and has the ability to print backwards Cuts shapes clearly, easily Yes X X X X X No Observation Child drew her family using different colors and drawing materials Her dad confirmed the childs ability to perform these tasks Had some difficulty The child was able to cut out shapes

The next section to observe for physical and motor development was the subjects fine motor skills. The subject was asked to draw a picture of her family as well as cut out some shapes on a piece of paper. The drawing is attached to the back of this observation study. The subject was able to cut around the shape quite well and showed good fine motor control when

CHILD OBSERVATION STUDY PROJECT coloring in the lines of her picture. Again I confirmed the other two activity areas with the subjects Dad, which he confirmed the subjects ability to comb their hair and brush their teeth without assistance. Balance and Coordination Activities Activity Yes No X Observation

Good Balance hopping on spot, leaping X Ties shoes without help X Creates dances with simple rhythm X

Struggled a little to keep balance hopping Able to tie shoes Did the chicken dance

To test balance and coordination I did a couple of extra activities such as hopping on one leg in a standing position. Then hopping across the backyard and leaping as far as we could. The subject did find it hard to hop up and down for a long period of time. The subject had good hand eye coordination when catching the ball as well as being able to tie their shoelaces. From my observations of these physical activities I believe the subject has developed very well in all areas of physical development for someone their age. III. Cognitive Development When assessing the subjects cognitive development the researcher used tests produced by the psychologist Piaget. Piaget developed many tests and activities for children to monitor their cognitive development. There are four stages to Piagets theory. Due to the subjects age, they would be placed in the concrete operations stage. Ormrods explanation of this stage states an adult like logic appears but is limited to reasoning about concrete, real-life situations(Ormrod, 2011). The researcher used two activities to test the subjects ability to reason. The first test used 14 pennies, separated evenly into two rows of seven and is used to observe the subjects conservation on numbers ability. The following questions were asked with the subjects responses:

CHILD OBSERVATION STUDY PROJECT Researcher: Are these two rows of pennies equal? Do they have the same amount? Subject: Yes. Researcher: How do you know? Subject: Because I counted and there are seven pennies in both rows. The researcher then spaced the second row of pennies out in front of the subject and asked the following questions: Researcher: Do both rows of pennies still have the same amount? Subject: Yes. Researcher: How do you know that both rows have the same amount? Subject: because you just moved the pennies and didnt take any away or add more. The next activity involved using two clay balls and a kitchen scale. The researcher made sure the two balls weighed the same and confirmed the weight with the subject. Then the researcher squashed one ball like a pancake and asked the subject if they think the ball will still weigh the same. The subjects response was uncertain and took a lot of thought before they answered question. The subjects response was that it would weigh the same, using the same reasoning as the pennies that I did not add or take away any clay. Based on these two tests it is

clear to see that the subjects ability to form concrete operations and understand conservation has developed quite well. The subject did not seem overly confident in her ability and did question her answers but was satisfied that she was correct after weighing the squashed piece of clay.

IV. Social/Emotional Development To examine this portion of the observation, the researcher asked the subject a range of questions to assess their social/emotional development. Childrens self-evaluations and peer

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relationships provide their degree of self-esteem and it is important that these skills develop well for the child to feel confident throughout their life (Charlesworth, 2004). The questions are based of Ericksons stages of Psychological Development. Erikson theorized that there are eight stages through which people proceed over the course of development. Each stage presents a unique development task, and how an individual addresses it influences the persons general mental health and progress through later stages (Ormrod, 2011). The subject is eight years old and is consider to be in the Industry versus Inferiority (elementary school years) stage. Erikson believed that this stage was essential in developing a childs self-confidence through praise and support from teachers, parents, and peers with all activities and assignments children do during elementary school (Ormrod, 2011). How a person views themselves can lend itself to how socially and emotionally developed they are, I asked the subject to describe themself. The subjected responded by saying blonde, tall, silly, funky and fun. From this response it seems that the subject has a good sense of self. They are still describing themself in a physical aspect which is another key sign of the childhood stage of development. The subjects comment about being fun and silly, however, represents an early adolescent characteristic according to the Ormrod. After talking to the subject more they seem fairly well adjusted and are very confident in themselves and their abilities. The subject is also involved in many sports and this can also contribute to their identities and feelings of competency that explains the subjects higher level on the scale (Charlesworth). Another way to examine the emotional development of the subject was to test the emotional understanding of the subject by asking questions where the answer would represent the subjects moral reasoning and pro-social behaviors (Ormrod, 2011). From the answers to the

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questions asked I place the child in-between level two (stage two) and level three (stage three) in Kohlbergs Levels of moral reasoning. The subject showed empathy towards others when asked if she would help a stranger if they dropped things on the ground by stating that, I would want someone to help me if I dropped my things. She also showed an understanding of doing things lawfully and not resorting to other means when she answered a question about stealing to save someones life because you do not have enough money for medicine. The subjects response was, No, I would try to raise money by doing things, like chores, for people. As the subjects father is a police officer it is understandable that the subject has good moral reasoning from family influence and their environment. Finally an important area in all cultures is gender differences. During the interview, discussion of gender identity and gender roles came up and the subject was asked questions about the roles in society. The researcher listed a number of jobs and asked the subject to say if they thought the person in this job would more likely be a boy or a girl. The answers are below: Teacher: Girl Police officer: Boy Firefighter: Boy President of the United States: Boy Nurse: Girl Doctor: Boy

The subjects responses were very stereotypical and that is to be expected at this age of development. As the subjects father is a police officer her answer to the police officer was to be expected. However the subjects mother is a firefighter and yet the subjects answer to that was still a boy. This was an interesting twist that the researcher had not been expecting.

CHILD OBSERVATION STUDY PROJECT According to Puckket & Black gender identity and role behaviors are evident in their mannerisms, language, play choices and friendships (Puckett & Black 2005). In terms of

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relationships the researcher asked the subject about their friends at school. The subject stated that the boys and girls did not interact very much and the girls hung out with girls and the boys hung out with boys rather than mixing. This answer by the subject confirms Puckett & Blacks text that around second and third grade, children tend to segregate themselves accoriding to gender, preferring single-sex play groups (Pucket & Black, 2005). V. Language Development Children at ages six through eight begin to use more sophisticated language (Puckett & Black, 2005). The subject seemed very well spoken and is bilingual speaking both French and English. In our text, it states that children who are familiar with Standard English have an easier time learning to read than those who are not (Ormrod, 2011). The subject has been reading since age five and from our conversations has a good understanding of syntax, speaks with a large vocabulary and understands how the pragmatics of language work to converse better with others. From this the researcher concludes that the subjects ability to use language to express themselves as well as written work to test fine motor development shows the subject is developing on track in this area. VI. Reactions, Recommendations and Application The child observation study was extremely beneficial in teaching myself methods of observation and learning key developmental characteristics of a child at this age. If I were to do the observation study again I would try and spend more time with the child and do even more tests. I would also like to follow up with the subject one year later and see how results from the tests may have changed as they grow 1 year older. The subject seems very well developed for her

CHILD OBSERVATION STUDY PROJECT age and has a supportive home environment that fosters her learning and education. The child

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can read very well and is able to perform all the motor development skills successfully. Perhaps an area to address is gender identity and trying to write words and numbers backwards to further develop fine motor skills. I was very impressed with the subject and enjoyed the experience.

CHILD OBSERVATION STUDY PROJECT References Charlesworth, R. (2004). Understanding child development (6th ed.). Thomson. Child developmment tracker. (2012). Retrieved 2012, from http://www.pbs.org.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/ parents/childdevelopmenttracker/eight/index.html Puckett, M. B., & Black, J. K. (2005). The young child: Development from prebirth through age eight (4th ed.). Columbus, OH: Pearson. Ormrod, J. E., (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners. Boston, MA: Pearson.

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