Please watch at least 10 minutes of one of the videos provided below and make observations of the children’s interactions. Video 1 is of a free play session primarily focused on the interaction of two children but there are kids doing things in the background so be sure to watch them:
Take notes about what you see and hear such as the children’s physical activities, conversations, reasoning, emotional expressions, gendered behaviors, complexity of play, and how adults, if present, respond to them. Then, use these observations to demonstrate topics covered in this class, especially how physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional skills interact.
For example, watching a group of 7-year-old children playing a game could illuminate numerous topics such as perspective taking, linguistic over-extension, moral reasoning (cheating, evolving rules), mathematic skill (to keep score), gender stereotypic behavior (type of game, who is in charge), scaffolding, bullying, cooperation, and physical ability (gross and fine motor).
After you view a video or observe children in real time and make observations, you will write 2-4 pages about what you observed and how it ties into the topics we have covered in this class. Be sure to include the following information:
Who you observed (5 points; 2.5 points per observation):
Describe which video you watched and a description of the children you observed OR
Describe the real time event you observed including descriptions of the environment and children. You want to give context here so describe the scene/environment.
**Describe the activities and interactions that you observed. At least two different observations (they can be the same children but different points in the interaction or different children). Be sure to use rich descriptions (which will help me assess the credibility of the interpretations you make).
What did you observe and what did it demonstrate: (18 points)
At least three different aspects of child development must be presented (e.g., physical, cognitive, language, etc.). (6 points per aspect)
What aspects of child development do these observations demonstrate? Be sure to focus on things we’ve covered in class and connect them well to the description you’ve given. The description must include support of the constructs from class and fully support why your example is a good one for that aspect of development. (A label alone without explanation will lose half of the points, you must provide a definition for the terms you are using.)
Writing Quality: (2 points)
Proofread your work (grammatically correct sentences, coherent presentation, no typos or spelling errors, no contractions, no slang, verb tense is consistent, subject is clear, subject and verb match, no bullet points).
Use APA guidelines for references and citations as well as formatting (e.g., 1” margins, 12pt font, double spaced). No title page is needed. Avoid direct quoting the class material or textbook, instead paraphrase and cite.
Example of one observation and its interpretation: (From observing three 4-year-old girls in a sand box)
As the girls continued with their fantasy play in which the youngest was the baby and the others were her parents, the older two began to fight over the pots and pans. The girl with the blue shirt began to yell, “Its mine! I’m the mommy and I MUST cook! Give it back! Now!” She then began to cry, collapsing onto the sand. In response, the girl in the red shirt took the pots and began “cooking.” The content of the blue shirt girl’s rant demonstrated strong gender-typing, or children’s tendency to group certain activities with certain genders (cite lecture). Gender-typing at this age is common and children often start sorting activities, behaviors, and things into different genders once they identify as a boy or girl (cite lecture). In this case she has placed cooking in her schema of mothers or being a girl. Also, her tantrum showed a low level of emotional regulation, or how able a child is to control their emotional reactions (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2020). Given her age and how emotional regulation develops, it is not surprising that she struggled with controlling her feelings. Since she was not able to adjust the intensity of her reaction to a comfortable level, she was unable to reach her goal. Instead her uncontrolled anger stopped their game play and gave the “daddy” the pots.
