observation project

The following guiding questions will assist you in focusing and organizing your observations.  Clearly, you will not be able to notice all of these areas within the limitations of the provided videos.  We are aware of that.

So….do the best you can!

physical development

(physical growth) What differences do you see in the body/skeletalgrowth of all of the children that you observed?

(gross motor skills) What differences do you see in children’sability to run, jump, throw a ball, catch a ball, climb stairs, pull out achair and scoot in a chair?

(fine motor skills) What differences do you see in children’s abilityto dress, draw pictures, print letters, write in cursive, include detail and depth dimension in drawings

cognitive/linguistic development

(play) What differences do you see in children’s play behavior? Oneexample of cognitive development is the ability to represent onething as another (use a paper as a hat). Is there evidence ofrepresentational play? The ability to make a plan and act in anorganized way are other examples of cognitive achievements. Doplay activities seem planned and organized?

(language & communication) What differences do you see in children’s ability to communicate effectively with the teacher? With one another? Notice differences in nonverbal communication and language use

(attention & memory) What differences do you see in children’sability to attend to activities? Are some children more distractiblethen others? Are some children better able to sit and attend forlonger periods of time? Do you see any evidence of the relationshipbetween attention and memory? Do the non-attenders remember information if asked? Do you see evidence of rehearsal strategiesused by children?

(cognition and academic learning) What differences do you see inchildren’s reading skills (fluency, decoding, and comprehension)?What differences do you see in children’s math skills (number sense,math facts, computation, problem solving)?

social/emotional development

(self concept) What indicators do you see of the children’sdeveloping self-concept? Do some children compare their ownperformance to that of their peers? How do they describethemselves? “I am good at….I’m don’t like…I like….”

(empathy) What indicators do you see of the children’s developing sense of empathy for others?  Do you see children comfort others?  Do you see children taking sides with an underdog?  Do you see children encourage others?

(friendships) What differences do you see in children’s developingfriendship behaviors? Are children generally alone? With asignificant single friend? With groups of peers? With adults?