Category: Child Observation

Introduction

Early Childhood development is a vital process that begins from birth to five years of age. Areas of early childhood development such as cognitive, emotional, physical, social and fine motor skills provide essential developmental benefits to young children, in all future aspects of their lives. The aim of the observation report is to attain a practical understanding of early childhood development and its direct correlation to young children. The observation report, will observe and compare areas of development through the use of literature and child developmental screening checklist. This will directly relate to social, language, artistic and emotional development as well as conservation tasks, a theory by Jean Piaget (Garhart Mooney,2013).

In this report the young child is referred to as “Finn”, to protect his identity and privacy. Finn is a young Caucasian male child and was 4 years old at the time of filming. Finn resided with both of his parents and currently had no bothers or sisters. Finn was observed through a video recording which was filmed by his father on December 18th 2011. The video recording runs for twelve minutes and forty two seconds and is an observation report conducted by a young male peer, with set activities and questions for Finn to complete.

Method

The observation checklist method discussed by (Fawcett & Watson,2016) was used to asses Finn, through video analysis of an informal interaction with a young male peer and Finn’s father in December 2011. The opportunity to conduct a naturalistic observation method mentioned by (Fawcett & Watson,2016) with Finn was super limited due to the method of non live interaction and the prepared activities being utilised in the video. The checklist had limitations as well discussed by Fawcett & Watson (2016) it gave no quality/reasons for the behaviour that was selected and was often trivial because the observation relied on the questions compiled into the checklist ( See Appendix A). Although in this case the child developmental screening checklist ( See Appendix A), was an appropriate option as it provided a time efficient and simple process to record Finns development while watching the video. The checklist allowed for the noting of behaviours as soon as they occurred and produced an easy to read record (Fawcett & Watson,2016)of the observation. The benefit to observing Finn on video using the checklist instead of live interaction and a naturalistic method, meant the ability to replay and pause the observation.

Results

Social Development

Finn seems to have good social skills. At the start of video Finn appears a very confident, quiet spoken young boy with the young male peer asking him to line up M&M’s. Finn is very happy and willing to participate from the very start and as they proceed to line up and count the M&M’s, Finn seems to get much louder with excitement from enjoying the activity. Finn also responds to the questions he is asked within context and is very eager to answer right away without delay. Finn seems very happy to be interacting with a male peer a little older, he is not shy or quiet at all during the M&M activity.Finn interacted with the young male peer very well and was comfortable in the setting and followed all instructions from an older peer through out the observation with no real present difficulty. Over all Finn seems socially happy in his observed environment.

Language Skills

Finns language is very understandable and clear. His communication with the young male peer was effortless and easy for the peer to understand. Finn could understand direct instructions and follow almost all of them correctly. Finn was using appropriate loudness for the setting and has a wide range of words he uses to communicate. When counting M&M’s Finn counted from 1-7 very clearly and precise and counted relatively quick to 7. Finn also can form sentences as well as give detailed explanations as to why, this is evident when Finn was completing the water in the glass activity. This activity involved the young male peer to pour glasses of water all of the same volume into different shaped glasses to see if Finn would differentiate by volume or size of the cup. Finn was able to ask for different coloured texter’s while drawing a picture of his family and also explain through words who each person was. During the question time part Finn was able to answer scenario type questions with more than 5 word sentences. Overall Finns language skills seem to be developing strongly.

Fine Motor Skills

When Finn was asked to draw a picture of his family, Finn drew more then 3 and 6 part people. Finn also used different colours for each person/pet and was elaborate on feature such as hair, nose, ears etc, Finn exclaimed “Mummy has a ponytail because she is a girl”. Finn also explained who he was drawing, their names and described what they looked like as he was completing the picture. When holding the texter Finn had a pretty reasonable grip at the end of the texter, which is good as it will give him better control when drawing. Finn also drew circles and lines with ease and was familiar with joining them together. Finn also had no trouble making a straight line with the M&M’s. Overall Finn seems to be developing confident drawing skills within his fine motor skill set.

Emotional Development

Finn was asked to line up pieces of paper from smallest to biggest.The young male peer tried to explain it a few times but Finn seemed to being having trouble grasping the explanation he was receiving. Eventually his father explained “like a staircase” and he kind of grasped the concept but not enough to complete the task, when prompted if he would like to try again he simply replied “no”. Finn seems to handle disappointment well as he didn’t get angry he couldn’t complete the task. Finn definitely is more relaxed and happy towards the end of the observation compared to the beginning, sharing his thoughts and feelings while drawing. Overall Finn appears as a very emotionally happy child.

Cognitive Development

Finns cognitive development was observed through the M&M’s, water in the glasses and the scenario type questions activities. During each of the three activities you could observe Finn thinking and problem solving. During the M&M’s he was questioned if his or the young male peers M&M line was longer. Finn guessed wrong but you could see him trying to make an assumption on which was the bigger line. With the water in the glass and the scenario type questions Finn was using problem solving to think of explanations as to why or how to answer the questions to the best of his knowledge. Finn seems to enjoy problem solving and deep analytical thinking.

Discussion

Social Development

According to Sharma & Cockerill (2007) 4-5 year old children’s development involves having growing understanding of rules of which Finn displayed while undertaking the observation activities. (p. 77) Finn also had supervision from his father while interacting with the young male peer as well as support with social understanding which is normal for children of 4-5 years of age according to Sharma & Cockerill’s (2007) within table 6 key stages of social development. (p. 77) Finn is in the 4 year old range for co-operative (creation of fantasy scenarios) and narrative play (negotiation with peers and appreciation of rules) according to table 7 cognitive and social sequences of play by Sharma & Cockerill (2007). During Finns observation he participated in scenario based questions which showed he is capable of co-operative play, he was also using narrative play to complete the observation by negotiating to buy M&M’s in the first activity and also via listening to the instructions given for each activity and following it through. Overall Finns social development seems to be within the developmental aspects for a child of his age according to Children’s Developmental Progress Social Behaviour and Play by Sharma & Cockerill. (2007)

Language Skills

Buckley (2003) states that by the age of 4.5 years a child’s pronunciation closely resembles that of an adult. Finn’s pronunciation was clear, easily understood and not misinterpreted which is within the expectations of Buckley. (2003) Finn held good conversation at time which was initiated by the young male peer during the activities apparently this is because children’s abilities to hold conversation progress (Buckley, 2003) and at around the age of 4 they develop control over devices, such as repeating ‘and . . .’ to indicate they have not yet finished speaking (Pan and Snow 1999; Buckley, 2003). Buckley (2003) mentions at four years of age stories grow in size, have a main character, item or scene. Children will portray the series of events in novel from beginning , middle and ending with detailed information,Finn portrayed these aspects when he was drawing the picture of his family. Overall Finn’s language seems within developmental range according to children’s communication skills by Buckley. (2003)

Fine Motor Skills

Finns fine motor skills assessed via the observation showed Finn’s drawing skills and enthusiasm is very normal as suggested by Dinham & Chalk (2017) the Arts subjects represent powerful ways for young children to ‘be in their world’ – experiencing, investigating, expressing and sharing. According to Dinham & Chalk (2017) Finn is developing practices and understandings of the world and everyday life through his drawing of his family. Through drawing Finn’s fine motor skills improve but it also enables to learn about perceptions, emotions and thoughts. (Gardner, 1980; Malchiodi, 1988; Steele, 1998). Creative, learning in the Arts such as drawing which Finn thoroughly enjoys, provides children with ‘room to move’ through opportunities to make decisions, solutions to problems, arrive at individual interpretations, express their own perceptions, ideas and feelings, and direct their learning (Adair Keys, 2014; Dinham & Chalk,2017 ). As suggested by Dinham & Chalk, Finn should continue drawing to develop his fine motor skills but essentially to help express his own self as children lead through learning with a sense of personal authority.

Emotional Development

Wasserman & Zambo (2013) suggest emotional development is built into the architecture of the human brain and as young children like Finn develop, early emotional experiences become embedded in the architecture of their brains (Fogel et al., 2009 ). The interrelated development of emotions and cognition relies on the emergence, maturation, and interconnection of complex neural circuits in multiple areas of the brain according to Wasserman & Zambo(2013). These functions are intimately involved in the development of problem-solving skills of which Finn would have used when he did the water in the glass activity and the scenario based questions. (Dinstein et al., 2008 ). Finn has obviously used emotional experiences to gain better understanding of problem solving and reasoning with doubts, as he held his emotions together when he struggled at times through out the observation especially during the arrangement of the smallest to biggest paper test. Overall Finn seems emotionally stable through out the observation suggesting he is developing well according to Wasserman & Zambo’s explanations of emotional development.

Cognitive Development

Piagets stages of cognitive development shown in figure 4.1 (Garhart, 2013) show the preoperational stage of 2-7 years of age. Preoperational stage means that a child is gaining knowledge from first hand experiences of life. Garhart (2013) mentions telling children something is less effective than finding a way to help them think their own way through a problem, this was definitely present when observing Finn. Through Garhart (2013) Piagets theory of conservation tasks explains that due to inexperience, most young children would initially be surprised that a beach ball is lighter than a baseball. Unable to separate height from age, preoperational children will insist that the tallest person is the oldest.(p. 56) Using Piaget’s conservation task theory, the young male peer conducted a water glasses test. The young male peer filled glasses of different shape and size all with the same volume amounts, to see if Finn would determine via volume or size/shape. Finn is well with in his developmental aspects as Finn chose via shape/size over volume as this was his best perception estimation he could make given his age.

Conclusion

In conclusion compared with the literature, Finn seems to be on a reasonable path of social, language, fine motor skills-artistic, emotional and cognitive development. During the observation all of the areas discussed about Finn’s development seemed to be at preforming level for a 4 year old. Finn showed great interest in actively participating with adults, the questions as well as the props. Finn also showed a keen interest in art especially drawing and was very narrative of his drawing in good relative detail. Finn spoke with clear language that was easily interpreted by the adults and also had no difficulty in communicating with adults or people older than him self. Fin handled his emotions well through out the observation even when faced with harder activities he stayed focused and used problem solving and analysis to make an informed decision. Overall the observation has provided an outcome with satisfactory results in relation to early childhood development and its direct relation to young children.

References

1. Fawcett, M., & Watson, Debbie. (2016). Learning through child observation (Third ed.).
2. Sharma, A., & Cockerill, H. (2007). From birth to five years : Children’s developmental progress.
3. Buckley, B., & Buckley, B. (2003). Children’s communication skills : From birth to five years.
4. Dinham, J., & Chalk, B. (2017). It’s arts play : Young children belonging, being and becoming through the arts.
5. Wasserman, L., & Zambo, Debby. (2013). Early Childhood and Neuroscience – Links to Development and Learning (1st ed. 2013. ed., Educating the Young Child, Advances in Theory and Research, Implications for Practice, 7)
6. Garhart, M. C. (2013). Theories of childhood, second edition : An introduction to dewey, montessori, erikson, piaget & vygotsky.

Naturalistic observation is when researchers perform an observation by carefully watching and listening to children in their everyday environment. The observer must record everything the child speaks about and the movements the child are doing. When the researcher is doing a naturalistic observation, he observes how the child behaves, interacts during activities, expresses themselves, and how the child speaks without an adult intervening.

There are two different types of observation: participant observation and non-participant observation. Participant observation is when the practitioner involves themselves in the child’s activities and interacts with the child, while non-participant is when an observation allows the child partitioner to observe the child without getting involved or interacting with the child and the activities that the child is engaging in. It is extremely important that a naturalistic observation gets completed as it gives the practitioner and the parent a better understanding of the child’s strengths, weaknesses, abilities, interests, and stages of development the child is at.

Naturalist observation is usually the best way to observe a child as long as the child is unaware that they are being observed, as they can show their natural behavior and the researcher is more likely to get more of a realistic and accurate reaction of the child they are observing. When the practitioner is using naturalist observation, the results they have received from observing the child are real and not thought out in advance. The researcher can learn more about the child, such as their likes and dislikes, and gain more insight into the child’s development.

But naturalistic observation also has its drawbacks. Naturalistic observation is time-consuming when observing a child that is unaware that they are being observed, it may take the child longer to act or show expected behavior. Although the child practitioner would be able to get a natural reaction, this may take time for the observer since the child would have to be observed over and over again to recognize a pattern of behavior. The child may be aware that they are being observed, and this can result in the child acting in an unnatural way. The observer can miss recording details about the child if they aren’t paying close enough attention, which can lead to missing important information they may need to give an accurate report.

In summary, I think naturalistic observation is an excellent research method, especially when working with children. Thanks to it, the researcher can get valuable information about the child and its development, both physical and mental. And although this method has its drawbacks, the advantages still exceed.

Observations allow you to shortly see into a person’s life. From observing people, you can analyze behavior to see what stage of development they are in. In my observation, I will be studying a five-year-old girl I babysit for thirty minutes in her home. She is of Caucasian ethnicity. She has light brown hair and light blue eyes. The setting is her living room/playroom. During this time, I will be examining aspects such as actions, interaction with others, and body language. After the thirty minutes, I will then interpret what I observed.

It was around 8:30 p.m. and she was jumping around singing along to her favorite movie’s soundtrack. She decides to put on her pajamas to match the movie (‘Frozen’). She skips to her room and dresses herself, throwing her dirty clothes in her laundry basket. All of this without me telling her anything. This is an example of motor skills/milestones. I could see that for her age she has met the appropriate milestones, maybe even exceeding them. She dresses herself without anyone telling her to and puts her dirty clothes in the laundry basket. In addition to all of this, she skips, hops, and runs. At age five, children should be able to say their name and address, dress themselves, along with being able to skip and hop. It is evident that she is far in her development as far as meeting milestones.

After her pajamas are on, she imagines that the carpet under her feet is ice. She begins to ‘skate’ with her stuffed animal Olaf. She then calls the rest of her toys to join them and begins to skate with all of them. She tells them: “Be careful!”. She seems genuinely worried that her toys will get hurt on the ‘ice’. She continues to pretend she is Elsa from the movie. She sings and dances along what she imagines to be ice. From observing these five minutes of playtime, I connected this with Piaget’s cognitive stages of development. She had so much fun talking and skating with her toys in the snow. When in reality, she was only in her Frozen pajamas and in her living room. From these observations, I could infer she was in the preoperational stage. This is the second stage of Piaget’s cognitive stages of development. In this stage, children believe that objects are actually alive. Anything she saw in the movie ‘Frozen’ she believed was real. At this age, her imagination takes her anywhere. This is very important as developing imagination allows them to develop language along with complex thoughts.

Furthermore, during playtime with her toys, I observed some of the things she would say. She would tell her toys, “Don’t go faster than me!”. She would also say, “Make sure you follow me, okay?”. She was very in control of her toys and made sure they did what she wanted them to do. This behavior correlates with Erikson’s psychosocial stage. She is in her early childhood and the initiative vs. guilt stage. Children in this stage are developing a sense of initiative. She has the freedom to play and come up with anything her imagination allows her to. During this play, she takes some sort of control. This is a very important stage because children who do not develop a sense of initiative may grow up scared of attempting new things. This is where the guilt aspect comes in. If children are kept from developing leadership, they could establish a feeling of guilt. From observing her play, I could construe that she was definitely developing initiative rather than guilt.

Lastly, this observation was late at night, minutes before her mother got home. She was cuddled up on the couch while watching her favorite movie. She was playful and content the whole time. Her mother walked in and she was excited to see her. Her mother left something in her car, so she stepped out for a moment. The girl searched and asked for her mom, but was still content playing with her toys and watching the movie. Once her mother stepped back in, she was excited to greet her again. This small observation led me to Ainsworth’s attachment style. From this encounter, I can tell she sees her mother as someone who brings her comfort and protection. She was not in any kind of intense distress when she stepped out for a moment. She did search for her, but she knew she was coming back. There are many different kinds of attachment characteristics. Children who are ambivalent and attached are usually very wary around strangers and have great distress when their parents leave. I was a stranger to her, and she seemed herself around me. In addition to that, she was not in intense distress when her mother stepped out for a moment. So, I knew this was not the case with her. Kids with avoidant attachment characteristics usually avoid their parents and do not seek comfort. She ran and greeted her mother as soon as she walked through the door. Therefore, she could not have this kind of attachment either. Disorganized attachment characteristics in children consist of resistant and avoidant behavior. Children are usually confused and with a mix of behaviors. Evidently, she did not demonstrate any of these. Secure attachment characteristics include children being able to seek comfort from their parents, greet parents, and are okay if they are separated from their parents. Based on these observations, I concluded that the five-year-old has a secure attachment to her mother.

To sum it all up, I observed a five-year-old in her home for a total amount of thirty minutes and analyzed her behavior. Based on these observations I concluded that she has met the appropriate milestones for her age. I also inferred that she is in the preoperational stage of her development, which is a part of Piaget’s cognitive stages of development. As well as observing that she was developing initiative and rather than finding a sense of guilt, she was developing a sense of power and independence. Lastly, I analyzed that she has a secure attachment to her mother. In just thirty minutes of observing the behavior of this five-year-old girl, I learned so much about her development. While I only observed a short moment of her life, from observations I was able to evaluate where she was in her development.

Observation, defined as a way of looking at something very carefully, plays a key role in the Montessori classroom. Observation can help you know the child better which builds trust and improves the relationship with the child. A child feels safe and secure when they sense that you know them. Observation also helps in providing examples of what children know and can do, that you can share with their families. Family members love hearing stories about the child and his progress. Observing is more than just sitting and watching with the hopes that something may happen. It’s more about the understanding of the child or the situation they are in, and assessing it. Ultimately, it is trying to have a connection with the behavior and inner state of the child. The goal is to understand and respond to the developmental needs of the child and to try and remove the obstacles to make the process successful and peaceful. According to Dr. Maria Montessori, observation is an art which has to be exercised and practiced continuously.

Observation is one of the most vital teaching tools for any directress in a Montessori classroom. The main aim of observing is to follow the child, and help them find their strengths. Through observation, the directress can evaluate if the child is prepared for the material in the classroom. By observing several different aspects, the directress can better assess if the child’s developmental goals are met. It also shows at what pace the child is learning, and perhaps if she can introduce a new lesson or activity to meet a specific need of a child. For example, the teacher observed that Albert was going into the library and reading books every day. She sat with him to talk about the book he was reading and realized that Albert was able to comprehend what he was reading. Albert was currently at the word building stage and this Observation helped the teacher progress him quickly to the reading material.

In a Montessori classroom observation involves three key steps:

• looking at the child
• documenting what we see
• reflecting upon what we see

By continuously observing, recording and collecting the information and then reflecting on the observation made about the child, it helps the directress process all the information and elevate her teaching method. Through observation the directress helps the children follow their interest and give them individualized personalized education. In the book “The Hidden Hinge” Packard says that

“Observation and a record of that observation go hand in hand. To observe without making a conscious statement of what you saw leaves you without a control of error. You only understand what you already knew. Making a record after an event allows information to consolidate. Gaps, inconsistencies irrelevancies patterns are revealed. Recording on the spot provides a disciplined focus for your observation, often enabling you to notice things frequently overlooked rather than merely taking in habitual kinds of information.” (Packard Pg. 123)

It takes time to really know and understand children. Just observing once will only give a sneak peek about the child. The more you observe the more you can have a better understanding and build a good relation with the child. As Maria Montessori says ‘ “ In order to do this, “a habit… must be developed by practice…. To observe it is necessary to be trained”. ’ ” (Lillard pg. 80)

The directress should not only observe and asses the child for their academic abilities but also for their social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development. For example, the teacher observed that Elizabeth was blinking her eyes often in the classroom. She then made a note of this and asked her other colleagues to observe as she needed a second opinion. Her colleagues also noticed the blinking thus confirming her initial observation. The teacher followed up on this by asking Elizabeth’s parents if she was having difficulty in seeing. They confirmed with her doctor that her eyesight was fine. Later, post ruling out any issues with the eyes and more detailed observation over a longer period, the teacher saw that the blinking was more prominent every time Elizabeth was asked a question or was put on the spot. After analyzing her notes the teacher understood the root cause of this and focused on making her comfortable in the classroom atmosphere. This helped Elizabeth get over the blinking to a significant extent.

The directress should know when to step in to offer guidance, and when to challenge a student with the next step in the learning sequence. While observing the teacher should be very soft spoken and quiet. While she is focused on one child, she should also keep her eye on the entire classroom. She should always remove any bias in her mind before her observation. To make sure that the judgments she makes are without bias she should ask another teacher to observe the same child and record what she notices. The directress should not worry about the right way of observing, or the perfect way of keeping the records, or making sure she sees everything. But instead she should allow herself to be curious about the children, should slow down, and be present while interacting with the children. She should only observe a few children every day, and work with her colleagues for second opinions. Maria Montessori says in her book The Montessori Method ‘ “ The teacher must bring not only the capacity, but the desire to observe natural phenomena. In our system, she must become a passive, much more than an active, influence, and her passivity shall be composed of anxious scientific curiosity, and of absolute respect for the phenomenon which she wishes to observe. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon.’ ” (Lillard pg.79)

Often teachers don’t get enough time to observe, since their time is mostly spent in classroom management and guiding the children in the classroom. The most important thing to remember is that observation makes the teaching process easy and not more difficult. It significantly improves the teacher’s ability to respond to the child appropriately, to understand the child’s needs, their level and give them the right lesson. Observation makes classroom management and planning the academic, social, intellectual growth of the child easier. This also helps the directress in being aware of each student’s progress as she works towards mastering the skill of observation.

Introduction

This essay will analyze two children’s mathematical thinking respectively in the context of mathematics assessment interview (foundation detour) and the context of free play. The analysis will review children’s current thinking level by the Australian Curriculum Mathematics Foundation Level learning content and achievement standards. After the analysis, critique will be given on the extent to which children’s mathematical thinking were enhanced in the event. In the end of the both sections, suggestions will be provided for the children’s further development on mathematical thinking.

1. Observation of the Foundation Detour

1.1 Context

The observation was conducted in an outstanding early learning center which exceeds five of the National Quality Standards and meets the rest two (Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority, Starting Blocks, 2017). An estimating number of 20 children were present at the 4-5 kinder room at the time of the interview.

With the help of my partner, who is an experienced in-service early year teacher, children quickly found their ease sitting with us. They became more open and talkative with us and gradually showed great interest in the interview activities.

The boy I interviewed, T, uses English as his first language and has been going to this early learning center at a daily basis for more than a year. He is very confident in making friends and solving daily mathematics-related problems. His educator reflected that in this room they planned multiple ways to blend mathematical learning subtly in various play like construction play.

1.2 Analysis – Linking the child’s thinking to Australian Curriculum

We decided that Nassem would interview first while I assisted and T watched. So at the point that T had his turn to play with the manipulatives, he was confident and informed about the activities he was going to engage in.

T can now “connect number names, numerals and quantities, including zero, initially up to 10” (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority[ACARA], Australian Curriculum[AC], ACMNA002, n.d), which is evident when he made a set of 5 teddies and answered “How many” questions. In another activity, T again showed that he was working towards this level by matching numeral cards with dot cards by 9/10 tests.

T has also established “understanding of the language and processes of counting by naming numbers in sequences” (ACARA, AC, ACMNA001, n.d), which is observed when he was checking the answers for the “(5+3) teddies” question by counting from 1 to 8. His ability to successfully put numeral cards 1-9 in correct order suggests that he could connect number with numerals and he has mastered the sequence of number then numerals. Meanwhile, T could subitise dot cards from 0 to 9, which outstands the content standards of “subitising a small group of objects” (ACARA, AC, ACMNA003, n.d).

As for geometry, T conveyed good understanding on the position words “besides”, “behind” and “in front of” when he put the teddies in the correct position following the directional language instruction. This is a sign that T is approaching the standards of “describing position and movement” (ACARA, AC, ACMMG010, n.d)

Besides, T is working towards the level to “compare, order and make correspondence between collections, initially to 20, and explain reasoning” (ACARA, AC, ACMNA289, n.d). He can now compare a small group of objects, 4 is the outmost number that was tested. Although he understood that one group had teddies than another small group and he could explain why, he had not yet understood the exact difference between sequential numbers. So he could not identify a number that was “one more than four”, or a number that is “one more than three”. As for ordinal numbers, T missed the correct answers when asked to identify the color in the teddies pattern. Hence, no evidence from the interview indicates that T could understand and use ordinal numbers.

Furthermore, T successfully adopted three ways to sum the number six using his fingers. Together with the success in the straw-sharing tasks, T demonstrated his skill of “using a range of practical strategies for adding small groups of numbers, such as visual displays or concrete materials” (ACARA, AC, ACMNA004, n.d).

Lastly, T’s developing thinking on ordering and comparing lengths is strongly supported by his success in ordering 4 candles from the shortest to the longest, underlying the ability to use “suitable language associated with measurement attributes” (ACARA, AC, ACMMG006, n.d)

1.3 Critique of the Foundation Detour.

From the child’s point of view, the interview was a sequence of tasks that they could handle using their existing mathematical knowledge and skills. Mathematical tasks are beneficial for problem-solving applying children’s mathematical knowledge, as well as their adaptive reasoning and strategic competence (Sullivan, 2011). For example, in the counting “5+3” teddies tasks, T was able to count on from 5 when a set of 3 additional teddies were unscreened. When all the teddies were screened, he went back to his counting-all strategy. Such switch implies how the challenging task affected his choices of strategy in different problem solving contexts. In addition, the tasks also place a context for children to make meaning of concept which has not yet been mastered or understood (Linder, Powes-Costello & Stegelin, 2013). So T’s thinking about some strange mathematical concept like ordinal number was concretized when he followed Naseem’s instruction counting the teddies in order.

To some extent, the tasks also built confidence into T by creating a safe environment where his mathematical opinions were shared, valued and not judged, which will further empowers him being a creative learner (Smith Ⅲ, 1996). This is evident when T completed all the tasks with great confidence, and he was able to create a color pattern when putting straws into the cups. However, the fact that most of the tasks were designed as closed ended does not necessarily prepare T to solve the mathematical problems that he might encounter in real life situations (Boaler, 1998).

1.4 Suggestion and advice to support further mathematical learning

Research finding has suggested a robust relation between frequency of children’s involvement in indirect numeracy activities at home and mathematical fluency they will achieve in school settings (LeFevre, Skwarchuk, Smith-Chant, Fast, Kamawar, & Bisanz, 2009). Out of all the commonly used approaches to facilitate children’s mathematical learning at home, asking questions, playing, instructing and pointing to examples are effective modes for children and parents to become co-learners and co-educators in mathematics (Eloff & Miller, 2006). In fact, a daily activity like cooking and be a great learning experience for children to be exposed to numeracy with parents’ guidance and questions and encouraging different explorations such as measuring and counting.(Vandermaas-Peeler, Boomgarden, Finn & Pittard, 2012).

To develop T’s understanding of number relationships, educators can utilize all kinds of everyday settings that T can practice the comparison of numbers and to consolidate his understand of the cardinal change in the number sequence. A stair can be a great tool for children to understand the cardinal change of counting numbers (Montague-Smith, Cotton, Hansen & Price, 2018). Many similar scenarios and setting, for example stepping onwards a staircase, beading, helps him understand.

Real life can also provide T with numerous opportunities to observe patterns. For example, T could observe how repeated patterns extend and how patterns grow on the exterior or interior decorations of buildings. (Montague-Smith et.al, 2018). He can even create his own drawing to copy the patterns he observed or create a new pattern by adding new elements to the original one. A recent research argues that children understand the concept of pattern more easily by creating their own pattern not copying a pattern that others created (Rodrigues, 2015). This approach will also evolve their awareness of the unit as a “code” for the patterns. Hence educators and parents might incorporate the learning of patterns in coloring or pasting for T to create his own pattern, read the pattern then transfer the pattern to another media (for example, present the pattern using body movements).

As T is now using a “counting all” strategy for addition, practicing developing counting on and counting back will allow him to count from any number in the sequence so as to solve addition or subtraction problem with bigger numbers (Montague-Smith et.al, 2018). Research has found the positive effect that children will gain from play or game experiences in the classroom (Edo, Planas & Badillo, 2015) and at home (Nicholas & Schneider, 2013) as educators and parents provide support in addition or subtraction tasks in games. Parents and educators can implement dice play or card games in a daily basis to assist T’s skill of counting. To support T’s learning, it is essential to model the counting skill when it is time to add or subtract points/dots. After the modeling, educators can encourage T to practice the strategy by himself.

Furthermore, in order to understand ordinal numbers, it is critical to connect the ordinal number words to their meaning for children and explicitly discuss correspondence between these two (Clements, Sarama & Ebook Corporation, 2014). Lining up is a great everyday activity for T to visualize ordinal numbers and observe how the number extend when the teacher counts “who is first, who is second, who is third….”. Similarly, parents can reinforce the learning of ordinal numbers when children naturally line up or build up a group of toys.

2. Observation of two children’s free play

2.1 Context

The observation was conducted in the same room for the Foundation Detour interview. At that time the 4-5 year-olds are all engaging in various forms of free play. In a room that was distributed into four areas (a construction area, a mini park/lawn, a reading area and a play table area), the two boys were playing at the construction corner, with other three groups of children playing on other toys at that corner. An educator was sitting by the children and watching what the children were doing. Very few conversations were noted because the room was considerably noisy.

2.2 Analysis – Linking to Australian Curriculum

In this first half of the playing episode, the boys built a “parking lot” and tried to park all the toy cars they had. They put the cars in lines and columns to make sure that all the cars could fit in.

Then, the boy who proposed to build the car park suggested that this time that they were going to build a “tall” house. They took part of the box away and added a second story to their “parking lot”. When they finished building, they found out that even the houses they built were different in size and shapes, they could both have all the cars fit in. This indirection comparison of the area referencing toy cars as units underlines the learning content of using “direct and indirect comparisons to decide which is longer, heavier or holds more, and explain reasoning in everyday language” (ACMMG006, 2016).

At the end of this learning episode, the boys tried to create the “triangular” style of roof, which is the gable roof they often spotted in real life. Spontaneously, a boy connected two square magnets at one side and formed an angle, suggesting that they were developing senses of the attributes of a triangular prism. When the other boy was not sure about what to do, he was helped by his friend telling him to put exactly “two squares together” at a time. The activity to create 3D shapes, vary the shapes and name 2D shapes falls to the learning to “Sort, describe and name familiar two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in the environment” (ACMMG008, 2016).

2.3 Critique of the free play activity

The Victorian Early Years Learning and Developing Framework (Department of Education and Training Victoria [DET], 2016) proposed a play-based curriculum because in play children relate to real life situation and develop conceptual understanding. The room where the observation was conducted was a vastly resourceful room that provides an ideal physical environment for children to explore.

During the entire observation, the educator did not join any of the play. Instead, she was watching the children and making sure that they got access to the toys they wanted and that the children were keeping things in order. However, research has found that educators who can join the play and tailor themselves to address children’s need in play will achieve greater development in children’s mathematical thinking (Tramwick-Smith, Swaminathan & Liu, 2016). Whitin and Whitin (2003) also argue that it is necessary that children talk about their mathematical ideas and explain their understanding. Teachers should be able to prompt and guide these conversations to probe students’ thinking on mathematical concepts. It would’ve been a great opportunity for the educator to invest some intentional learning about the number and shapes of faces of a polyhedron, measurements using the cars and the differences and similarities of triangles and squares.

2.4 Suggestion and advice to support further mathematical learning

Measurement is closely connected to life and is common in a range of settings. Educators can now engage the boys in more measuring activities that they can indirectly compare length or area of two objects by referencing a third object as their “ruler”, which helps them develop the concept of transitivity which is also important for future learning of measurement (Clements & Stephan, 2004). Educators and parents can also probe verbal discussion comparing objects that they encounter in life, such as fruits, toys, vehicles, etc. The use of math-related vocabularies such as “tall or taller”, “short or shorter”, “heavy and heavier” is critical. Research suggests that children who were exposed to richer maternal math talks are equipped with more sophisticated mathematical knowledge (Susperreguy & Davis-Kean, 2016).

To engage in the boys’ learning interest of construction and 3D shapes composition, educators and parents can involve them in wood crafting or the recycling of paper/plastic boxes where they can observe freely about corners, arches, crosses and enclosures and how their movements can change these structures. In the process of taking the parts of furniture or utilities apart, children will learn how different pieces of shapes are composed. Meanwhile when assembling parts altogether, they will learn about how space is created and how different properties of shapes, including faces, lines, angles, etc. Also, when the children are manipulating the paper boxes, they particularly get to decompose a 3D objects to 2D shapes, which further expand their thinking about hollowness and solidity of 3D objects (Montague-Smith et.al, 2018).

Educators can ask “what if” questions to expand their explorations of possibilities. Asking why their attempts succeed or fail will encourage them to think about properties of shapes and how different movements vary the properties to alter the shape of objects (Montague-Smith, et.al, 2018).

Conclusion

This essay provides a brief glimpse on the active and growing mathematical thinking of 4-5 year old children. This little research has fostered the author’s thinking about assessing children’s current development and plan for research-based activities to support further mathematical learning from the perspectives of Australian Curriculum and sets a start point for the author’s mathematics teaching practice.

During my observation at the Childhood Center at CSU I made sure to keep an eye out for the three domains covered in the chapters. The children I observed were between ages four and six, and the hour and a half I was there mainly consisted of playing, eating, and watching movies or reading books. I observed them on November 8th between 9:00 and 10:30am. I found several examples of psychosocial relationships between what a child seemingly thought and how they behaved with their peers. Biosocial similarities between children that were of the same age. Finally, the cognitive efforts and results of children as they learned new things and how different children reacted to different cognitions.

The first psychosocial concept that stood out to me was the children having emotional regulation. Examples of their emotional regulation were often displayed during play, as you might expect to see there was a lot of selfishness and wanting to get their own way, but as teachers encouraged them to share, I often saw their frustration be pushed away. One girl playing with toy food had it taken right from her hand and you could see the tears forming in her eyes, but instead of screaming at the girl that took it from her she calmly approached one of the teachers and told her that the girl took it from her, clearly regulating her emotions. Another concept displayed a lot was the girls self-concept. They were always looking in the mirrors and evaluating themselves, very obviously aware of their self-concept. When playing with blocks some boys displayed effortful control, as their towers fell but they continued to try without getting frustrated. One thing that surprised me is that I did not observe any cases of imaginary friends, even though the children were at the age these imaginary friends are most commonly found, I didn’t see any examples. Finally, the last psychosocial concept I observed was that of extrinsic motivation. When the boys were building blocks, they were constantly trying to compete and build better towers than the teachers, therefore implying that they were looking for that outside praise.

When considering biosocial concepts, a very major thing that stood out was the growth patterns of the children, between the age range there was an incredible variation of size and proportion between the children. Perseverance was also very apparent in many of the children, as mentioned before regarding building blocks, there was an incredible persistence among the children to outdo each other or their teachers. One concept I observed that didn’t relate to the children’s behavior was the primary prevention for the health and safety of the children. The way the campus was setup was very child friendly, and I could see almost no ways that children could cause themselves harm. As a surprise to me, the motor skills and comprehension skills of these children were exceptional, as many of the younger children were already in touch with their artistic side, and had no problem following and comprehending the more advanced reading and movies they were watching, though I did observe that the girls preferred reading and the boys preferred the movie.

Finally, regarding cognitive development, the older girls displayed incredible amounts of preoperational intelligence, imagination exuded from them as many of them played ‘house’ or ‘kitchen’ with limited toys and props. They were creating entire restaurants and scenarios with specific details that shocked me. There were even cases of egocentrism as one of the girls proudly pronounced herself the owner of the kitchen while looking in the mirror and proceeded to almost command the other girls playing with her.

One of the younger boys displayed irreversibility when playing with the building blocks, his tower fell over and he started crying, and walked away from the blocks seemingly worried he would never be able to create a tower that tall again. The scaffolding concept was demonstrated heavily by teachers in almost every aspect, whether it was the building blocks, drawing, or even reading difficult words, the teachers made sure to not just give out the answers but to encourage learning. Within the group of girls that were playing house there were a couple instances of social mediation where the older girls were using terminology or behaviors that the younger girls didn’t fully understand, and either the older girls or the teachers helped the younger kids understand the words or ideas the other girls were displaying.

In conclusion, I was very intrigued and surprised on how applicable the things we learned in class are to the lifestyles of children. Within my observations of psychosocial I was surprised to see the level of self-control that was displayed and encouraged within the children. Bio socially the children varied heavily in size and proportion, and displayed incredible perseverance, something I didn’t fully expect. Lastly, I found that the most curious and surprising behavior was the cognitive development of the 6-year-old girls. There were so many curiosities and behaviors that I couldn’t tie to a concept but learned from and enjoyed observing. I believe that this assignment was very beneficial to my perspective outside of class and applying class concepts accordingly.

Observational Report

For this report, I had observed (S), a 2-year-old boy, the only son of a mother (M) and father (F) in their mid-thirties. They live in a HDB flat in Singapore with S’s grandfather (K) and grandmother (A). M and F leave S under the care of K and A when they go to work from Mondays to Fridays.

Background

During my observation, S interacted primarily with M . S is friendly, self-reliant and comfortably independent. He is not toilet trained yet but is able to stand without support for a few minutes and walk quite a distance independently. He can repeat certain words but does not have a full-fledged vocabulary or grammar.

S sits with M on the sofa while she reads the story “Just shopping with mom”. Every time a new page is read, S repeats some of the words together with M and occasionally helps her to turn the pages. He recognizes the story, having already heard it a few times before. Halfway through, S gets down and with a toddler’s gait walks to his toys. Although he does fall a few times, he refuses to be helped by M and continues in the direction of his toys to pick up one in the shape of a green apple and another resembling a carrot and shows it to M while reiterating the words apple and carrot to himself. He gets very excited when S compliments him “Clever boy”, and I am told by M that S repeats this motion every time the story is read. M then prompts S further by asking him what are the colours of the apple and carrot for which he answers with a baby language “geen” and “olange”. M pronounces the green and orange again so that S can copy her. As she narrates the story of how the characters in the book are eating their food, S then pretends to eat the apple and carrot enthusiastically.

His attention is short lived though. Even though M tries to get him to sit with her on the sofa to complete the reading of the book, he gets distracted with his other toys and begins to play with his them. However, during this time he always looks to make sure M is around and eventually at the end of my observation returns to be carried by her.

Discussion

Some of the general motor development for a toddler aged 12-24 months include walking unassisted, carrying toys from place to place and helping to turn pages in a book (Sigelman, 2015; Santrock,2018). As can be observed in the case of S, he is able to walk unassisted for a certain distance and manages to help turn the pages of the book. His language and cognitive skills are also consistent with the developmental milestones (Oswalt, n.d) of a neurotypical child as he can repeat words and associate the words with real life objects (Sigelman, 2015; Santrock,2018).

When M prompts S by asking questions and narrating her story, which is then acknowledged and repeated by S, it indicates a strong scaffolding and shadowing by the mother (Vygotsky, 1978, cited in Simply Psychology, 2018). “Children who are in the zone of proximal development for a specific task can almost perform the task independently, but not quite there yet. However, with an appropriate amount of assistance, these children can accomplish the task successfully.” (Vygotsky, 1978, cited in Simply Psychology, 2018). Vygotsky’s concept of scaffolding is closely related to the concept of the zone of proximal development. “Scaffolding refers to the temporary support given to a child by More Knowledgeable Others, usually parents or teachers, that enable the child to perform a task until such time that the child can already perform the task independently.” (Vygotsky, 1978, cited in Simply Psychology, 2018). In the above scenario, S is learning to perfect his language skills by interacting and learning from his mother.

S appears to have a distinct sense of self and of his independence. He may not always need M but is pleased to return to her demonstrating the need for her support and encouragement. “Infants elicit behaviors to keep caregivers nearby” (Sigelman, 2015; Santrock, 2018). As theorized by Bowlby, the need for secure attachment is crucial for toddlers’ overall development, including the achievement of physical milestones (Bowlby,1969, cited by Helena Klein, n.d).

“Like adults, infants prefer to pay attention to new and interesting things. If they are left in the same environment, over time they become accustomed to their surroundings and pay less attention to them. This process is called habituation.” (JoVE Science Education Database, 2019). Having heard the story recited to him a few times already, S gets distracted and does not complete reading his book.

According to Erikson’s psychosocial theory, toddlers around the ages of 2 to 3 are gaining autonomy and eager to express their independence (Sigelman, 2015; Santrock, 2018). This is apparent in S’s attempt to walk himself whilst refusing help from his mother although he falls a few times. Erikson states it is critical that parents allow their children to explore the limits of their abilities within an encouraging environment which is tolerant of failure (Erikson, 1958, cited in Simply Psychology, 2018). It can be seen from my observation that M is encouraging S to become more independent by allowing him to walk and at the same time protecting him by lending a helping hand when he falls a few times.

“Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behaviour” (Skinner, 1938, cited in Simply Psychology, 2018). “Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an association between a particular behaviour and a consequence” (Skinner, 1938, cited in Simply Psychology, 2018). According to this principle, behaviour that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and behaviour followed by unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated (Skinner, 1938, cited in Simply Psychology, 2018). Noticeably, S who has been complimented whenever he correctly identifies and associates the toys with the words M reads tends to repeat his actions.

Conclusion

As an OHT it is relevant to understand the stages of child development and the milestones achieved. This is especially important when giving oral hygiene instructions as dexterity considerations should be made. Teaching complex toothbrushing techniques will only result in the child not being able to follow and thereof a lack of compliance. Additionally, I am also aware that different children go through the stages of development at different paces and therefore every effort should be made to individually tailor the hygiene routines. (Oswalt, n.d)

Due to the secure attachment with mother’s that most toddlers’ have, I would think it is necessary to always have the mother around especially during the first visit as it will alleviate dental anxiety and create more trust and rapport. It will also be more beneficial to teach the toddler with the mother around considering that the child is becoming more independent, but at the same time will still need the guidance and support of the mother.

Interestingly, toddlers may exhibit habituation, and this can influence my job as an OHT both positively and negatively. In one aspect, once the child becomes accustomed to the same environment and same healthcare professional, it is more likely for them to become more co-operative. However, child may get bored if same style of teaching, for example verbal hygiene instructions are employed at every visit. It will be crucial to always repeat the same message but with different approaches, so that the child’s interest is piqued at every visit.

As a child is more likely to repeat behaviour that is followed by a positive consequence, simple reinforcements such as approval and praise should be used so that the child is motivated to keep up their good behaviour and compliance can be built. Similarly, if a child protests and is uncooperative during treatment, immediately abandoning the session and returning them to the consolation of their parents could inadvertently reinforce the undesirable behaviour.

In conclusion, the observational process has been very enlightening as I was able to relate the theories of development to my profession as an oral health therapist. Although, I have observed only one child it has given me some insight into a toddlers’ growth and development.

References

1. Angela Oswalt, M. (n.d). CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT: OVERVIEW DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES AND MILESTONES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT. Texas: RELAIS LEARNING.
2. Database, J. S. (2019). Developmental Psychology. Habituation: Studying Infants Before They Can Talk. Retrieved from JoVE: https://www.jove.com/science-education
3. Klein, H. (2011). Ivory Research: Observing a child at play: mother and toddler interaction. Retrieved from Ivory Research: https://www.ivoryresearch.com/writers/helena-klein/
4. McLeod, S. (2018). Simply Psychology: Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved from Simply Psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org
5. McLeod, S. (2018). Simply Psychology: Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved from Simply Psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org
6. McLeod, S. (2019). Simply Psychology: Skinner- Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from Simply Psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org
7. Santrock, J. (2018). Essentials of Life-span Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
8. Sigelman, C. &. (2015). Life-Span Human Development (8th ed.). USA: Cengage Learning.

Science is about exploring, questioning and finding answers to the things happening around us. It enhances problem solving skills, creativity and critical thinking in students. These skills help them to develop ideas, evaluate decisions and arrive at a solution for a problem in their life. It also helps them to become socially responsible citizens. In order to develop these skills via Science, they have to observe what is happening around them. Observation and curiosity are the most important qualities that scientists should possess (Ref. NCERT-5th EVS). Today’s students are the emerging scientists of tomorrow’s world.

But, most of the children at school memorize the concepts without understanding. Children do not get proper exposure to improve their scientific temper. Also, they could not associate the learnt things with their day to day activities. So, it is teacher’s responsibility to create the science environment to develop the observation skills of the students.

In this study, the researcher tries to develop the observation skill of the children through activities like reporting, picture reading, making tables, comparing, identifying, analysing and differentiating. Students are more interested in doing experiments and activities than classroom teaching. The researcher frames activities to increase their interest in science and the habit of patience to do researches. This method is planned to introduce the children to understand the passion with which scientist pursue their experiments.

Each day, group discussion on one activity held on consecutive days. The individual / group interpreted their observations and findings. Sufficient information and guidance were given by the author to the children whenever needed. The process continued for 20 days. The observation and findings of the children evaluated through worksheets and oral questions.

INTRODUCTION:

Quality Education is about attaining learning outcome and lifelong learning for all. In order to ensure quality education, new teaching pedagogies should be implemented in our education system. The new teaching methodology should also ensure that learning process happens throughout the life. In this study, the researcher tries new method to enhance students’ higher order skills which develop the students’ observation skill.

Science education is one of the most important subjects for primary kids. It develops students’ higher order skills like problem solving, creativity and critical thinking. These are the very essential lifelong skills that help the students to make ideas intelligently and understand the evidence to solve the problem. Learning critical thinking and problem solving through science activities gives students the skill and knowledge to succeed in life. In order to develop these skills, the students have to observe and understand their surroundings. Students are more interested in doing activities/experiments than classroom teaching. But, they do not have patience to observe and to get results while doing experiments. Curiosity, observation and being patience are the most important qualities of great scientists. To develop these qualities in budding scientists, the teacher has to create science environment in schools. In this project, the researcher frames science activities to develop students’ observation skill. Through this, they also learn how to be patience to get results while doing experiments.

OBJECTIVES:

• To improve the observation skill of children through observation activities with proper understanding.
• To engage the children in individual/group close observation and interpret it with previous knowledge.
• To develop the habit of patience to get results while doing activities.
• To ensure quality education and lifelong learning for all.

METHODOLOGY:

The study conducted for 30 children of class 5 from Government Primary School, Kalitheerthalkuppam, Puducherry. The author proposed to take three themes from environmental studies of class 5. The themes are animals, food and plants. Each theme was given activity followed by the classroom group discussion. The following 3 activities will be done the children.

• Children observed a bird daily for 10 minutes and fill the activity of the birds in the observation form.
• Children brought different kind of raw and cooked food. Each item packed in different preservation method. Each day, the children observed the changes happened in the food by its colour, smell. Shape etc. The observation was recorded in the given format.
• The third activity is making the children to bring different kind of soils from their surroundings. Then, the students were divided into 6 groups. 6 kinds of plants planted in all the types of soil. For instance, tomato plant will be planted in red soil, black soil and sand. Likewise, all the 6 plants planted in the three types of soil. Observation conducted by the children daily. The growth of the plant observed by height, leaves, branches, flowers, fruits etc and the comparison of growth in different types of soils.

All the activities had reporting, picture reading, making tables, comparing, identifying, analysing and differentiating. Each day, group discussion on one activity held on consecutive days. The individual / group interpreted their observations. They also encouraged to say the findings on the observation and the reason behind it. Sufficient information and guidance were given by the author to the children whenever needed. The process continued for 20 days. The observation and findings of the children evaluated through worksheets and oral questions.

Points were given according to their performance for each activity. The results showed that the students involved in these experiments were asking many questions. And they tried to conclude their findings to propose hypothesis. It developed their problem solving and critical thinking ability in the classroom as well. Also, it developed interest towards science.

Slow learners also showed interest while doing the activities. It developed their curiosity and observation skill in experiments.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY:

Individual/ Group observation activities increased the enthusiasm in the younger children in exploring and understanding their surroundings. The children were motivated to explore new things without any interference. Such a method of learning helped them to observe and appreciate the things happening around them. It also ensured that the process helps them for lifelong learning. These activities enhanced the student’s critical thinking and problem-solving ability.

Play is important for children, there are plenty of reasons why play is an important thing for children such as learning how to socialize, learning their cognition, exploring their imagination, and much more from just simply having fun. In the video ‘Cute Is a Four-Letter Word’ by Sarah Curtis she talks about how important play is and how it affects children to adulthood. In the Video she stated that two groups of children were split up, one group was direct instructions for play and the second one was free play and it showed a big difference by allowing children to play freely.

During free play Chole went to the dramatic area to play in the kitchen with some friends, as soon as she got to the kitchen, she told one of her friends “ok you can get the drinks and I can get the food and we can eat.” They started looking around the kitchen and grabbing all the cups, plates, and utensils, the friend then told her “Chloe I need juice” Chole replied to her “We have no more juice I need to make an order” Chole then went over to the counter and grab a toy ice cream sandwich and place next to her ear. The friend looked and said “Chloe that’s not a phone” Chloe looked at her and said “Well it’s my pretend phone” Chloe went on and pretended it was her phone and placed an order for some juice.

Soon after placing an order for juice, Chloe saw some friends playing in the block area, she went to the block area and asked them “What are you guys doing?” one of the friends at the block area told her “We playing with the cars” Chloe ask them “can I have one car?” the friend replied and said “no you can’t play with us” Chloe got upset and told them “fine I’m going to go on a bus and you guys can’t ride on it” as she walks of, she was stomping her feet and went back to the dramatic area (Kitchen). She told some of her friends in the kitchen “You guys let’s make a bus” One of the little girls said “Chloe but we don’t have a bus” Chloe started getting the chairs and placing them one behind one another. Chloe told her “See we have a bus, I sit in the front” Chloe got super excited and ran to the drawing center and told two of her peers “Guys look I made a school bus!” she then started running back to the dramatic play where her bus was at.

They all sat on a chair where it was lined up and ready to go, as they sat on the chairs they laughed and giggled. Chloe told her friends “Put your seat belts on guys”. One of the little boys who was at the block area came over and asked her “Can I play too?” Chloe told him “I don’t have room, I only have four chairs” As she got up and counted the chairs “1, 2, 3, 4, see I only have four chairs” Chloe reassure him he can have a turn when someone leaves. The little one left back to the block area and Chloe and her friends went on playing, the girls sang and chatted away as Chloe was driving the bus.

In the SLUSS Handout, there are different characteristics of play. The first one is play is voluntary, the second one is play requires active involvement, the third one is play is symbolic, the fourth one is play is free of external rules, the fifth one is play focuses on actions rather than outcomes and the last one is play is pleasurable. Functional play is often play in which a child is enjoying the time, or is playing with toys such as feeding a baby, pushing a car, and anything that is a development for their social skills or cognitive. In my observation, a little girl who I name Chloe is in the kitchen playing with her friends socializing and enjoying her free play. Symbolic play is children who play and use toys or objects to represent an object, an example from my observation is when Chloe is in the dramatic area playing in the kitchen is using an ice cream sandwich toy as a phone.

In conclusion to my observation, I found that throughout free play Chloe’s play was functional and symbolic play equally. She switched from function play to symbolic play off and on, she was all over the class socializing with her peers.

References

1. Talks, T. (2013, July 10). Retrieved March 10, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7y6ZgQCnvw&feature=youtu.be

I observed a 3-year-old girl Pennylope in CDC Mission College, Santa Clara on 1 October for 1 hour 30 minutes from 10:00 am- 11:30 am on Friday. This room’s name is Sunflower Room. It’s open at 7:30 am and closed at 6 pm. This center is open Monday to Friday. In this center, 14 children were enrolled. Some are for a full day and some are only for half a day. This class is for 3-year-old to 4-year-old children. In this classroom three teachers were present. Ms Suchi was a head teacher and Ms Mona was an assistant teacher and now she was doing his course in early childhood and development at Mission College. The third teacher Ms Fransia is the curriculum teacher and she comes only on Fridays. All the teachers were very nice and lovable with the kids. I spoke with the teachers and got permission for observation.

The Sunflower Class was a spacious room. The entrance door is a single glass door. Near the entrance door of the center at the right sight, a Shelf is placed which is occupied with some stuff, and on the upper side of this shelf on the walls, a notice board was placed. On the Left side of the main, door a rack was placed which was occupied by some craft stuff and near this rack, a sink area was occupied with art stuff. In this area, upper shelves were placed which were occupied by stuff, and a hand-washing instruction chart stuck on the shelf. Half the room floor was wooden and in half the area a grey carpet was placed. Five tables were present in the classroom which were in different sizes and for different purposes. Near the entrance door, two rectangular tables were placed with six chairs. On the left side of the entrance door near the sink area, a rectangular table with four chairs was placed which was used at craft and play dough time. In the front of this table, a small round table is placed with two chairs and this section is separated by two shelf racks. After the round table, one more big rectangle table was placed with eight chairs. All the furniture was light brown and wooden. In the room, more racks were present for storage in the play area. Two small sofas were placed in the book area. One rack near the playground area door was placed. The room was simply lightened with 17 white tube lights and there was plenty of natural light coming from the windows and doors. One inside the door, one big glass door in this room which was a play area facing, and 11-12 windows were in the room. The room looks so lively. The wall color was light brown and the walls were wooden. One big flower painting in the play area and craft and art projects were placed on the walls. Some fruits and face charts were on the walls. The classroom was a quiet place there was not much noise coming from outside. At the left side of the entrance door washroom was situated. In the wash room, there were two basins and two seats. One big table rack was in the corner with stuff. Hand soap, tissues, and brushes for all the kids were in the washroom and three lights were in the washroom. Out of the washroom science area and water area were situated. The room was full- equipped with age-appropriate toys and books. In the backyard, one art table with water paint, a slide, and other outdoor toys were available for kids. All the kids were happy and the teachers were cooperative and soft-spoken.

The classroom of this center was designed properly in each area. The classroom is organized with kid-sized shelves, baskets, and containers. In this class, children put their stuff on a shelf which was near the play area door. It was a wooden two-sided shelf with 12 blocks on both sides with brown jute baskets. On each block, the children’s name was written. In this basket, kids put their clothes and other important stuff. A hanging rack was placed near the play area door which was occupied by kids jackets.

The art area was on one side of the room. A round table with two chairs was placed and this area was separated from the playdough area and the other side by racks. One rack was occupied with art stuff and on the other side, a steel board was placed which had alphabet magnets. On the table crayon boxes were present.

The children’s imaginary and dramatic area was situated at the end of the classroom carpeted area. This area was occupied with kids-sized shelves and containers. This corner is designed as a play area for kids which is occupied with important toys like kitchen stuff, soft toys other learning stuff.

After the entrance and at the starting of the carpet area blocks were placed and this is also known as the maths area. In this area, two-sided wooden shelves were placed which occupied different types of blocks and pattern puzzles.

A small area was in the corner near the play area side door with a small grey carpet with flower printing with two small sofas. This area was organized as a book area with one bookshelf and an almira with different types of stuff.

The science area was near the washroom with the dotted wall. In this area insects, herbs, and solar system pictures were stuck. One glass box with sand and one small plant was placed. Puzzles, legos, and other connecting toys were placed in the book area and play area on different shelves. In the corner of the carpeted area, a big block shelf was placed.

The cooking area is placed on one side of a carpeted play area near the book area. In this area one kitchen set and other kitchen stuff were present. In this area, different types of food boxes were placed in the basket.

The music area was at the start of the carpeted area. Lots of different types of musical instruments were in the basket. This area was also used for storytime.

When any kid was crying and frustrated then he came near the playdough area which was in a corner. Children are mostly impressed by the play area and they are interested in toys and blocks.

The classroom had an ample amount of open space for kids to play around. All sections are occupied with age-appropriate toys which are organized on wooden shelves. These toys stimulate the different senses and develop motor skills. Kids put their stuff on a shelf for stuff and hand their jackets on a hanging stand which develops the child’s organization skills and them understand responsibilities. The art area is always fascinating area for kids. In the art area, a small round table was placed and on shelves different types of colors and art stuff were present. Near the door, a sink area was organized with other art stuff like water painting etc and a hand wash.