Child Observation

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• ·         A primary school girl of age -6-7-years old
• ·         Location: Children’s Park, Corozal Town
• ·         Time: 3:05 p.m. to 4:05 p.m.
• ·         Atmosphere: cool breezy, windy

• ·         She was playing at the monkey bar
• ·         Meanwhile she plays at monkey bar she shows no fear
• ·         While playing she drops and continues playing
• ·         At later she asks for assistance on the sea-saw
• ·         Then she goes back to the monkey bar
• ·         She sees her brother playing
• ·         Goes back to the monkey bar
• ·         She then tries the other side of the monkey bar (monkey bar was incomplete)
• ·         She challenged herself to complete the monkey bar
• ·         Moved aside showing her hands
• ·         Went to observe the waves from the Caribbean Sea
• ·         She then leans over the sea wall in a relaxing position
• ·         Due to the sea state she was splashed by the sea and then laughs
• ·         Went back to lean on the money bar
• ·         She engaged conversing with her brother
• ·         Went to the swing
• ·         Moved and went to lean at the slide
• ·         Called her mother to accompany her at the sea wall
• ·         Waited patiently for the water to splash on her once more
• ·         She informed her mother that her hand was hurting her
• ·         Engaged with her brother in paying ketch
• ·         Climbed on top of the slide
• ·         Climb on the base of the slide
• ·         Took of her slippers
• ·         She assisted her brother in sliding down
• ·         Held her brother’s hand to go it back again
• ·         Helped her brother to slide
• ·         She slides and slide several times
• ·         Went opposite way of going to slide
• ·         Slides normally
• ·         Helps brother to slide again
• ·         Held her hand as if it was injured
• ·         Slides
• ·         Ran around the slide
• ·         Stood and spoke to her mom
• ·         Sat on a part of the playing ground
• ·         Sat for four minutes holding her hand which she injured at the monkey bar
• ·         Laid down looking at her brother who was playing
• ·         Sat down
• ·         Laid down
• ·         Got up and went back to the slide
• ·         Jumped over the board
• ·         Climbed playground in the opposite way
• ·         Sat on the playground
• ·         Slides front way
• ·         Moved away from playground
• ·         Went to mom to eat an apple and went back to slide
• ·         She stood waiting and started to converse with her brother
• ·         Slides again
• ·         Went up using the tires next to the slide
• ·         Allows two girls to slide before her
• ·         Came towards the spinner to spin with someone else
• ·         Helps some kids spin
• ·         Went to watch the sea
• ·         Come back to the spinner not frightened
• ·         Yelled to stop the spinner
• ·         Ran and fall down
• ·         Went to drink some soft drink
• ·         She instructed kids on how to spin the spinner
• ·         Stays alone on spinner
• ·         Went for some soft drink with her mother
• ·         Continues spinning in the spinner
• ·         Starts jump on the spinner
• ·         Very joyful and went to hug mom
• ·         Went to get her tennis with her other
• ·         Slides backwards on the slide
• ·         Come to sit down with mom for three minutes
• ·         Goes back to slide
• ·         Watches kids play on the slide
• ·         Assist her brother in sliding
• ·         Goes back to the spinner and spins alone
• ·         Allows others to spins and tells them to stop
• ·         Tell them to walk and all walks crooked
• ·         Goes back to slide and slides for several times
• ·         Takes a rest with mom
• ·         Converse with mom and leaves

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Analysis by Group Members:

Michael Williams

Theorist Analysis

With Pavlov’s conditioning theory the stimulus would the slide and the response is the happiness and joy the girl feels sliding over and over.  She knows sliding down presents no danger so she keeps doing it without any fear. As long as this does not change Pavlov theory suggests that she will always associate the slide with joy.

Based on the child’s behaviour Skinner would be inclined to say that based on her continuous sliding the reward is joy makes her do it over and over; it is a repeated behaviour. However with the monkey bars, she went to the monkey bars over and over until she hurt her hands so she stopped. All of the other actions such as the spinner, getting wet by the see and going to her mother presented some aspect of reward that she liked so these were repeated.

Bandura Social Learning Theory would suggest that the girl was not afraid to learn from others. She engaged the other little boy even though she did not know him. She followed what her brother did on the monkey bars whether she was capable or not. He was older than her so it was easy for him but for instance if he had fallen she would not have wanted to continue knowing that the same could happen to her. She challenges herself to try to finish the monkey bars although it is incomplete.  

Adrian Anderson

The child I have been observing is a 6/7-year-old primary school girl accompanied by her mother and other siblings. My observation took place during a cool breezy and windy July afternoon during the hours of 3:05 p.m. to 4:05 p.m. at Children’s Park, Corozal Town. She interacted primarily with her siblings but several kids wer also present. I endeavoured to focus specifically on the little girl and how she interacted with her brother  and, only occasionally, with others.

She is a friendly little girl who seems to be very self-assured and comfortably independent. Her brother seems older than she is. She is very vigorous and there is the possibility that her parents and brother may be applying some influence on her, the former by encouraging her to explore her physicality and the latter, as the older sibling, by being a model. Both children play rugby.

At the park I can state that the young girl showed interest both in the monkey bar and in the slides. She repeatedly slides down and then walks up to the monkey bar in which she does it first then goes to the next side in which was incomplete and she jumps and fell and does it all over. She also walks towards the sea wall and waits for the water to splash her. Meanwhile she is displaying balance and coordination by climbing a frame. Occasionally she wants to join she but then again becomes interested in the slides. She moves with determination and insists on climbing up the slide rather than just sliding down. She is able to climb on the frame with mom’s vigilant help. When another child approaches, she is interested in playing with him.

My responses on the observation were embodied. When she was negotiating the difficulty task of crouching and lowering hie head in order to come out of the spot where he was stuck, I felt nervous and feared he might hurt herself. I would have gone to her rescue. I felt my body tensing up and I was holding my breath. Finally, I experienced a sense of elation when she came out safely and unhurt. But at the very end she ended up hurting arm meanwhile being at the monkey bar before going to the slide.

At the park I also felt the enthusiastic physicality of she and walked around with her while taking notes. Occasionally I held my breath when she attempted something more daring, such as climbing (with help) the frame, like her brother was doing. By then we had established a different relationship. She would often look at me, expecting direct involvement and I smiled in response. The brother had told her little sister that I needed to write and could not play.

I initiate the whole involvement of witnessing and dazzling on the task very illuminating. I began by witnessing. Then, I felt my situation fluctuating from witness to the detected by the child who would at times. In terms of the social construct proposed by Parker and Best (2005), I logged my own involvement, compensating devotion to my somatic responses. Although I had been aware of different theoretical frameworks prior to beginning the observation, I postponed until I completed the task to intertwine the theory with the data. My own personified responses played a critical role in making overall sense of the experience. This approach may be considered to be heterogeneous. Overall, the observational process has given me insight into human development and growth and I have found the experience useful.

Enrique Vargas

One of the things that called my attention was when the little girl proceeded to use the monkey bars. (The monkey bar was incomplete; it had three bars across which only covered fifty percent.)  The little girl properly used the monkey bar; when she reached the incomplete section she then opened her hand using the support (side bars) and she fell off.  She tried it again using same strategy and it happened again.  She walked towards the sidewalk and stood observing the monkey bar and came back to try it.  This time she changed strategy instead of using both supports she used only one of them.  She managed to successfully complete the task this time.  She smiled and walked away to the slides.

I can see the constructivist theory is her actions. Constructivism is basically a theory -based on observation and scientific study - about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.  In fact, constructivism taps into and triggers a person’s innate curiosity about the world and how things work. This little girl did not reinvent the wheel but, rather, attempt to understand how it functions. When the little girl observed the bar before retrying she was engaged by applying her existing knowledge and real-world experience.  When she gathered her past experience to present ones then she tried it again since she had drawn her conclusion.  She was successful since she constructed effectively on both past and present experiences 

Evilyn Vargas

On the 22^nd of July 2016, our group had the opportunity to observe a female child of seven years. Our observation was conducted at the Children’s Park here in Corozal Town. After observing the child for an hour, there were many significant characteristics which this girl displayed. My observation will focus on the major occurrences of the girl’s behavior. The girl started playing on the monkey bar. Upon moving on the monkey bar, she fell and laughed. She repeated this action for four times. We then noticed that she was holding herself only from one side of the monkey bar (The monkey bar was incomplete). She continued playing on the monkey bar until she crossed all of it. This behavior of repeating the actions and insisting of crossing the entire monkey bar is an example of Skinner’s theory. Skinner’s theory focuses that behavior which reinforced tends to be repeated; strengthening the behavior. The girl showed positive reinforcement since she was doing something that she liked. In the action of crossing the monkey bar various times, she also displayed constructivism.  Every time the girl went on the monkey bar, she learnt on past experience what she had to do in order to be successful at crossing the monkey bar. 

            Another significant observation was that after being by the sea wall, she decided to go to the playground, the slide. At first she climbed the playground by herself and then she climbed it once more but holding her little brother’s hand. She guided her little brother how to slide off. She held her little brother’s hand to go back again. She did this for five times. The brother looked forward for her to hold his hand. This action can be associated with Bandura’s theory of observational learning. In this case the observed child was the model for the little brother. The little brother looked forward for his sister to hold his hand and take him to slide. She demonstrated a positive model for behavior. Along with this, the girl also went up the spinner. She held firm from the spinner and other kids spun her. When she was spinning, she screamed and asked the other kids to stop the spinner. After coming off the spinner, she ran and fell. She then headed towards her mom to drink some soft drink. She went back towards the spinner but this time she didn’t climb it but told three other kids what to do when up on the spinner. She indicated when the spinner should be stopped. This could be related to Vygotsky’s theory in which social learning precedes development.

            Upon conducting this research, I realized that much could be recorded in an hour’s time. Many times we take for granted how students behave; we don’t take time to notice their behaviors which in turn might help us teachers to guide them through their learning process.      
Shajida Solis

While observing a little girl (Sara), playing at Children’s Park, Corozal Town, I was impressed to see this energetic girl as she moved from one place to the other. She displayed leadership skills as she directed other children while playing on the monkey bar and the playground with slide. She reminded them of keeping safe. Once I caught her helping her a little boy and I saw in this child the nurturing care humans have. At some point, I felt invasive as I watched Sara as she enjoyed walking by the sea wall and water splashing over her. She would go to her mom for assurance now and again. As another child approached the group by the monkey bars, Sara was a natural in playing with friends and as Vygotsky (1978) confirms, social interaction is crucial for cognitive development. I was so caught when she kept sliding and trying so many other ways to reach at the top and slide again. Her playing skills were so suitable for her age range and as Piaget (1936) states, children construct an understanding of the world around them and Sara was no exception. She understood all that was happening in her happy and loving environment.

Valarie Innis