The key elements of learning through observation are seeing and listening attentively to whatsoever one is observing. Reflection is replicating what one sees and listens while observing. It involves describing everything you can see out of your window. Reflection involves linking a current experience to previous learning’s as reflecting Children in this stage (4) ages ranges from age five or six and ends at ages ten to twelve. I choose this life stage because I believed I could gather more data through observance. The middle childhood phase is typically when children began to expand their roles and began to develop their identities in society McKinnon (), states that child observation is a process which enable the worker to be responsive rather than intrusive through watching and listening in an alert and informed way that raises awareness and sharpens understanding
Essay on Child Observation – Personal blogs
This essay is going to give a critical reflection of human development theories. It will compare and contrast human development theories, linking the theories to the events observed of a child aged three and a child observation reflection essay years in a nursery setting, over six weeks. It will also evaluate the recording method used and what I have learnt relevant to the social work practice. For the purpose of maintaining confidentiality in accordance with the Health and Care Professions Council HCPC, Guidance on Conduct and Ethics for Students, the child has been named under the pseudonym of Eva.
Eva is a three and a half year old girl of black African origin and lives with her parents. She is the youngest in a family of three and has a sister and a brother. Both her parents work full time and she attends nursery full time.
The nursery offers a wide range of activities and encourages free play. I conducted six observations on Eva, over a period of six week in a nursery setting and one of the theories I am able to link to the observations, is the cognitive development theory.
This theory is associated with the work of Jean Piaget — and his work focused on understanding how children view the world. Piaget believed that from infancy, we have the basic mental structure on which all subsequent knowledge and learning are based and due to biological maturation and environmental experience, child observation reflection essay, the mental processes will have a progressive reorganization. He child observation reflection essay that cognitive development happens in four stages, 0 to 2 years being the sensori motor, 2 years to 7 years the preoperational, 7 to 12 years the concrete operations, and 12 years and above the formal operations.
Beckett and Taylor According to Crawford and Walkerchild observation reflection essay, Piaget assumed that in the preoperational stages, the stage Eva is children have not yet mastered the ability to apprehend, offer judgment, inference or think actions through.
He believed that children in this stage are considered to be egocentric by showing difficulty in seeing things from a point of view other that their own.
They also engage in monologues, in which they will be talking, but not interacting with each other. During my observation, this was really evident and I noticed it on several occasions on Eva and the other children during free play. Piaget also believed that children focus their attention on one aspect of the situation and have difficulty seeing that a situation may have a number of dimensions, child observation reflection essay. Piaget called this centration and this was also shown in Appendix ….
Eva selects blocks of same shape and colour. They also lack reversibility by failing to understand that working backwards can restore whatever existed before. Bee and Boyd Piaget also believed that children build their understanding of the world through activities for example dramatic play. During the observations the class was rehearsing for the Christmas concert and Eva was role playing as Mary, mother of Jesus, she showed an understanding that a baby needs feeding and also talking to.
Piaget suggested that also at this stage they learn skills like drawing, language and sort objects in groups. This was demonstrated in Appendix. and …. This showed that she understand the concept of shapes, colours, child observation reflection essay, objects and drawing skills.
However, Lev Vygotskychild observation reflection essay, also did a study on cognitive growth and did not child observation reflection essay children as individual explorers of knowledge, but as learners from social interactions. He emphasised the role of language and the importance of relationships and interactions between children and adults. While Piaget believed that children should not be presented with problems and materials beyond their developmental ability, Vygotsky believed that a knowledgeable adult can help them achieve the skills through what he termed as scaffolding.
He referred this period of scaffolding as the Zone of Proximal Development ZPD. For example during my observation Eva was playing with wooden blocks and was supposed to fit them through holes. Appendix … The teacher helped her to fit in one of the blocks and later she managed to fit in the rest. Miller Piaget and Vygotsky agreed that children build their knowledge through experiences. However, Piaget believed this happened through exploration with hands on activities.
In contrast, Vygotsky believed that learning was not limited by stage or maturation. He believed that children move forward in their cognitive development with the right social interaction and guided learning. He argued that they learn through interactions, social and cultural experiences and interactions with adults. Charlesworth Nevertheless, Piaget and Vygotsky agreed that the children actively participant in their intellectual development.
Sigelman and Rider As I was doing my observations, I noticed that Eva was engaging in play when I was observing her for other developmental theories. According to Szarkowiczthis is because play can be used in many different ways by children and it is an authentic way for them to demonstrate their competence in a range of developmental areas.
Szarkowicz states that, children engage in play either from a social perspective or from a cognitive perspective. The other stages that can be seen from the age of 4 are parallel play Appendix …where the child plays with similar toys next to another child or children, associative play where the child plays near others and share the same toys and cooperative play where the children who play together with the same toys Appendix.
Bee and Boyd states that, the ability to join groups of other children, and the desire to do so begin, child observation reflection essay, at an early age and progresses through a developmental sequence.
Parten discovered that children of different ages actually played together differently. They engage in different levels or categories of social play. Appendix … Szarkowicz According to Piaget play promotes mental and social abilities and helps children learn how to express and manage their feelings.
He categorised play into sensory motor, symbolic and games with rules. He proposed that when in infancy up to about to 2 years, a child is in the sensory motor stage and uses motor skill and senses to explore objects and their environment. During the preoperational stage, children engage in imaginary games and fantasy role play which he called symbolic play. Appendix … And finally in the concrete operations stage, children are capable to play games following rules of games.
Piaget saw play as assimilation of new materials into existing cognitive structures and in his analysis he saw play as relaxed practice time rather than time for learning and grasping in new information. Casper and Theilheimer Smilansky identified four types of play thus, child observation reflection essay play, child observation reflection essay, constructive play, dramatic play, and games with rules.
According to Sheridanchildren discover the world through play and they use their senses and movements. Play is a way of constructing knowledge, developing intellectual abilities and building social skills.
Piaget believed that a child could use play to mirror obnoxious experiences or experiences where he or she had no power. He believed that children often imitate and role play an adult who has power for example a teacher who is ferocious because they can imagine themselves in the position of power and this facilitates them to deal with being powerless.
This is also common with children witnessing or involved in violent households. The next theory I considered in my observation is the language developmental theory and I looked at the theories Chomsky, Piaget and Vygotsky.
I believe language is an important part in human development because it a major medium of social interaction. According to Beckett and Taylorthe vocabulary of children between the ages of 3 to 6 expands from 2 word sentence to more complex sentences.
Whilst I was observing Eva, I noticed that most of her conversation and responses were two or three word sentences and it made me more interested on language development.
Chomsky believed that sentences are routinely created practically every time. He believed that we have internal rules that enable us to decide which sentences are grammatical correct and convey our intended meanings. Chomsky believed that children have innate abilities, a genetic program to learn language and once they begin to hear language around them, they automatically understand the structure of that language. He argued that this is because of the biological dispositions, brain development and cognitive readiness.
Crain According to Piaget's theory, children are born with basic action schemas and during the sensory-motor period birth to 2 years they use these action schemas to assimilate information about the world, child observation reflection essay.
Appendix …. Piaget's theory describes children's language as symbolic, allowing them to venture beyond what is termed as here and now. During this stage children engage in small talks about things as the past, the future, people, feelings and child observation reflection essay. They begin child observation reflection essay build sentences of three or more words and their grammar becomes complex.
They start to use Where, What, Why, for example, "What is that? Piaget child observation reflection essay that, during the sensory-motor period, children's language is egocentric and they talk either for themselves or for amusement. During this period, their language often shows instances of what Piaget termed animism and egocentrism. Animism refers to children's tendency to consider everything to be alive, including non-living objects. Appendix Since they see things entirely from their own perspective, their language suggests their egocentrism.
It is then followed by the egocentric or private speech stage from 4 to 7 years, where they often talk aloud to themselves as they perform tasks or solve problems.
Finally the private speech wanes and speech becomes more internalised. Piaget and Chomsky both agreed that children are not moulded by the external environment but they create mental structures on their own accord. Chomsky also believed that language is a highly specialised mental faculty that progresses independently and children learn entirely on their own, child observation reflection essay. However, Piaget viewed language as more closely related to general cognitive development.
Piaget and Vygotsky agreed that children are active learners and they contribute to their own development. They both believed that children build ways of understanding and knowledge of the world through their activities.
However, Piaget believed it happens primarily through physical manipulation of objects around them and Vygotsky believed child observation reflection essay it is socially mediated, child observation reflection essay. Chomsky believed that language is innate and unique to humans. Piaget believed language is not innate but a product of cognitive development. Finally, Vygotsky believed that language acquisition is a result of both biological and environmental factors, child observation reflection essay.
Child observation reflection essaystates that child observation is a process which enable the worker to be responsive rather than intrusive through watching and listening in an alert and informed way that raises awareness and sharpens understanding. It involves learning how to monitor feelings and reactions and how they can provide information.
The observation process provided me with an opportunity to focus on the vulnerability, resilience and the relative powerless of children in a nursery setting. It also provides me with knowledge and skills on how to conduct an observation and according to McKinnonwell developed observational skills can act as a safeguard.
It also provided me with an opportunity to discover and have a deeper understanding of how children communicate, play, child observation reflection essay, engage with adults and most importantly about their development.
Child Observation Essay
, time: 8:14Reflective Essay On My Child Observation And Presentation: [Essay Example], words GradesFixer
The key elements of learning through observation are seeing and listening attentively to whatsoever one is observing. Reflection is replicating what one sees and listens while observing. It involves describing everything you can see out of your window. Reflection involves linking a current experience to previous learning’s as reflecting Child observation This essay will critically examine the role of a social worker to observe a child. This essay will also talk about the ethics and the anti-oppressive practices in relation to care of children. The child I observed was named S who was three and half years old from an Indian Family Child Observation Reflective Essay. Child Observation Essay Child Observation Essay Observing a child can be the key to understanding a child’s development. In an effort to further understand early childhood, I observed a boy named Matthew, who is five years old. He is currently in kindergarten and a very energetic, happy child
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