Classroom observation

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InstructionsforchildobservationforPSYU3232019.pdf

Revised February 10, 2019

Child Observation PSYU 323

This assignment helps you to build important skills and knowledge. First, you are developing a way to look at behavior in a detailed manner. This will aid you if you become a teacher, a nurse, a therapist, or in any other profession where you need to make observations. Note that it is important to focus on just the behaviors and avoid making judgments or assumptions about why that behavior is occurring. The last part is taking the specifics of what you observe and applying them to developmental theories. The purpose of this assignment is to build your skills in looking for details and making applications of theory you have learned. This project contains three components. These will all be combined into one document. Be sure to label the sections separately. Your paper should include the following: 1. Title page in APA format 2. Description of the setting of the observation 3. Observation of child 4. Application of theories 5. Reference list in APA format

Description of the Setting of the Observation

1. Provide a short description of where and how the observation took place. 2. Include the following in that description:

 Name of child (do not provide the real name)

 Age of child

 Where the observation took place

 Date of observation

 Time of observation

 Who was present during the observation

 Basic description of types of activities (such as free time, snack time, etc.)

 Other people present during the observation

 Who gave permission for the observation to occur

Observation

1. Select a child who falls within the age range of 1 month to 12 years. 2. Observe the child for a minimum of 60 minutes. The observation can take place in an informal or a formal setting. 3. Permission must be gained from parent(s) and from the facility if you decide to observe the child in a formal setting. 4. You may not observe your own children or children you know well. 5. Describe what you observed during the time period, including fine motor, gross motor, social, and cognitive skills. Label these categories in your paper. 6. You must list a minimum of 10 behaviors for each category.

Revised February 10, 2019

7. The description should include details about the child’s behavior. Here are a few examples of details: (1), playing in the sand with a shovel and a bucket, (2) singing a song from a television show, (3) kicking a soccer ball, (4) rolling over, (5) crying after falling down, (6) throwing body to ground while screaming, (7) sucking thumb, and so on.

8. Do not describe behaviors of parents or other people in the lists. 9. Do not make inferences or judgments within the lists. For example, do not write, “He

threw his bottle because he was mad.” You are making an inference. You don’t know if he is mad, full, playful, and so on.

10. Note that these behaviors could be listed in more than one category. For example, putting together a puzzle would be listed under fine motor skills, as well as cognitive skills.

11. Behaviors must be correctly categorized. For example, holding a pen is a fine motor skill, not a gross motor skill.

12. Be consistent in how you list these behaviors (i.e., complete sentences versus fragments, consistent verb tense, etc.)

13. You are provided with a permission sheet. When submitting your paper, attach this permission sheet as well. You will need to scan it and attach it. If you do not have a scanner, you can take a digital picture of the document and attach it as a .jpg. Do not submit your paper until you have also attached the permission sheet.

Application of Theories

1. Identify and describe the developmental stage of the child. Use 2 different developmental theorists to explain the child’s development (i.e., Piaget, Freud, Erikson, Kohlberg, etc.). Describe each theorist and relate the components of their theories to the child you observed. For example, it is not enough to just state they fall into a stage. What does the theorist say about what is expected in that stage? Clearly link the behaviors you see in the observations to the specifics of the theory. 2. Supplement your report with at least 2 outside academic sources relating to the theorist and/or development stage. You must cite these in a reference list. If possible, it is recommended that you find the original work of the theorists. 3. You may not use Wikipedia as a reference. You may use your textbook as one source,

but it will not count as an outside source. Do not rely too heavily on your textbook. 4. Use your findings to identify any problems in this child’s development. How does the environment or other factors influence the child’s development? 5. You may include pictures, work samples, awards etc. to help illustrate how the child functions in his/her developmental stage. 6. This should be a minimum of 350 words in length.

Guidelines

1. The paper must be written in 6th edition APA format.

Revised February 10, 2019

2. It must be a minimum of 6 pages of writing, with 2 academic references (not including the textbook. These 6 pages do not include the title page, abstract, or the reference

page. 3. You must have a title page with a running head.. 4. You must have an abstract (APA Manual, pp. 25-27). 5. You must have a reference page in 6th edition APA format (APA Manual, p. 37, 180, 183). 6. Use Times Roman 12 point font (as suggested by APA Manual, p. 228). 7. Please save your paper in Word format. 8. If you do not have Word, please save your file as a text file. 9. Put 2 spaces at the end of every sentence (APA Manual, p. 88) 10. Use headings to separate your sections of the paper (APA Manual, pp. 62-63). 11. Do not use personal pronouns (i.e., I, we, our). 12. Do not provide the real name of the child or parent. Select a fictional name, rather than referring to the child as Child A, or something similar to that.

Hints for Writing Your Paper

1. Make sure you cite everything in your application. None of this should be your opinion. Ideas have to be cited as well as statistics and/or direct quotes (APA Manual, p. 170). 2. Keep your biases out of the paper. I should not be able to detect an emotional reaction that you may have toward the child. 3. You may lose up to a point for each inference that you make in the behavior lists. 4. Use quotations sparingly. A rule of thumb is no more than one on a page. 5. You should not have two quotations in a paragraph. 6. When citing a quotation, cite the author, year, and page (or paragraph) number (APA Manual, p. 170). 7. How you say something is almost as important as what you say. 8. It is critical for your writing to flow well and have no grammatical errors. 9. You may lose a point for each grammatical error (i.e., using affect and effect incorrectly, using impersonal you, etc.). 10. This is a formal paper. Do not write as if you are speaking. Avoid using slang terms such as “Daddy” and “kids.” Use “father” and “children” instead. 11. Make sure that you reference who you are citing within the text of the paper. Your

instructor should not see paragraphs that are discussing the theories that are not cited. 12. Do not use impersonal you or first person pronouns. 13. Paraphrase the work of others and give them credit. In other words, do not plagiarize. 14. If you do not cite what you have paraphrased, this is considered plagiarism. 15. If you plagiarize, you will automatically fail this assignment. In order to be successful in this paper, be sure to follow all the directions in this document. It is important to do a detailed observation, use accurate theoretical applications, have proper writing flow, use proper grammar, meet the minimum page guidelines, and follow all APA guidelines.