Motivation Of Child Observation

I observed Mrs. Linscott’s classroom with three year olds at the East Lansing Child Development Laboratory. Along with the children, there were a few adults to help in the class. I focused on seven main things while observing the children. First, I focused on one child for 15 minutes and took note of their motor, language, and social development. The second thing I observed was how the adults in the classroom interacted with the children. Third, I payed attention to the children’s emotional development. Next, I took notes on the children’s communication and language skills. I also observed the children’s behavior from a Piagetian perspective. Then, I observed how the children’s learning could be shaped by the interactions with the adults.

I observed the teacher sitting down with a group of students reading a book. As she would read she would have the children repeat what she would say. “Say goodnight to the bird”. This relates to Albert Bandura’s Social Learning theory. This theory claims people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling.(Berk 2013) The kids are learning by imitating what the teacher is having them say. Later I observed a kid walk over to a small bookshelf and knocked it over. The teacher came over and was visibly upset. She scolded the kid very sternly for this action. This relates to B.F Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning. This is the idea that behavior is determined by its consequences. Whether it be reinforcement or punishments, which make it more or less likely that behavior will happen again.(Berk 2013) Since the adult was stern and made it clear she was disappointed, it lowers the likeliness this child will knock over the bookshelf

The class never was separated in groups of just girls or just boys. I observed one boy in particular at the beginning of my observation. I noted he was holding a baby doll. During my whole observation, he never dropped this baby doll. This is an example of the Gender Schema Theory. The gender schema theory is an information-processing approach that explains how environmental pressures and children’s cognitions work together to shape gender typing. (Berk 2013) This boy was not thinking of his gender or stereotypes, he was just thinking he liked this particular doll and will play with it despite that baby dolls are stereotyped as a girls toy. During my whole observation, I noticed girls and boys always interacted with one another. The textbook claims, during the preschool years, girls increasingly seek out other girls and like to play in pairs because of common preference for quieter activities. Boys come to prefer larger group play with other boys, who share a desire to run, climb, play, fight and knock down. (Berk 2013) For my observation, I found this to be untrue. At each station, there would be a mix of boys and