Observation 2

Observation Paper #1
Class/section: FHS 1500-001

Your Name: Ashlyn Rogers
Assignment: Observation 2
Background Information
Child’s age: Preschooler 3-5 Years
Fictitious name: “Eric”
Location: Online Daycare Video
Brief Video of a preschooler named Eric and his interaction with the toys, children
Description: and caregivers in his preschool.
Biological Development
While observing Eric (name has been changed) at his preschool, I noticed a few things about his
biological development. First, I noticed that he was fairly tall compared to his peers. I also noticed that
he was skinny. Between the ages of five and six, the average Body Mass Index is lower than it will be at
any other age (Berger, 2016 p. 164). This means that children at this age tend to not have very much fat
relative to their height. They lose a lot of their extra baby fat as they grow taller and become more active
in their play. Children grow about a foot from the time they are a toddler to the time they are six
(Berger, 2016 p. 164). Eric appears to have grown quite tall from the time he was a toddler.
I also noticed that Eric has finely mastered his gross motor skills. He was able to run up and
down the stairs with ease, and he could gracefully jump over the steps. Eric was able to grab onto the
railing with both hands and hold his own body weight for a second. He could also hop in one place
without losing his balance.
It appears that Eric is right handed. During early childhood, the corpus callosum of the brain
rapidly develops. The corpus callosum is what connects the brain’s two hemispheres and allows for
communication. The brain specializes in one side of the body, which is called “lateralization” (Berger,
2016 p. 168). Eric’s brain specializes in the use of his right hand, which is what makes him right handed.
He also has a dominate eye, ear, and foot.
Cognitive Development
Eric only played with one toy throughout almost the entire video. He had made a long tube with
a funnel at the end out of some of the building toys his preschool had. He discovered many different
ways to play with the tube, but he did not branch out to other toys. When his peers wanted a turn playing
with it, he would not give his toy up. This is an example of perseveration. Perseveration is “the tendency
to persevere in, or stick to, one thought or action for a long time (Berger, 2016 p. 171). Many children
have a difficult time regulating their attention due to not yet having a fully developed prefrontal cortex.
Whether it be focusing too much on one thing, or bouncing from activity to activity, it is normal for
children to struggle with their attention span.
Children’s cognition skills are shaped by their mentors around them. A mentor is anyone who
provides guidance to the child (Berger, 2016 p 176). This could be siblings, teachers, strangers and
parents. It is safe to say that some of Eric’s mentors are his teachers at the preschool, and it could be
inferred that one of his mentors was the person who was filming the observation. Eric repeatedly asked
the cameraman questions and tried to engage with him in different ways. While the mentor was not able
to provide any guidance at the time of the observation, it was clear that he had a history of providing
scaffolding for Eric. I learned from my textbook that scaffolding is the “temporary support” that children
need from mentors to help them learn (Berger, 2016 p. 176).
Psychosocial Development
According to our textbook, there are two different kinds of motivation that might encourage a
child to do something—intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is when the desire to do something
comes from within the child, extrinsic motivation is when the child does something in search of praise or
reward (Berger, 2016 p. 204). Eric demonstrated intrinsic motivation when he used his toy like a
trumpet. He didn’t get any reward for making noise with his toy, he just did it because it brought him joy
to hear his voice through the tube. He demonstrated extrinsic motivation when he was playing a game of
keep away with a little girl. He quickly turned the activity into a game you could win or lose at. Eric and
the girl were motivated to continue the activity because of the promise of winning points.
Eric demonstrated a few different stages of social play. In the beginning of the video, Eric played
by himself and didn’t seem to notice other children who were playing near him. This is an example of
solitary play (Berger, 2016 p. 207). Later on, Eric participated in parallel play. Eric used his toy as a
pretend trumpet while another boy did the same thing, however they did not interact. He also played
with marbles at the same time as other children, but again did not interact with them. Parallel play is
when “children play with similar objects in similar ways but not together” (Berger, 2016 p. 207).
Finally, Eric demonstrated cooperative play when he was playing “keep away” with the little girl. They
played together and took turns, just as Parten’s fifth stage of social play requires.
Reference List
Berger, K. S. (2016). Invitation to the life span (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

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Observation Paper #1

Class/section: FHS 1500-001

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