- Childs Name: Ann Student (also referred to as student/subject)
- Age: 4
- Gender: Female
Description of observation site or location
I did my observation at Alltowns Preschool. The class of Mrs. Teacher consisted of 16 students. The class consisted of Caucasian children only.
The class has three zones: wardrobe (children take off warm clothes or leave other stuff), study zone, and play zone. There are two large square tables in the study zone. The play zone has several shelves a bookcase filled with books, toys, students’ works, and other materials. There are some student’s works on the walls. There is a blackboard in the play zone. There is a large playground where children may fulfill a variety of activities.
I did my observation during the Language Art class (10:15 – 11:00), Recess Time (11:00 – 12:00), and Lunch Time (12:00 – 12:30).
Description of Family of origin
The student’s parents are Caucasians, speaking English only. Ann is the only child in the family. The subject’s parents have a house near the school.
Developmental Stages
Biosocial
The girl’s weight and height are normal for an average child of her age. Ann does not stand out against other children in the class, in this respect.
The student is cheerful and active. The subject can swim, she likes climbing and she likes monkey bars as well as swings. She completes the teacher’s tasks at the necessary pace. She is one of the best students in the class.
However, she lacks patience and she is hardly able to focus on one task for a long time. She also does not like sitting still for a long time. Sometimes she may be a bit naughty (she is often talking to other students). However, when the teacher rebukes Ann, the subject stops misbehaving.
Cognitive Skills
The student is one of the best students in the class. She understands the teacher’s instructions quite quickly and is nearly always ready to respond first. She often raises her hand (or even hands) and sometimes cries out the answers. The teacher often has to rebuke Ann for this. The girl performs well while writing letters. She also reads the sequences required well. She was good at making a story (students had to create a story by adding a sentence or a few sentences). She is also good at recognizing letters and words.
Social Skills
Ann is very sociable as she interacts with all students of the class. She sometimes helps students struggling with their tasks. At the playground, she was eager to participate in almost all activities. She even interfered in several games other children had been playing. She laughs and makes other students laugh. She manages to climb the monkey bars and in a few moments, she is swinging with her friends. Predominantly, she interacts with girls.
She joined a larger group of students during lunch. She ate quite rapidly and had time to play with her favorite toys. When other children finished, she joined these students.
Gross Motor Skills
Her gross motor skills are well developed. She runs quite fast. She climbs the monkey bar without falling. She can ride a tricycle. She likes swings. When running with children she rarely stumbles or rams into other students. Students played tag and Ann managed to run from others or, vice versa, run down others. Once she fell, but she almost immediately rose to her feet and was back in the game.
Fine Motor Skills
Ann’s fine motor skills are also well developed. However, it is possible to note that these skills are less developed than her gross motor skills. Thus, she writes letters quite quickly, but her writing is a bit sloppy. Sometimes she is not attentive enough and can make mistakes. When they had to cut out several pictures to form a story, she performed well. However, she did not cut the pictures accurately enough.
Theories of Development
- Psychoanalytical theory: No psychoanalytical observations were made.
- Behavioral theory: The subject acts by the rules of the group. Sometimes she is a bit impatient and tries to answer all the questions. She likes being first. However, she obeys the teacher who sometimes rebukes the student for her impatience.
- Cognitive theory: Ann exploits language as the major way to express her ideas and attitudes. Her facial expressions also reveal her cognitive processes. She exploits the preoperational approach while solving problems. The subject copies the teacher’s ways while completing tasks.
- Sociocultural theory: The student follows the teacher’s instructions and completes the tasks at the appropriate pace. She is often the first to be ready with the task, though she may make mistakes.
- Epigenetic theory: Ann is developing along with the rest of the students in the class.
Interpretation
The subject’s development corresponds to the normal development of a four-year old child. The subject is quite impulsive and has short spans of preservation, which is still a norm for a child of her age. The subject’s brain matures at the necessary pace. Gross motor skills are well developed, even though researchers suggest that urban children can have delays in this type of development. Fine motor skills are also well developed, but due to the subject’s character (she is quite inattentive and has a short concentration span) she is not very neat in writing, cutting, etc. Her cognitive development is also normal. She performs better than the majority of the boys in her class which can be explained by the fact that girls develop faster.