Chapter 4
How to Observe
Children
What Is Observation?
• Clues to the development and personality
of each child
• To “read” the child
• To “see” a situation
• To develop a child sense
• Important role in assessment
Why Observe?
• Improve your teaching
• Use as an assessment
tool
– Become more objective
and less biased, and
use less inference
• Construct theory
– Link research to
practice
– Develop specific goals
and objectives for
planning and
development
• Assist families
– Share meaningful
examples of abilities
Why Observe? (cont.)
• Wonder why and solve a problem
– A time of reflections
– Developing hunches and intuition
– Rethinking the problem
Contexts for Understanding
Observations
• Children as individuals
– Tailoring what a child is ready and willing to
learn
– Report what a child does (not feels) and
interpretations
• Children in general
– Look at developmental norms
– Children’s play patterns evolve
– Understanding group and individual
behavior
Influences on Behavior
• Environmental influences are classroom
arrangement, daily schedule, and the
activities themselves
• Transitions and time of day impact
behavior
• Relationships between children and adults
Understanding Self
• Notice human behavior more accurately
• One teaches children and learns from
them
• Capturing the unique personality,
culture, and qualities develops selfawareness
Key Elements of Observation
• Systematic observations aid in recording
events and help teachers make sense of
them
• Must develop a “language of recording” to
practice
• Elements of observation
–
–
–
–
Focus on what you want to know
Develop a system
Find a tool or instrument
Select the environment
Types of Observation
• Narratives
– Record nearly everything that happens
– Baby biography, diary, journal, or log
– Modified running record or specimen
description (one thing at a time)
– Advantages:
• rich information, detailed behavioral accounts, take
notes at any time
– Disadvantages:
• time consuming, tendency for judgment or
inference
Observation Strategies—
Anecdotal Record
• Detailed record of specific episode of
particular interest or concern
• A short descriptive story about a child’s
specific behavior event that is of particular
interest or concern.
– This may be firsthand information as
observed by child care providers or recorded
from secondhand information as provided by
parents.
– It is qualitative, not quantitative data.
Observation Strategies—
Running Account
• Specific type of behavior noted each time
it occurs to provide ongoing description of
behavior
Samplings
• Time sampling
– What happens at a given
time
– Less descriptive
– Recorded at regular
intervals
– Can use a checklist
– Advantage: focus on
specific behaviors
– Disadvantage: difficult to
get the whole picture
• Event sampling
– Defines an event and
devises a system to
encode immediately
– Looks at specific
behaviors using checklists
a number of times during a
day
– Advantage: clearly defined
with a recording sheet
– Disadvantage: lack of
detail from a narrative
Observation Strategies—
Time Sampling
• Identifies behaviors
• Determines patterns of occurrence and
general frequency of behaviors
Observation Strategies—
Event Sampling
• Determines pattern of occurrence and
precise number of times predetermined
behavior occurs within set period of time
Rating Methods
• Checklists with predetermined data are
simple to make and record but lack rich
detail
• Rating scales are checklists planned in
advance that measure quantity and quality
How to Observe and
Record Effectively
• Observing while teaching
– Gather and prepare materials
– Consider where you will observe
– Plan when it will take place, and arrange help
if needed
– Prepare every adult to be an observer and
reflect on children’s play
How to Observe and
Record Effectively (cont.)
• Beginning to observe
– Plan and establish a time and place
– Be unobtrusive
– Observe and record
– Interpret your data
– Act on what you observed
Observation Sequence
• Determining learning and developmental
goals
• Watching and recording behavior
• Inferring meaning from behavior
• Evaluating progress toward learning and
developmental goals
• Planning changes to enable achievement of
desired goals
Observation
• Qualitative information- Unmeasurable
descriptive qualities and characteristics of
behaviors.
• Quantitative information- Measurable
numerical data and statistical calculations
that tell how often or to what degree
behaviors occur
Inferring Meaning
• Act of drawing conclusions from evidence
perceived by one’s senses or through
communication
Biases
• Biases are one’s own set of beliefs, values,
perceptions, and assumptions
• Biases develop from one’s upbringing, past
experience, and personal philosophy of life
• All we perceive with our senses is filtered
through layers of our personal point of view
(bias)
Perceive
• Become aware of subtle impressions about
the physical world by focusing on the senses
to notice and understand
• Make the effort to separate facts from
opinions to increase objectivity
• We see children differently because we are
different