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THREE AGES PROJECT
Zack Miller
Brenda Thompson
EDU 245-06
4/1/12
Pledge: I have neither given nor received help on this work, nor am I aware of any
infraction of the Honor Code.
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THREE AGES
Introduction
For this project, I conducted an interview for three different people in a one on one
setting. Each person I interviewed ranged in age of six to eighteen years old. I asked them
interview questions and took notes on their answers about their everyday life. The questions
evaluated the cognitive, physical, and social emotional aspects of these individuals.
The first interview took place with six year old Isaac. Isaac is in first grade and is my
little cousin so I thought it would be interesting to find out more about him through the
interviewing process. The interview took place at his house in the living room. It was a very
comfortable environment because I have been in that house before. He is a very rowdy child so I
was prepared for a challenge.
The next person I interviewed was ten year old Taylor which is another cousin of mine
and is the older sister of Isaac. Taylor is currently in fifth grade. This interview was also in a one
on one setting and it was a very comfortable environment as well which made for an easier
interviewing process.
Lastly, a friend of mine named Mitch was interviewed. He fits into the adolescent age
group and is eighteen years old. I know him through school and church. We completed the
interview when we went bowling and out to eat one day. It was the perfect opportunity.
The purpose of this project was to observe and evaluate developmental stages and
interactions of children in three different age groups. Before beginning this project, I predicted
to find major differences between all three participants. I did not expect for the oldest person
interviewed to have the same responses as the youngest person interviewed for this project. Each
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person is at a different developmental stage as a human; therefore, I was expecting to receive
various answers and observe multiple reactions.
Interviewing process
Already having a small idea of what six year old Isaac’s hobbies were, the basis of my
interview questions were more geared towards his specific interests. The interview began with a
simple question about school.
Me: “What is your favorite part about school?”
Isaac: “I like to be with my friends and go outside for recess.”
This question helped to measure the social emotional domain of Isaac’s development. I noticed
that when I asked him about school, his response had nothing to do with academics, but instead
was about the social environment. Social emotional development “includes changes in emotions,
self-concept, motivation, social relationships, and moral reasoning and behavior-advancements
that depend in large part on children’s interactions with other people” (McDevitt 5). To further
examine his social emotional development, I continued the interview by asking some more
simple questions.
Me: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Isaac: “I want to be a football player.”
Me: “And why do you want to be a football player?”
Isaac: “Because I want to be on T.V. and play for the Cowboys.”
This question evaluates Isaac’s social emotional domain because it touches on his emotional
development. It shows that he loves sports, such as football, and playing outside at recess which
tells me that he is going to be into sports all his life.
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While conducting this interview, I also observed his attention span. He was easily
distracted with his surroundings which made it quite difficult to continue the process. He was
unable to focus for long periods of time and he wouldn’t stop squirming around. Having his
mom in the room with us was a big help because she was able to keep Isaac more focused than I
would have been able to. By observing his attention span during my time with him, I was also
evaluating his cognitive development. Cognitive Development “refers to the changes that occur
in children’s reasoning, concepts, memory, and language” (McDevitt 5). Cognitive development
is usually formed by interaction and hands on experience. Isaac’s cognitive development is
continuing to grow. I noticed that he was very interested in the things surrounding him and it
seemed like he wanted to touch everything in sight. Isaac is at the “exploring and hands on” part
of his life. This is the reason he had a hard time focusing and paying attention during my time
with him.
Physical development is “concerned with the biological changes of the body and the
brain” (McDevitt 5). It is the process of learning gross motor skills, like crawling and walking,
and fine motor skills, such as writing. Physical development also deals with the strength,
coordination, and learning perception. To evaluate Isaac’s physical development, I chose to have
him write a sentence. With a pencil and a piece of paper on the table in front of him, I asked him
to write about his favorite food. I noticed that he did not know how to exactly approach writing
a response, so I verbally guided him along. To make sure he knew what topic I was asking her to
write about, I asked him what his favorite food was. His response was this:
Isaac: “Pizza!”
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Now that I knew what he was going to be writing about, it was easier for me to assist him. I
continued to ask questions so that he would be more enticed and had more information to write
about.
Me: “Why do you love pizza?”
Isaac: “Because it’s yummy!”
Me: “What do you like on your pizza?”
Isaac: “On my pizza, I like pepperoni.”
Although I was not particularly interested in the topic he was writing about, it was a creative and
easy way for me to analyze his physical writing skills. While watching him write, I noticed that
he had a pretty tight grip on the pencil. I also noticed that he would pause after each letter he
wrote. I began to realize that when he was stopping while writing he was not only trying to think
of what he would write next, but he was also thinking about how to write it. Isaac used his fine
motor skills and much effort to complete a sentence about his favorite food which is normal for
children his age.
My next interview was with Taylor. I found that it was much easier to conduct an
interview with her because she was five years older than Isaac and she had a better attention
span. She could also process more and give me straight answers without much hesitation. Her
cognitive development is a little further along. First, I observed her social emotion development.
To make it easier to compare and contrast responses, I asked her the same questions that I asked
Isaac.
Me: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Taylor: “I want to be a doctor.”
Me: “Why do you want to become a doctor?”
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Taylor: “Because I like to help others and I think it would be fun.”
Taylor’s response to the question indicated that she is continuing to develop emotion because she
cares about others and she has a desire to help them. I continued to ask her questions about her
life outside of school to continue observing her social emotional domain.
Me: “What are some of your favorite things to do outside of school?
Taylor: “I like to play softball and hangout with my friends.”
Me: “Why do you like to do these things?”
Taylor: “Because softball is my favorite sport because it’s fun and have sleep over’s with
my friends. We get to watch movies.”
From her answers, I observed that at this part of her life, she is very well developed with her
social emotional interactions with others. She loves the social aspect of hanging out with her
friends when she is not in school and she is actively involved in a team sport.
For assessing physical development with Taylor, I asked her to do the same thing as I did
with Isaac. I told her to think of her favorite food and write a few sentences about it. Because of
her progress of development, didn’t hesitate at all and was able to process everything and jot it
down on the paper like I asked her to. This was a big difference between her and Isaac. She did
not grip the pencil as tight as Isaac did but she still did not relax her hand as much as I do when I
write. She paused in between sentences to think about what she would write next even though
she able to maintain a thought and finish writing it down without stopping. Her fine motor skills
are well developed based on this writing activity.
The last interviewee was one of my good friends Mitch. We went to the same school and
church together so I had a good idea of some questions I wanted to ask him. As an eighteen year
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old college student, he has a pretty good idea of what he wants to do with his life, so to start off
the interview I asked him:
Me: “What are your future career goals?”
Mitch: “When I get out of college, I plan on being a police officer for five years and then
eventually move up to working for the FBI and become a detective.”
Me: “What made you decide to go into this profession?”
Mitch: “Most of my desire going into law enforcement came from my dad. He is a
current police officer and he tells me every day that he loves his job. I like the idea that
there is something new every day and I’m not going to have to sit around at a desk all day
for several hours at a time.”
After listening to Mitch’s response, I could tell a huge difference between his social emotional
stage and Isaac’s social emotional stage. It is far more developed. His social emotional
interactions developed with age and because he is now a young adult, he has a better concept of
what he wants to do with his life in the future.
Mitch’s cognitive developmental interaction is well developed. His attention span is
greater than the other two I interviewed. It didn’t even feel like an interviewing environment
because we were just having a normal conversation at the bowling alley which made the process
relatively easy. Although Mitch is older and far more developed than that of Isaac, I still felt that
it was necessary to also give him a physical development test. I had him think of his favorite
food and write a few sentences about it on a sheet of paper. On his paper he wrote:
“My favorite food is chicken alfredo. I enjoy the tasty blend of the creamy alfredo with
the tenderness of the chicken. My mom’s home cooked version is even better than when I order
it in restaurants.”
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This did not even take him one minute to think of this and write it down. He was able to think
quickly about what he was going to write about and how he was going to physically write the
letters on the paper. He looked very comfortable while writing. He did not have a strong grip on
the pencil and was able to breeze right through this activity like it was nothing. Mitch has had
many years of physical development and is therefore able to easily write down what he thinks
and is able to not even think about how he is holding the pencil.
Discussion
After gathering information from all three individuals that I was able to interview, I was
able to see that there were some similarities and differences. In regards to their cognitive
development, I noticed that each of their attention spans were different. Isaac had a much shorter
attention span than Taylor and Mitch. Mitch had the best attention span and was able to keep
full focus during the interview without having any distractions. Isaac, Taylor, and Mitch all had
well developed gross motor skills because they could all easily walk, run, and play sports. The
differences in their physical development were gathered through the writing test. For instance,
they all held the pencil differently due to age development. I noticed that the younger the age,
the tighter the grip was. Also, Taylor and Mitch were much more focused on what they were
writing about. Another similarity I observed between each of them was when I asked them the
question about their future goals, each of them had a different career they wished to pursue.
When asked why they wanted to pursue that goal, they all said because they are able to help
other. Their willingness to want to help others is a part of their social emotional development.
Each child is affected by their family, peers, community, and teachers. Their family
teaches them the basics of life. Family helps in their development such as learning how to walk,
run, and ride a bike. A child’s peers are the ones that help them with developing their social part
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of life. As six year old Isaac is beginning school he is just now starting to learn how to interact
with others. His teachers are a large part of his development. They help him learn abilities such
as how to read and write. Each person’s culture and everyday environment also have an effect
on how the child develops. Living in different places and interacting with different people cause
each child to develop new techniques that they can use throughout their lifetime.
According to Piaget, one of his main points is that children think differently at different
age levels. For example, each of the people I interviewed had more complex answers as they got
older. Piaget said that “as a result of brain maturation, environmental experiences, and
children’s natural desire to make sense of and adapt to their world, cognitive abilities continue to
undergo distinct, qualitative changes over the course of childhood and adolescence” (McDevitt
197). There are also some points in Vygotsky’s theory that are present when comparing the
three interviews that I composed. Vygotsky says that “every culture passes along physical and
cognitive tools that make daily living more effective and efficient” (McDevitt 212). He also says
that “complex and mental processes begin as social activities and gradually evolve into internal
mental activities that children can use independently. In other words, thought processes and
cognitive tools in children begin with social interactions” (McDevitt 213). Children pick up on
what their family, peers, and teachers say and do, and therefore, they begin to develop the same
actions. All of my observations were consistent with these two theories.
The Three Ages Project taught me a great deal about the development of children. I did
not realize how big of a difference in thought process and characteristics there would be in each
child I interviewed. One problem that I encountered during this project was the short attention
span in the youngest child I interviewed. I am not used to interacting with children that young,
therefore, I didn’t realize how much of a challenge it would be to complete the interview. I
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could tell that Isaac (the youngest) would rather being playing with his toys, or running around
instead of answering my questions. I relied on the assistance of Isaac’s mother to help me
overcome the difficulty. She had a better understanding of how to keep her child occupied and
more focused. I also felt that taking short breaks, especially with Isaac, was beneficial to me.
Although there were challenges, I feel that my observations were valid in comparison to
Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories and I took notes as the interviews took place and the responses
were straight from the individuals themselves. If I had the opportunity to make observations by
asking addition questions at a later time then I would probably ask them what has changed since
we last spoke. I would also ask if they were involved in anything new, or have developed any
new interests since the last time I spoke to them. All and all, this project was a learning
experience and a creative opportunity for me to work with children of different ages with
different developmental stages.
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THREE AGES
Reference
McDevitt, T.M., Ormrod, J.E. (2010). Child Development and Education: 4th Edition