Assignment
You will make observations of preschool children to then describe and assess typical developmental milestones for this age group. Comparable developmental milestones for school-age will be identified and compared to the developmental skills and abilities observed for the preschool group. You will then be asked to outline two activities for both groups with a focus on determining the developmentally appropriate differences that go into the planning and implementation of the learning experiences provided.
To meet the requirements for this assignment, complete the following steps:
1. Make arrangements to observe children in the preschool room of the lab school or another preschool program. You will need to ensure that you give yourself sufficient time to gather enough observations to complete the assignment. A minimum of ten observations will be needed to fully describe the developmental abilities and skills typical to children in the preschool years.
2. You will make observations on a number of children/groups of children in a variety of activities. Using a series of anecdotal observations, running records ,and other observational tools to record what you see children doing that will provide you with information on the following: i. Physical characteristics and abilities ii. Language abilities iii. Cognitive abilities iv. Social and emotional abilities
3. Analyze the observations in order to identify the specific cognitive, physical, social/emotional and language development of the children you observed. The information can be recorded in chart form using the appropriate assignment template
4. Using the template provided, create a comparison chart that identifies the corresponding skills and abilities for children in the school-age years of development. To clearly identify the anticipated changes in development you will use the 7 to 10 year age range as the comparator group. Students are expected to use a set of reliable resources to establish what the comparable skills would be for the development observed in the data collected for the preschool children (text book, checklists, on-line sources, etc.)
5. Provide a summary paragraph from the comparison chart describing some of the major developmental differences an educator would expect to see between typical preschool children and typical school-age children.
6. Outline a set of learning experiences for preschool children using the template provided to explain the learning outcomes expected for the children, the implementation criteria for the activity, the child's role and the teachers role. Using the same elements provide an outline for the same learning experiences for school-age children. The focus is on clearly identifying the differences that the educator would have to plan for when implementing these activities with older children.
7. Write an introduction and conclusion for your paper. In the introduction identify what your paper will be about and how you will be proceeding. In the conclusion you will need to discuss some general conclusions you've reached regarding the similarities and differences between preschool and schoolage children.
Here is a summary of how your assignment will be formatted: Preschool/School-Age Comparison Assignment Format Section
Section 1: Introduction
A brief outline of the content areas or topics your paper will be about Section
Section 2: Methodology
A brief outline of how you will be addressing the topic areas for the paper
Section 3: Developmental Comparison Chart (Template A)
A thorough summary of the various developmental abilities and skills observed in the data collected on preschool children.
A thorough set of comparison points for the school-age (7-10 years) across all skills and abilities identified for the preschool group.
Section 4: Comparison Summary
A general paragraph identifying the key differences analyzed between the typical development of the observed preschool children and the expected changes for the school-age group.
Section 5: Activity Charts (Templates B and C)
Completed set of outlines for the learning experiences provided for preschool and school-age children. Material provided needs to clearly identify what a developmentally appropriate set of learning outcomes and implementation strategies would be for preschoolers and how these would differ for the school-age child
Section 6: General Conclusions 3
A paragraph or set of paragraphs discussing the major points of learning you experienced through the completing of the assignment. In this case any insights gained regarding preschool or school-age development and the potential similarities and differences between the two groups are possible discussion points.
Section 7: References
A list of all reference materials used in preparing and completing your paper formatted to APA standards
Appendix A:
Observations for Preschoolers This section will include all your observational data used in completing the assignment.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.