Assignment: Observation Paper
The purpose of this assignment is to help you apply what you have learned in class to everyday, real life situations. This assignment will help you observe behavior in a detailed manner. Learning to observe behavior in a detailed manner will aid you in working with children, adolescents as well as adults, especially if you are thinking about working as a teacher, nurse, psychologist. The second part of the assignment will help you understand human development It will also help you improve your communication skills as well as relating to others in the field of education, business, education, medical, and psychology. The third part of the assignment will help you tie the information you gathered through your observation and interview to the theories and concepts of human development.
Three components of your project. All these components will be combined in one document, please make sure you label each section within your document.
1. Observation
2. Interview of the child's parent (s) or the person observed if they are old enough and have consent
3. Application of Theories and Concepts
Observation:
1. Select a child, adolescent, or adult from any of the following developmental stages covered in the book: Infant, Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Adolescent, Young Adulthood, Middle Adulthood, Late Adulthood
2. Observe for 30-60 minutes. Observation can be in an informal or formal setting
3. Permission must be gained from parent(s) if child is a minor, and from a facility if you decide to observe in a formal setting
4. You may not observe your own child, family member or children, or family members, or individuals you know well
5. Describe what you observed during the time period, including physical, cognitive, social-emotional factors. You should list at least 10 behaviors for each factor
6. The description should include details of the individual's behavior. Some examples of behaviors: (1) playing on playground, sliding down the slide (2) hanging out with friends in front of school talking (3) crying after falling down
7. You are provided with a permission slip. When submitting your paper, attach the permission slip as well. You will have to scan the permission slip in order for you to submit it on Canvas. If you can't scan it, take a picture and send it as a picture.
Interview:
1. You must ask the parent(s) or the individual at least 10 questions that will help you identify the development stage of the individual
2. These questions can be about date of birth, developmental milestones met, education, career development, etc....
3. Your paper need to include the questions you asked the answers you were given
Application of Theory:
1. Identify the family structure, socio-economic status and cultural factors that help you explain the child's or individual's development. Use your observation and interview to support your discussion.
2. Identify and describe the child's or individual's stage of development. Use at least two (2) theories to explain the developmental stage (Erikson, Piaget, Freud, Kohlberg, etc....)
3. Describe each theory and relate the component of the theories to your observation. Again, use your observation and interview to support your discussion.
4. Supplement your report with at least 2 outside academic sources related to human development. You must reference these sources throughout your paper and in your reference list.
5. You may use your textbook as one of your references, however, the other reference has to come from a peer reviewed source. You will not find this on the internet, you will need to use the PCC library or other library to find your resource.
6. Use your integrated findings to identify any problems in the person's development. You may use pictures, work samples, awards, etc.. to illustrate your findings as to how the individual is functioning within the developmental stage.
MY own observation (use it for papers)
Physical
• 170 cm, tall and slender
• Long fingers and palm
• Plays viola, badminton, and ping pong
• Figgity
• Tends to grab her iPhone often when sitting for a prolong period of time
• On the paper side for skin tone (stays mostly indoors)
• Sit forward then sit back, constant moving as if out of boredom
• Can look away, and text at the same time
• Slouches
• Uses a lot of hand gestures for communication
• Jumps without using her arms for momentum and stiffen the arm, and curls the leg back
• Runs slightly flat footed
• Arms stiff and hands waddle instead of swinging back and forth
• Leans forward when running and with a slight lean towards the right
Cognitive
• Cheerful and responsive to questions
• Shy but follows through with questions
• Inquisitive
• Really good at explaining details
• Takes her time to think through questions before answering
• Easily distracted by her iphone
• Responds quickly to stimuli
• Face goes from smiley to serious when give a serious topic to talk about.
• Is able to articulate her thoughts in details, and use previous thoughts to answer follow up questions
• Speaks a second language (Cantonese)
Social Emotional
• Laugh and smile a lot
• Phone is always in her hand
• Communicate a lot through her phone
• Text as a main form of communication
• Opening to communication
• Easy to socialize with others
• Take only a short period to warm up to strangers
• Great eye contact when spoken to
• Spoke only when spoken
• Use text as a main source to initiate conversation
• However, doesn't initiate conversation via phone call
10 questions observation (use in the paper)
1. What subjects like most? what you like the most in school ?
2. Who do you get most help from?
3. How did she help you?
4. What it's the Chores and rules/who sets/fair or unfair?
5. Ever have problems getting along with friends? Fights? What happens? How do they end? Other ways to solve?
6. What do you like to do when you have time to play?
7. What would you like to be when you are older?
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
9. What sorts of things make you scared? What do you do?
10. What sorts of things make you happy? Angry? Sad?
11. Last question What do you do when you're angry/sad?
12. Do you have a sibling? And do you get a long with your sibling?
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.