Child Observation

Observing a child in the classroom setting does not stop at behavior. Observations must be made of the child’s thinking processes as well. These observations will allow the teacher to see if the child has misconceptions about certain aspects of life, if he or she relies heavily on concrete objects or experiences to understand ideas and learn, etc. The thinking process of a child can also clue teachers in on whether or not the child is learning from and making sense of their environment. There are two predominate ways that a child can learn from his or her environment and that is through the process of assimilation and accommodation. In assimilation a child is making sense of their world by taking what they experience and fitting it into their
current cognitive concepts. Children who accommodate the information that they receive from experiences will try to fit them into reality.
There are also two types of thinking that children ages three to seven will go through and they are, pre-operational thinking and concrete operational thinking. In pre-operational thinking a child only believes what appears to be obvious to their senses; however, in concrete operational thinking, a child will explain what they know and why it is true, even if their eyes do not see it that way. The development and use of language is another important factor to look for when observing a child’s thinking processes. Children use language and the lack of language to make sense of their world
too. In fact, most of the time children will use what is called private language, which is where the child talks to himself or herself and can be in the form of characters. By listening closely to the private language that a child uses, a teacher can get a very good idea about the thinking processes of a child. This chapter was full of some really great information; however, I believe that the most interesting piece of information that I will take with me into my future classroom is the importance of listening closely to the child’s private language.
By “observing and recording what children say provides insights into their acquisition of relevant information and their manner of solving problems (Cohen, 121). Observing this type of behavior will allow me to see the areas in a child’s thinking that may need to be developed. For example, one first grader has three pennies and another first grader has one dime, but the first child says that she has more money than the second first grader. I would explain to her that even though she has three pennies, one penny equals one cent, so she has three cents. I would continue to explain that the other girl only has one dime but that the dime equals ten cents. So even though the pennies are larger than the dime and you have three of them, you actually have less money than the other girl with a dime, because her dime is equal to ten pennies. This may need more explanation, but it does allow me to see which children are grasping the concepts of their world, and which are not quite grasping
them.