Week 4 Final Project
Child Development Observation/Interview
For this project you will be conducting an observation and interview with a child between the ages of 3 and 10. In preparation for this you need to start thinking about who you will want to observe/interview and make contact with their parent or caregiver to gain permission and schedule at least 2 to 3 hours for the observation/interview.Part I – Observation
Recommendations – Prior to the interview/observation thoroughly read the sections in the text and other resources that relate to the age range of the child you are observing.
Observe for a minimum of 1 hour how the child interacts with others, how they play, any social, cognitive, emotional/psychological, sensory/perceptual, moral, physical, and/or motor characteristics or qualities. Take detailed notes of his or her behavior so you can analyze the behaviors and functioning in terms of developmental stages and theories related to these areas. With permission from the caregiver you could also video tape the child playing so that you can later analyze it.
Part II – Interview of the Primary Caretaker
After observing the child, you will interview the parent or guardian about how this particular child functions. You should design a questionnaire that will help you to better understand your earlier observations of the child. You will also want to ask questions that will help you further understand the child’s social, cognitive, emotional/ psychological, sensory/perceptual, moral, physical, and/or motor functioning.
Examples of questions:
1) Tell me about your child’s (ex: physical, social, emotional) development.
2) What incidents come to mind?
3) How has it changed from a year ago or six months ago?
4) What have you noticed about her/his (ex: physical) abilities that you think may be unique to your child?
Part III – Interview of the Child
The final step in the observation/interview is to interview the child as long as they are old enough to answer your set of questions. You should prepare ahead of time a list of questions to help you further determine his or her social, cognitive, emotional/psychological, sensory/perceptual, moral, physical, and/or motor functioning.
You should also come prepared with a series of tasks in the form of games, puzzles, physical activities, etc. to further determine the stage of his or her social, cognitive, emotional/psychological, sensory/perceptual, moral, physical, and/or motor achievement.
Part IV – Write your paper
As you prepare to write your paper try to identify this child’s functioning as it compares to normative information found in the text (e.g., Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, standard physical characteristics such as height and weight categories, Brown’s stages of language development, Kohlberg’s moral development stages, etc.) and/or your other readings (be sure to include appropriate citations).
Write a well integrated paper (be sure to use APA format) that includes an analysis of this child’s functioning as it compares to at least three (3) of the theories of child development presented in the book over the areas of functioning mentioned above (social, cognitive, emotional/psychological, sensory/perceptual, moral, physical, and motor). In other words, you will use at least three (3) different theories of development to explain the child’s social, cognitive, emotional/psychological, sensory/perceptual, moral, physical, or motor functioning. Discuss any discrepancies you discover or other influences that may explain functioning unique to the child you observed. Be sure to use three (3) other scholarly sources in addition to your textbook. Your paper is expected to be at least 1500 words but no more than 2800 words.Your final project will be due by Wednesday of Week 4 by 11:59pm EST.
To submit, click on Week 4 Final Project below.
Final Project Grading Criteria
Maximum Points
Part I – Evidence of child observation.
10
Part II/III – Caregiver and child interview.
20
Part IV – Paper that thoroughly discussed observation and interviews as well as analysis of child’s functioning from the perspective of 3 different developmental theories.
30
Proper APA format of citations and references.
20
Grammar, spelling, and correct APA format
20
Total
100
