This document provides instructions for a child observation assignment. Students are asked to observe a child between 1 month and 12 years old for at least 60 minutes, taking detailed notes on the child's behaviors without making judgments. They then categorize the behaviors into social, fine motor, gross motor, and cognitive skills categories. Students apply developmental theories from two theorists to analyze the child's development and compare the observed behaviors to the theories. The assignment aims to help students develop observation and analytic skills applicable to various professions.

1. Revised February 10, 2019
Child Observation PSYU 323
This assignment helps you to build important skills and
knowledge. First, you are developing a
way to look at behavior in a detailed manner. This will aid you
if you become a teacher, a
nurse, a therapist, or in any other profession where you need to
make observations. Note that
it is important to focus on just the behaviors and avoid making
judgments or assumptions about
why that behavior is occurring. The last part is taking the
specifics of what you observe and
applying them to developmental theories. The purpose of this
assignment is to build your skills
in looking for details and making applications of theory you
have learned.
This project contains three components. These will all be
combined into one document. Be
sure to label the sections separately. Your paper should include
the following:
1. Title page in APA format
2. Description of the setting of the observation
3. Observation of child
4. Application of theories
5. Reference list in APA format
Description of the Setting of the Observation

2. 1. Provide a short description of where and how the observation
took place.
2. Include the following in that description:
name)
snack time, etc.)
nt during the observation
Observation
1. Select a child who falls within the age range of 1 month to 12
years.
2. Observe the child for a minimum of 60 minutes. The
observation can take place in an
informal or a formal setting.
3. Permission must be gained from parent(s) and from the
facility if you decide to observe

3. the child in a formal setting.
4. You may not observe your own children or children you know
well.
5. Describe what you observed during the time period, including
fine motor, gross motor,
social, and cognitive skills. Label these categories in your
paper.
6. You must list a minimum of 10 behaviors for each category.
Revised February 10, 2019
7. The description should include details about the child’s
behavior. Here are a few
examples of details: (1), playing in the sand with a shovel and
a bucket, (2) singing a
song from a television show, (3) kicking a soccer ball, (4)
rolling over, (5) crying after
falling down, (6) throwing body to ground while screaming, (7)
sucking thumb, and so
on.
8. Do not describe behaviors of parents or other people in the
lists.
9. Do not make inferences or judgments within the lists. For
example, do not write, “He
threw his bottle because he was mad.” You are making an
inference. You don’t know if
he is mad, full, playful, and so on.
10. Note that these behaviors could be listed in more than one
category. For example,
putting together a puzzle would be listed under fine motor
skills, as well as cognitive

4. skills.
11. Behaviors must be correctly categorized. For example,
holding a pen is a fine motor
skill, not a gross motor skill.
12. Be consistent in how you list these behaviors (i.e., complete
sentences versus
fragments, consistent verb tense, etc.)
13. You are provided with a permission sheet. When submitting
your paper, attach this
permission sheet as well. You will need to scan it and attach
it. If you do not have a
scanner, you can take a digital picture of the document and
attach it as a .jpg. Do not
submit your paper until you have also attached the permission
sheet.
Application of Theories
1. Identify and describe the developmental stage of the child.
Use 2 different
developmental theorists to explain the child’s development
(i.e., Piaget, Freud, Erikson,
Kohlberg, etc.). Describe each theorist and relate the
components of their theories to
the child you observed. For example, it is not enough to just
state they fall into a stage.
What does the theorist say about what is expected in that stage?
Clearly link the
behaviors you see in the observations to the specifics of the
theory.
2. Supplement your report with at least 2 outside academic

5. sources relating to the theorist
and/or development stage. You must cite these in a reference
list. If possible, it is
recommended that you find the original work of the theorists.
3. You may not use Wikipedia as a reference. You may use
your textbook as one source,
but it will not count as an outside source. Do not rely too
heavily on your textbook.
4. Use your findings to identify any problems in this child’s
development. How does the
environment or other factors influence the child’s
development?
5. You may include pictures, work samples, awards etc. to help
illustrate how the child
functions in his/her developmental stage.
6. This should be a minimum of 350 words in length.
Guidelines
1. The paper must be written in 6th edition APA format.
Revised February 10, 2019
2. It must be a minimum of 6 pages of writing, with 2 academic
references (not including
the textbook. These 6 pages do not include the title page,
abstract, or the reference
page.
3. You must have a title page with a running head..

6. 4. You must have an abstract (APA Manual, pp. 25-27).
5. You must have a reference page in 6th edition APA format
(APA Manual, p. 37, 180, 183).
6. Use Times Roman 12 point font (as suggested by APA
Manual, p. 228).
7. Please save your paper in Word format.
8. If you do not have Word, please save your file as a text file.
9. Put 2 spaces at the end of every sentence (APA Manual, p.
88)
10. Use headings to separate your sections of the paper (APA
Manual, pp. 62-63).
11. Do not use personal pronouns (i.e., I, we, our).
12. Do not provide the real name of the child or parent. Select
a fictional name, rather than
referring to the child as Child A, or something similar to that.
Hints for Writing Your Paper
1. Make sure you cite everything in your application. None of
this should be your opinion.
Ideas have to be cited as well as statistics and/or direct quotes
(APA Manual, p. 170).
2. Keep your biases out of the paper. I should not be able to
detect an emotional reaction
that you may have toward the child.
3. You may lose up to a point for each inference that you make
in the behavior lists.
4. Use quotations sparingly. A rule of thumb is no more than
one on a page.
5. You should not have two quotations in a paragraph.
6. When citing a quotation, cite the author, year, and page (or
paragraph) number (APA
Manual, p. 170).
7. How you say something is almost as important as what you

7. say.
8. It is critical for your writing to flow well and have no
grammatical errors.
9. You may lose a point for each grammatical error (i.e., using
affect and effect incorrectly,
using impersonal you, etc.).
10. This is a formal paper. Do not write as if you are speaking.
Avoid using slang terms such
as “Daddy” and “kids.” Use “father” and “children” instead.
11. Make sure that you reference who you are citing within the
text of the paper. Your
instructor should not see paragraphs that are discussing the
theories that are not cited.
12. Do not use impersonal you or first person pronouns.
13. Paraphrase the work of others and give them credit. In
other words, do not plagiarize.
14. If you do not cite what you have paraphrased, this is
considered plagiarism.
15. If you plagiarize, you will automatically fail this
assignment.
In order to be successful in this paper, be sure to follow all the
directions in this document. It
is important to do a detailed observation, use accurate
theoretical applications, have proper
writing flow, use proper grammar, meet the minimum page
guidelines, and follow all APA
guidelines.
Running head: CHILD OBSERVATION 1

8. Child Observation
Student Name
Brandman University
Date
CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2
Abstract
This paper discusses an observation done in a child care setting
with a child who was four years old at
the time of the observation. During the observation, the child
participated in circle time, snack time,
and free play, where the observer was able to look for
behavioral indicators of her development. After
the observation, activities were assigned to four categories:
social skills, fine motor skills, gross motor
skills, and cognitive skills. Applications of the observation
were made to Erikson, Vygotsky, and

9. Bandura’s theories. This child is developing within “normal”
standards, demonstrating a healthy self-
esteem and a willingness to look to adults as role models.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT 3
Child Observation
Name: Jerry Doe
Term: Summer 1, 2017
First Name of Child: Claudia
Age of Child: 4 years old
Date of Observation: June 4, 2019
Time of Observation: 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Place of Observation: Child Care Center
Other People Present in the Observation Setting: 1 teacher, 2
assistants, 9 other children
Development: Appears to be normal and on track according to
guidelines
Permission: Permission was granted by the Director of the
Child Care Center and parents

10. Description of Setting
Claudia was observed through a two way mirror. At no time did
the observer and the child interact.
During the observation, Claudia participated in circle time,
snack time, and free play. She appeared to
relate to other children well and was enthusiastic during circle
time. She appeared to be on track
developmentally. The room was set up in centers, including
dramatic play, blocks, reading, science,
and art.
Social Development
answer when the teacher asks the group
to identify a number
at the girl next to her

11. CHILD DEVELOPMENT 4
ard and boy and talks to him during snack time
-up paper placemat
girl on the couch and
laughs and smiles
Gross Motor Skills Development
sitting on the floor

12. feet side to side
hree different times
while teacher counts

13. Fine Motor Skills Development
ess
CHILD DEVELOPMENT 5

14. on floor
attens mat
Cognitive Development
er

15. hop while the teacher counts
untain
Application of a Theory
Claudia is a four-year-old girl, who falls within the Initiative
versus Guilt stage of Erik Erikson.
Berk (2004) reviewed Erikson’s theory and said that Erikson

16. believed that children go through
different stages and if the stage is resolved successfully, the
child has gained a virtue. In this stage, the
CHILD DEVELOPMENT 6
virtue is a sense of purpose. This is an important development
stage where children develop their
concept of self and self-esteem emerges. In this stage, children
learn best when caregivers build a
positive relationship, nurture success, acknowledge a child’s
emotions, and uses a warm and rational
way to interact (Berk). In observing Claudia, it is clear that she
is being provided support to build a
heathy self-esteem and to negotiate the conflicts of this stage
successfully. She cleans up after herself.
She follows the rules and raises her hand. She is also positive
and supportive of her classmates. In
addition, she is happy when her teacher acknowledges her,
sharing with her friend that she answered a
question correctly.
Influential developmental theorist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1943)
believed that children in

17. educational settings learn from the people in their lives in three
substantial ways: 1) imitation/role
modeling; 2) formal instruction; and 3) collaboration (Berger,
2012). Vygotsky focused on how
connections between people and the sociocultural context in
which they lived created shared
experiences, which was the foundation for how children learn
(Social Development Theory, 2016).
Claudia was very observant and often took her behavior and
social cues from her teacher and her peers.
Claudia listened to her teacher, was well behaved socially, and
controlled her behavior when needed.
A few noticeable examples include sitting quietly during
learning time and answering questions
promptly. Claudia learned that when the teacher was serious
about lesson time (formal learning), and
therefore she demonstrated her seriousness about lesson time
through her behavior. The other children
moved around a lot more and touched each other playfully. By
contrast, Claudia stayed in the same
position during the learning circle session. There were only a
few minor deviations from this stillness
centered on a few leg movements and scooting closer to a friend
to help her with the lesson

18. (collaboration). She remained focused, followed all directions,
and stayed on task during this time.
Claudia used the same words and tone of voice as her teacher,
when interacting with her peers, which
CHILD DEVELOPMENT 7
is a classic example of imitation (Berger, 2012).
This falls into line with Bandura’s theory (Bandura, 1962),
which states that children learn
from observing others and imitating behaviors of their role
models. Bandura (1977) believed that
children could learn aggressive behavior by watching others. In
Claudia’s case, she learned prosocial
behavior by watching her teacher, who was her model. She
followed all directions, indicated that she
wanted to help her peers, and smiled when complimented by her
teacher. She engaged appropriately
and positively with the other children by sharing toys, and
complimenting them on how well they did.
It can be suggested that Claudia views her teacher as a positive
role model and one to not only learn
from, but to emulate in her interaction with her classmates.

19. Summary
Claudia appears to be a happy and well developed four-year-old
child. She has positive
interactions with her peers and her teacher. She is learning
when to follow rules and when she has
more flexibility in the choices she makes during free time. She
is learning to take responsibility by
cleaning up after herself. Claudia appears to be developing
within normal guidelines.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT 8
References
Bandura, A. (1962). Social learning through imitation.
University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln, NE.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of
behavioral change. Psychological
Review, 84 (2), 191-215.
Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood
and adolescence (9th ed.).
New York: Worth Publishers.
Berk, L. E. (2004). Development through the lifespan (3rd ed.).
Boston, Allyn & Bacon.

20. David, L. (2014, July 23). Social development theory
(Vygotsky). Retrieved from http://www.learning-
theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html