COGNITIVE OBSERVATION 65 points

Observe a child of appropriate age and respond to the following questions. This is an outline for your
observation, be sure to follow the format given when submitting the assignment. Give specific
examples of behavior in your responses. One example may NOT be used for multiple responses.

Part A - (15 points)

For this section, observe a child between the age of 4 12 months.
1. a. Using objective observation, state at least 2 examples of behaviors that might help you to
determine the childs cognitive development.
During play time Ms. Jo takes Hanley to the carpet. Ms. Jo places Hanley (4 months old) on
the blue mat with his back down to the floor. Hanley is moving a lot. Ms. Jo takes the blue
bear rattle and shakes it in a circular motion going left to right above his face. Hanley smiles.
Watching the toy Hanley moves his body more. Tracing the steps made by Ms. Jo and the
rattle, Hanley follows it with his eyes and moves his body accordingly. Hanley moves both
his hands and feet together and attempts to reach for the toy.
b. Which of Piagets sensorimotor substages do you think this child is in?
The substage that I think corresponds to this example is the secondary circular reactions.
Hanley in this example is repeating a pleasurable action that involves his body, and involve
the objects around him.
2. What toys or materials do you see that would assist the child in moving to the next sensorimotor
substage and why? One of the things that I really liked was the teacher had a lot of sensory
toys for the children to play with. One of the toys that really stood out to me was a hula hoop
that the teacher converted into a sensory circle. It had all different types of materials on there
that the children could explore freely and feel every thing that was on the hula hoop.
3. How is the teacher fostering cognitive growth in this child? (Give examples of available
toys/personal interactions, etc.)

During play Hanley, while on his back, was very concentrated on the toys around him. The
caregiver was at the time taking one toy at a time and moving it in a circular movement back
and forth in front of Hanleys face. Hanley followed the object with his eyes and moved his
head back and forth as well. Although unable to reach the toy in this position he made efforts
to grab the toy moving his body with the toy.

Part B (15 points)

For this section, observe a child between the ages of 13 19 months.

1. a. Using objective observation, state at least 2 examples of behaviors that might help you to
determine the childs cognitive development.

Samantha (13 months old) is sitting straight up on the foam letters. In front of her are 13
different colored and sized cups. Samantha grabs each cups and attempts to interlock them
one by one. She interlocked the blue one and the yellow one, the yellow one being smaller,
but when she attempts to interlock the red one on top it falls to the ground, Samantha grunts,
and she grabs the green cup. As time goes on Samantha hands Mr. David the cups one by
one as she un locks them from each other in the pile. Samantha un locks them each one by
one. Mr. David says Ok I will hold them for you. Samantha grunts each time she hands the
cups to Mr. David. After Samantha hands Mr. David the fourth cup, she reaches for them
back, and attempts to put them in the correct order. At the end Mr. David asks Samantha if
she can help her clean everything up and put everything away, and Samantha continues to
hand Mr. David the cups that are on the floor.
b. Which of Piagets sensorimotor substages do you think this child is in?

The substge that corresponds with this example would be tertiary circular reactions. This
substage includes and infant taking objects away and trying to put it back together. We saw
this with Samantha as she took apart the cups and then tried to re order them in the correct
way.

2. What toys or materials do you see that would assist the child in moving to the next sensorimotor
substage and how would they help?
Samantha is currently playing with different sized cups and different colors. She is very
advanced in attempting to sort them by size. At this point I do not believe that she is engaged
in the different colors of the cups so I would suggest focusing on the colors next so that she
can get the most learning out of this toy.

3. How is the teacher fostering cognitive growth in this child? (Examples of available toys/personal
interactions, etc.)
Mr. David is talking to Samantha and engaging in meaningful conversation with her. She is
only grunting back at him but he is fostering her learning by communicating with her and
telling her what to expect.

Part C (35 points)

For this section, you will be utilizing a child between the age of 20 27 months (include exact age of
child observed).

Jonah (23 months old) is mobile all over the classroom. Wobbling to each room, Jonah walks
in and grabs different objects from each place. He grabs a red tea cup, a yellow spoon, and a
tiger. He walks around the classroom and stops at the shelf with toys that are to high for him
to reach. Jonah point to the object that he wants and the cargiver points to a different object.
Jonah grunts and shakes his head no. Although un verbal Jonah keeps eye contact with the
caregiver, and mimics all of the things that he does. When he touches his nose Jonah touches
his nose as well. When the caregiver sticks his tongue out, Jonah does the same.

1. Using the one of the Piagetian scales (scale 7 is NOT to be used) listed as a file in the Content
Module (week 8). Assess what step the child is at currently by administering each step and writing
how the child responded, whether they successfully completed the step, etc.

For this example scale 6 is a great example of what Jonah was doing and how he was
developing. Jonah is imitating everything that the caregiver does, and is able to point to
objects that he wants that he does not have the means to reach or see.

2. What toys might you offer to the child to facilitate her/him to the next level and why? (Next step
on scale or next cognitive level)

I think that although good that the caregiver was able to have Jonah communicate by
pointing to the toy on the self, I think that there should have been more toys available to
Jonah rather than it being out of his reach on a self that even the caregiver had to get a chair
to reach.