Observation Paper 2: Cognitive Development
Observer’s Name: Molly Ruden
Child Observed: Ian H.
Child’s Age: 3.7.20 Date and Time Observed: 3/20/19 at 9:15am
Behavior/Interaction Description
1. Ian puts on snow pants and coat by
himself. Teacher zips up Ian’s coat
2. Ian opens door to pretend house and
plays pretend in the house.
3. Ian picks up a pine cone and says
“pine cone”. Ian throws pine cone.
4. Ian asks a teacher for a ride on the
sled. Teach pulls Ian on the sled.
5. Ian tells teacher, “guess what, my
dad’s birthday is today”.
6. Ian washes hands with soap and water,
dries hands with a paper towel and
throws the paper towel away.
7. Ian describes the weather as cold and
snowy. Ian states summer come after
spring.
8. Ian sings along to song time using
hand gestures.
9. Ian covers mouth with hand when he
coughs.
10. Ian labels a sloth as a monkey.
Child’s Birthdate: 10/12/16
Interpretation
1. Ian is learning self-help skills. He can
put on the larger clothing items
without help from a teacher. He
needed help zipping up his jacket
because he has not fully developed the
pincer grasp and fine motor skills. Ian
understand order of events. He knows
to put on his snow pants before his
boots. Because Ian is putting on his
snow pants and jacket, Ian knows he
will be going outside to play.
2. Ian is in Piaget’s preoperational stage
because he has the ability to play
pretend. Ian has an increased memory
of past events; therefore, is able to use
his past events/experiences in his play.
Ian is also in Intentional Behavior
Substage 6 because of doing make-
believe play.
3. Ian has built schemas. Ian can identify
a pine cone because of past
experiences. Piaget believed children
construct new knowledge as they grow
and mature.
4. Ian saw his friends riding on a sled
and wanted to be like them and have a
turn on the sled. Vygotsky believed
that children learn from social
interaction and watching one another.
Ian wants to explore the fun on a sled
which will lead to more cognitive
development.
5. Ian can recall past events and tell his
peers. Ian is the preoperational stage
because he has an increased memory
of past events. Ian also would have an
improved ability to predict in this
stage. Ian may predict to celebrate his
dad’s birthday with a cake and
 opening presents.
6. Ian is learning important hygiene
skills. Ian can wash his hands without
help from a teacher. Ian has
memorized the proper steps to
washing his hands.
7. Ian can describe his surroundings and
identify different types of weather. Ian
tells the class that summer is after
spring because he knows order of
events.
8. Ian can pay attention during the whole
song. Ian watches his classmates and
copies their hand motions. Ian is
displaying secondary circular reaction
by imitating familiar behaviors around
him.
9. Ian covers his mouth to protect his
classmates from germs. Ian has
probably been told to cover his mouth
when he sneezes/coughs by a parent or
teacher. Ian may not understand
germs, but he understands to do an
action when another action is
happening. Ian may have seen peers
cover their mouths when coughing, so
he imitates them and does the same.
10. When the teacher is reading a book to
the class, she asks the students “what
animal is this?” Ian labels the animal
as a monkey when it was a sloth.
Piaget would say Ian displaying
assimilation. The sloth resembled a
monkey, so Ian identified the sloth as
a monkey. The teacher corrected Ian
and told him it was a sloth. This
allowed Ian to undergo
accommodation. Ian created new
schemas and adjusted his old ones to
better fit his environment.