Danielle Pertile

ECE252 / Spring 2-15

03/29/2015
Cognitive Observation
Part A:
1 a. Madison, Age 12 Months
Madison began my time with her by climbing up on a small chair to pull open
the hangings on a cabinet containing dishes. Her teacher told her those are dishes,
those are for teachers, but Madison continued to pull at the curtains. Her teacher
removed her and held her on her lap, all the while Madison continued to reach and
babble. When the teacher put her back down, Madison went straight back to the
cupboard to try to open the curtains. Only when her teacher removed her to
another area of the room did she switch her attention to something else.
Madisons teachers soon brought her outside with the rest of the class, but
Madison was only distracted momentarily by the other things her teachers offered
her: bugs to touch, bubbles, and toys. Madison continued to try to get inside, but
the teacher would pick her up and move her away from the open door. When
Madison wasnt looking, the teacher closed the door. Madison saw the door closing
and bolted to get in, but didnt make it in time. She became upset when the door
was closed and began to cry. She quickly became distracted by another toy, but
every time a teacher went in or came out of the classroom, Madison tried to get
inside.

1 b. Madison shows signs of being in Piagets Sensorimotor Substage 4: 8-12

months. This substage is categorized by intentionality, and planned movements.
Madison showed intentionality both with the dish cabinet and the classroom door:
she clearly knew what she wanted, and planned her movements accordingly. She
wanted to go inside and understood that she needed to go through the door, so she
became upset when the door was closed. From my short experience with her, I
could tell she was very determined and very intentional.
2. Madison is very nearly ready to start experimenting with actions to get the
effect she wants, which is a characteristic of the next substage. I think the class
would do well to provide more challenging toys and puzzles that she can
experiment with to create noises or other effects. Possibly a toy where buttons are
pressed to create different sounds.
3. The teachers/helpers took great care with Madison and all her class to
explain constantly what was going on and what was happening. I think that is
important to aid in cognitive growth, the child can more easily recognize what will
happen next when they are familiar with their surroundings and routines. I will say
that the teacher did tend to take over for the children too often, when Madison was
trying to do things on her own, a teacher would swoop in and complete the job. I
would have liked to see Madison able to take her own shoes off or complete her own
tasks.
Part B:
1 a. Oliver, Age 16 months.
Oliver is a very active 16-month old. When I met him, he was scooting himself
along on a ride-on toy in the play yard. Shortly into this activity he spotted a pigeon

on the ground across the playground. He got off his bike to get closer to the pigeon,
but came to a point where he was blocked by some low bushes. He carefully picked
his way through the bushes to get to the pigeon, but of course the pigeon had flown
away before Oliver could get to it. He was not discouraged, but rather turned his
attention to another boy being pulled by a teacher in a wagon. He picked his way
out of the bushes and over to the wagon. Upon reaching the wagon, Oliver bounced
up and down to get his teachers attention. His teacher lifted him into the wagon,
and then continued to pull both boys across the yard. Another boy fell down, and
the teachers attention was diverted. Oliver was distracted for a few moments by a
Pinwheel he was holding, but the realized the wagon was no longer moving and
began to whine until his teacher lifted him out of the wagon.
Once out of the wagon, Oliver continued to play with the shiny pinwheel. He
hadnt quite got the grasp of how to make it move with wind power, but had clearly
been shown how to do it by a teacher because he would shape his lips like he was
going to blow on the pinwheel, but wouldnt actually blow. He didnt seem to mind
that the pinwheel wasnt moving. He walked to the fence separating his class and
the class next door. There was a water fountain that he couldnt reach on the other
side of the fence. Oliver stuck the pinwheel through the fence to touch the water
fountain and was occupied with this task for quite some time.
1 b. Oliver shows evidence of actually being slightly ahead of the Piaget
Sensorimotor schedule (though of course there is never an exact blueprint!). He
shows a lot of signs of being in the 6th substage, which typically happens between
18-24 months. This stage is categorized by problem solving, invention and
imagination. Oliver was quite the problem solver as he found his way through the
bushes to get to the bird, and using his teachers as a tool to get a ride in the

wagon. I also enjoyed watching him invent a way to touch the out-of-reach water
fountain on the other side of the fence by using the pinwheel.
2. Because Oliver is still very young for this substage, I think he would benefit
cognitively from more problems to solve, and the freedom to work things out on his
own. Unlike Madison, Oliver had more freedom to explore and work things out in his
own time, without being coddled by an adult. I think Oliver would benefit from
beginners puzzles: wood puzzles with knobs on the pieces and easy pictures or
shapes to match. He is still quite young for puzzles, but familiarizing himself with
the pieces and beginning his understanding of how they work would be helpful.
3. The teachers tended to ask Oliver what he was doing or explain to him
what was going on around him. This habit is enormously helpful in getting the child
to become aware of his surroundings and his own body. When Oliver was going
through to bushes, his teacher called to him Oliver, do you see the bird? Are you
going to it? I believe this awareness is important for cognitive growth. The play
yard also features a lot of toys that encourage imagination and problem solving, like
bikes to push or pinwheels to blow.
Part C
1. Liam, Age 27 Months
For this section, I worked with Liam on Scale II: Means/End. Because I had
limited time with him, and because he was not particularly patient, I skipped the
first few steps of the scale and started with #7: Using a Support. He was very
interested in two toy cars so those were the toys I used for these procedures.

I had him sit on an adults lap at the table (he was not having the high chair
idea it took me over 10 minutes to calm him down from that tantrum!) where I
showed him the toy cars until he was thoroughly interested in obtaining them. I
placed the cars out of his reach on top of a pillow on the table. The edge of the
pillow was within his reach. He tried to climb out of the adults lap to get to the cars.
I re-sat him and showed him how the pillow could move. On the second try he
successfully pulled the pillow toward him to get the cars. I tried this experiment a
few more times but unfortunately he was unable to pull the pillow again, and
resorted to climbing.
For the next experiment, I tied a string to one of the cars and placed the car
at the other end of the table, then handed the end of the string to Liam and asked
him if he could get the car. Once again, he attempted to climb out of the adults lap
the reach the car. I reset the car and showed him how to pull the string. He
successfully pulled the car to him using the string on the second try and was clearly
very proud of himself. In his limited language he said something sounding like Im
doing it! He was very interested in the car with the string, and was able to pull it to
himself more than once.
Next, I put the car on the floor and once again handed him the string. He
knew to pull the string up in the air to get the car to him, but could not grasp the
concept of pulling the string hand-over-hand to reach the car. He would pull the
string up as far as one hand could go, then pull more with his other hand, but never
got to the point of letting the first hand go to grab lower on the string. He seemed
genuinely interested in figuring out how to get the car but during my time with him
he was not able to comprehend it.

For the last experiment I was able to do, I give Liam a bead necklace and a
tall water bottle with a wide opening. I handed him the necklace and placed he
bottle on the floor in front of him. Without explaining or asking anything of him, he
dangled the necklace over the opening of the bottle and let it fall in.
It is hard to determine where Liam falls in this scale because he was able to
easily accomplish some of the tasks higher up on the scale while struggling with
tasks considered easier. As with all children, there are no set steps or timeline. I
believe Liam is exactly where he should be at his age, and he is actively curious and
experimental with his motions.
2.

I would offer Liam more toys that challenge him to reach them. Toys

with hidden compartments, or toys (like stuffed or wooden animals, or cars) with
leashes or strings attached. He is ready to explore and experiment with his play. He
spent the rest of my time with him pulling his car around by the string and
fascinated by how it worked, he is really to be challenged!