Running head: CHILD STUDY PROJECT 1

The Child Study Project: Relationship between Textbook Knowledge of Child Development and Real Children Northwestern State University

CHILD STUDY PROJECT Abstract

This paper compares textbook knowledge of Child Development with real life observation. The observation was based on a seven year old female. First, a one hour naturalistic observation was made with no interaction. The actions of the child was documented and then summarized. Second, a thirty minute informal observation was made. During this time direct interaction with the child took place. Conservation testing and information from the parental interview was also used in this study. This paper compares the findings of the real life observations to textbook knowledge to see if the child development follows the textbook teaching including that of Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson. It looks at the biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development of the seven year old. A prediction of the childs development over the next year, five years, and ten years is also included. This prediction takes into consideration any strengths in the child, the family, and the community that could foster optimal development as well as any potential problems that may lead to future difficulties for the child.

CHILD STUDY PROJECT 3 The Child Study Project: Relationship between Textbook Knowledge of Child Development and Real Children This Child Study Project is based on a seven year old girl named Macie. She was born on January 27, 2004 and has a sister who is ten, a step-sister who is three and a step-brother who is only three weeks old. She is a white, Catholic being raised in a mid-sized city in North Louisiana. The family economic status would fall in the middle income category. Her mother and father divorced when she was less than one year old. Her mom is a high school graduate with some college education. She decided college was not for her and headed to the work place as an apartment manager. She has remarried twice since the divorce and is now a stay at home mom with her newborn son. Her father is a high school graduate who is a truck driver for a Hot Shot/Transport company. Her father has also remarried and has a daughter from his second wife who is now about three years old. Her step-father graduated from Nicholls State University as an RN. He served as an RN in the U.S. Military but now works for a national company that supplies products and services for oil and gas drilling operations. He is married for the first time. The newborn baby brother is his first child although he does accept Macie and her sister as his own children. While the parents have joint custody of the children, Macie lives the majority of the time with her mother, step-father, sister and baby brother. I thought it would be interesting to observe the seven year old to see how she reacted to the newborn brother now being the center of attention.

I arrived at the house around 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning. I spent a few minutes saying hello and taking a quick peak at the baby. I have been to their house before so Macie was expecting me to spend time with her as I usually do. I explained that I had homework to do for CHILD STUDY PROJECT 4 an hour but as soon as I was finished I would play with just her. At first she was interrupting and asking questions, but finally went on about her business and the observation began. During the one hour period I made the following observations: Observation Table 1 Activity Played Alone: Watched T.V. Talked: Opened Her Present Played: With the dog 7 minutes 5 minutes With her Godmother 3 minutes 4 minutes With her sister 7 minutes With the baby 5 minutes Observation Table 2 Action Asked mom for something Marched across the room in an attention getting manner Disobeyed her stepfather and mother Sat down next to someone abruptly and then got up Frequency 4 times 6 times 3 times 5 times With her mom 5 minutes With her Grandma 3 minutes With others 3 minutes 14 minutes 4 minutes 23% 7% With her doll 10 minutes In her room 8 minutes 25 minutes 5 minutes 42% 8% Total Time Percentage of time

12 minutes

20%

After the one hour observation I was thinking this seven year old was extremely jealous of this new addition and this outward behavior was surely to get attention. Trying not to jump to conclusions I continued to the next phase of the project: the one on one time.

CHILD STUDY PROJECT 5 For the informal observation we started out playing in Macies room. Since she had just celebrated a birthday and Christmas, she had plenty of new stuff to show me. She seemed to put a lot of emphasis on her new Baby Alive doll. I noticed her gymnastics picture on the dresser and commented on what a great picture it was. She came alive with great excitement. She took me outside to see her new balance beam her step father had made her for Christmas. She demonstrated her talent on the beam and was very enthusiastic over her accomplishments. We spent much of the thirty minutes playing outside and talking about gymnastics. Her Biosocial Development seemed right on target. According to our text book she falls under the School Years category which includes kids ages seven through eleven. At this level of Biosocial Development, the child is becoming independent, they have a change in their social context, their hand-eye coordination and balance are developing and it is considered the healthy years. In the interview with her mom, I learned that Macie is very much becoming independent. She dresses herself every morning, decides on her lunch and in most cases prepares it or at least helps, and she bathes herself every night. Macies skills on the balance beam prove her balance and coordination is definitely developing at this point. She is a very healthy, petite, but not skinny, seven year old girl which is another characteristic of the School Years Development level.

According to Jean Piaget, six to eleven year old children should be in the Concrete Operational Stage of Cognitive Development. This means they should be developing their complex skills such as reading and writing, they can perform logical operations, can sort items into categories, reverse direction of thinking and understand the concept of permanence and conservation by learning volume, weight and numbers may remain the same despite changes in CHILD STUDY PROJECT 6 outward appearance. When I told Macie we were going to take a couple of tests, she was excited. By doing the conservation test, I learned just how smart this seven year old really is. I filled two identical glasses with water to the half way mark. I asked Macie to pour one of the glasses of water into a third glass that was taller and skinnier than the other two. When asked if this glass now held more water, she responded, No, it is the same as what we just poured from the other glass. We then moved on to simple addition and subtraction. I was amazed at the mental math she was capable of. She was able to do reverse math such as 5 + 3 = 8 then 8 3 = 5. She was also able to read very well and told me the story of Goldilocks almost to perfection. During the interview with her mom I learned that Macie is at the top of her class. She is very eager to learn and does homework daily without being asked. Seeing the results of the tests that were given I would say she is well within the parameters of the Cognitive Development level that she should be. The Biosocial Development level Macie should be at, according to Erik Erikson, is the Industry vs. Inferiority level. This is the level they develop competence. Knowledge and intellectual skills develop as well as self confidence and they become more aware of themselves as individuals. If the child is encouraged and praised for accomplishments, they become

industrious, but if they are ridiculed they become inferior. Peer groups and family are a major influence at this level. Macie definitely shows many signs of being at this level. Her intellectual skills were proven during the cognitive tests that we discussed previously. The encouragement she receives from her teacher and parents is apparent in the effort she puts forth with her school work. She is quite industrious. Her independence is shown in her wanting to dress herself, even if she does put on two different colored socks intentionally. According to Erikson, the move CHILD STUDY PROJECT 7 from play to industrious sometimes make them more isolated and pulled back. They may express their independence by being disobedient and rebellious. I actually thought the disobedience noted in Observation Table 2 was a sign of needing attention; however, it may actually be a sign of independence and self confidence as described by Erikson. In addition, the alone time noted in Observation Table 1 is probably perfectly normal due to the transition from play to industrious. After compiling the research on the Biosocial, Cognitive and Psychosocial Development stages performed on Macie, it is clear she falls well within the parameters of all the textbook teachings. In looking to her future development, it would be easy to assume over the next year she will continue to develop along the stages taught by Piaget and Eriksons Developmental Theorys. Even over the next five years, it is comfortably assumed she will stay on track with their levels of development. Being she is now living in a stable, loving home, she will continue to get the encouragement she needs to finish out the Industry versus Inferiority stage and move into the Identity versus Identity Confusion Stage, the adolescence years, pretty easily. Predicting ten years moves us into a whole new area of confusion. So many physical and mental changes

take place during the adolescent years. But there are many strengths that will help Macie stay on track. During the parent interview it was mentioned Macie has a very structured routine on school days. Her parents use what Diana Baumrind would call authoritative parenting. They encourage Macie to be independent yet still give her limits and control her actions. They are loving and nurturing parents, which is important in the development of her social competence. She is involved in afterschool activities such as gymnastics, soccer, girl scouts and

CHILD STUDY PROJECT 8 most recently, golf. She is not only active in her church but she also enjoys going to church. All of this is positive strengths that will help foster optimal development over the next ten years. The only potential problem foreseen in this prediction is the fact that she is still technically being raised by divorced parents. No matter how loving and supportive each set of parents are it still puts a burden on the child. The child is the one whose life is disrupted during a holiday when she has to spend Christmas Eve at one house and Christmas Day at the other. Or during the summer, she has to stay two weeks at Moms house and then two weeks at Dads. Her routine is disrupted each time she has to move to a different environment. This, to me, would have a major impact on a child going into the teenage years who is trying to find herself. Overall, my prediction is that Macie will continue to develop in all three areas of development on a normal level over the next one year, five years and ten years. She has more positive things directing her than she does negative. These predictions are based purely off of personal observation and from what I have learned throughout this research. Since I have no professional training my predictions are purely theoretical.

In conclusion, my observation leads me to believe that real life child development pretty much follows the textbook knowledge. Although no one would fit every description of every level of development, the observations made of Macie were pretty close to where the textbook says she should be. Piaget and Eriksons Developmental Theorys are definitely visible in the real life development of this seven year old case study.

CHILD STUDY PROJECT 9 References Cherry, K. (n.d.). Erikson's Stages of Psychological Development. Retrieved February 2, 2011, from Psychology - Complete Guide to Psychology for Students, Educators, and Enthusiasts: http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial.htm Cognitive Development - stages, meaning, average, Definition, Description, Common problems. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2011, from Encyclopedia of Children's Health: Infancy Through Adolescence: http://www.healthofchildren.com/C/Cognitive-Development.html Erikson's Psychosocial Development in Psychology 101 at AllPsych Online. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2011, from Psychology Classroom at AllPsych Online: http://allpsych.com/psychology101/social_development.html Gale, T. (n.d.). Cognitive Development Information on Healthline. Retrieved February 5, 2011, from Medical Information for Healthy Living | Healthline: http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/cognitive-development Naquin, L. T. (2011, February 5). Child Study Project. (H. Lalonde, Interviewer) Santrock, J. E. (2008). Essentials of Life-span Development. New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education. Stages of Intellectual Development In Children and Teenagers (Child Development Institute). (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2011, from Child Development Institute - Keeping Parents Informed on child development, psychology, parenting: http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/piaget.shtml Stages of Social-Emotional Development In Children and Teenagers (Child Development Institute). (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2011, from Child Development Institute -

CHILD STUDY PROJECT 10 Keeping Parents Informed on child development, psychology, parenting: http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/erickson.shtml