Running Head: SCHOOL-AGE OBSERVATION

School-age Observation
Steven Clark
Ivy Tech Community College

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INTASC Standard, Description and Rationale

Standard #1: Learner Development

The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning
and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional,
and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging
learning experiences.
Name of Artifact: School-age Observation
Date: April 3, 2015
Course: EDUC 121
Brief Description: For this assignment, I observed school-age children between the ages of six
to eight years of age. I plan to give my observation findings and cite references in accordance
with the class text book that apply to the child.
Rationale: To document my understanding of Standard # 1, Learner Development, the
observation of a child between the ages of six to eight years old. The documentation of my
observation of this child will demonstrate my ability to recognize the stage of cognitive learning
for children between the ages of six to eight years old, entering what is known as the concrete
operational stage.

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The purpose of this paper is the observation and evaluation of a child between the ages of
six to eight years old. The findings of the observation will be corroborated with citings from the
book Children and Their Development (Kail, 2015). I had the opportunity to observe
kindergarten children during recess at Hendricks Elementary school on March 26, 2015 and
April 1, 2015. These children are entering into the concrete stage of cognitive development. This
stage spans the ages of seven to ten years of age and is marked by a childs first use of mental
operation to solve problems and reason (Piaget, 1929, p. 167). I have answered eight questions in
this paper to complete the findings of my observation.
The first question was to describe the small-motor skill that I observed in these children.
The use of small or fine motor skills is the coordination of muscles, bones, and nerves to produce
small, precise movements. An example of fine motor control is picking up a small item with the
index finger and thumb (Health, 2013). As defined in our text book it is the skills associated with
grasping, holding, and manipulating objects (Kail, 2015, p. 148). While observing recess I
noticed numerous children picking up a kickball and basketball. Other children were using
sidewalk chalk to draw pictures on the pavement, yet others were grabbing bars on the
playground play set to climb and swing from. There were children playing tag witch required the
changing of direction and the stopping and starting of running. These would all be examples of
the use of small or fine motor skills that were observed.
Question two was to describe to large-motor skill that I observed in the children. The use
of large or gross motor skills is general motor control, an example of gross motor control is
waving an arm in greeting (Health, 2013). This observation was the children waving to one
another or gesturing for one to come to them or their group. The running from the school door to

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the playground area would be another example of large-motor control. All of the children that
were observed during this time had mastered the use of their gross motor control.
The third question was to describe the behaviors or actions that support Erik Ericksons
theory that school-aged children strive to be industrious. Ericksons psychosocial theory stated
that development consists of a sequence of stages, each defined by a unique crisis or challenge.
His stage of industry versus inferiority is from six years of age to adolescence, and is to learn
basic skills and to work with others (Erickson, 1968, p. 10). I observed many groups of children
that tended to stay together as a group during the recess time. Each group was doing different
activities, but they were very similar in that they all had one defined leader of each group no
matter what the activity was. With each group there were children that stayed close to the leader
and helped to reinforce the leaders plan for the activity. There were others in the groups that
stayed back and did what the others did with almost no prompting from the others, they, in my
opinion, just wanted to be included in that particular group. This also showed me the different
stages of identity development that this age of children can be in, be it diffusion, foreclosure,
moratorium, or achievement. There were three children in the class that chose not to participate
with the other children and stayed predominantly isolated from the other children with little to no
interaction with others during recess. I did notice a group pretending to play in a family dynamic
where they played roles of mothers, fathers and children. This would fit into Ericksons theory of
starting to be able to imagine themselves in different roles (Kail, 2015, p. 326).
The forth question was how the children in a group project utilized social and language
skills to work cooperatively. The observation was at recess so I was only able to observe one real
group project, this being a group drawing together with chalk on the pavement. The group used
their language skills to talk about what they wanted to draw and negotiated with each other to

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agree to what the picture would become before starting their project. One was leading by
delegating whom would draw each image and they collaborated together during the time to
ensure that they were in agreement with the progression of the project.
Question five was to observe the children playing a game in physical education or
outdoor active play, and what rules they were able to follow. I was able to observe a kickball and
basketball game during their recess. In the basketball game they followed the general rules of
basketball, they were unaware or forgiving of the minor infractions, like traveling or double
dribbling. Their main purpose was to have even teams in terms of the number of players for each
side and that the ball had to go into the basket with one team having more points than the other at
the end of their play time. During the kickball game the children followed a stricter set of rules.
This may be due to more children, both boys and girls, being involved and a much more serious
tone to the game in general. My observation cannot conclude why one game was taken more
seriously than the other, but it was fascinating to me none the less.
The sixth question asked of me was if the children were dependent on the teachers for
enforcing the rules, or if they enforced the rules for each other. I used the observation from the
previous question to document my findings for this answer. During the basketball game the
children enforced their rules amongst each other with very little disagreement. The kickball game
was mostly enforced by the children until one would defy the others in trying to convince them
that he was not out but safe. This is when the children would involve one of the teachers, and
after pleading each case they accepted the decision of the teacher and went immediately back to
the game. Question seven relates directly to my observation of the kickball game. That was how
the children handled disputes and which social values they strongly defended. This occurred
during the kickball game and the dispute was eventually handled by the nearest teacher. One

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child did not want to be called out and tried to lie that he had gotten to the base before the ball.
The children accusing of lying and it was obvious to me as an observer that this was a social
miscue by the accused child. The accusers were very animated in that lying is wrong and that it
was not allowed. This showed me of the moral and social influence of the group to achieve a
productive result to continue the playing of the game.
The final question was asked to observe and identify the friendships of the children. The
children in smaller groups were segregated to all boys or all girls in their preferred activities.
This would put most of these children in the foreclosure stage of their identity. Children in this
stage of identity development have an identity determined largely by adults, rather than from
personal exploration of alternatives (Marcia, 1980, p. 327). In my opinion the boys have been
told that they play with other boys and girls play with girls, as well as, each gender is taught that
they are to play with gender specific toys by adults or their parents. This would be the
predominant factor as to why they congregate with children of the same sex when in small
groups at recess. They have not yet explored the alternative of freedom to choose who they can
play with or what they may choose as a toy to be acceptable to their peers. When they play
together it is in a large group and is suggested by a teacher, which would reinforce the
foreclosure conclusion, because this would be determined by an adult to have both genders play
together in a larger group.

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References
Erickson, H. E. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
Health, N. I. (2013, January 27). Fine motor control. Retrieved from Medicine Plus:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002364.htm
Kail, R. V. (2015). Children and Their Development. In R. V. Kail, Children and Their
Development (pp. 44-47). Indianapolis: Pearson.
Marcia, J. E. (1980). Identity in adolescence. New York: Wiley.
Piaget, J. (1929). The Child's conception of the world. New York: Harcourt, Brace.