Kelsey Soriano

Child Development Psychology

Dorothy Bach T/TH 11:00 12:20
Tuesday April 19, 2011
Child Observation Project
Race, gender, and socioeconomic status are three main components that can either
positively or negatively influence the life of our children and future generations. Children are
affected by these different factors both physically and socially; therefore, for my child
observation project, I decided to observe a few children that attend the tutoring program, at
Palolo Learning Center. The two main children that I observed was a little Hawaiian girl at age
4 attending pre-school at Hawaiian Immersion Anuenue School, and a little Micronesian boy
at age 7 attending 2nd grade at Palolo Elementary School. I chose to base my project upon
these two children, for total different reasons. First, I chose this young girl because out of the
rest of the students attending the program, she was the only one of Hawaiian ethnicity, and
attended a different school. Secondly, I chose this young boy because of his different
personality, and his unusual playing habits. At the Learning Center, I was able to witness on a
first hand basis how these three components play a big factor in our childrens development,
education, and sociological perspective in respects to different psychologists and their
theories.
In childrens early childhood, their health, weight, and height are not solely based upon
family heredity; in other words, environmental experiences will also help in playing a very
influential factor. According to our classroom textbook, Children by John W. Santrock, the
urban, middle-socioeconomic status and firstborn children were taller than rural, lowersocioeconomic status, and late-born children (255). As I continued to observe these children I
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slowly realized a growth pattern that was always brushed upon in the textbook. Growth
patterns can differ from individual to individual, but in early childhood it is believed that once a
child reaches preschool they will grow on average two in a half inches taller, and gain about
five to seven pounds every year. As children continue to grow, the percentage of increase in
their height and weight will slowly decline each year. As for the two children I observed at
Palolo Elementary, I have witnessed these growth statements to be judged true. This learning
center consists of children whom are living in difficult situations; therefore, putting themselves
and their family in a low-socioeconomic status. Many of these children, including the two that I
particularly observed were skinner and shorter than children of middle-socioeconomic status,
and other children their age. Every age group was about the same height, with the girls being
just a little taller than the boys of their group. The little girl that I observed was actually almost
the same height as the young boy I was also observing; although, the little girl was very skinny
and the young boy was on the bigger side. All in all, through observation I feel it is clear that
race, gender, and especially socioeconomic status play a great role on our children and their
physical development.
Education, is a very important factor in anyones life, and it is especially more important
to instill good educational techniques in our younger children. During early childhood
development, gross motor skills as well as fine motor skills begin to dramatically develop;
therefore, they begin to venture out into the world and embark on individual adventures. Gross
motor skills are skills that involve use of bigger muscles, which include crawling, and walking.
Fine motor skills on the other hand, are skills that involve finely tuned movements, which
include finger dexterity and head movements. With the understanding of gross motor skills,
and fine motor skills, education can be applied in special techniques. Vygotsky and Piaget both
developed theories about cognitive development and education for young children. Piaget
believed that children developed ways of thinking and understanding through their actions and
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interactions within and around the physical world. On that same note, Vygotsky believed that
children hold the power to actively construct their own knowledge and understanding of the
world. With their beliefs being somewhat very familiar, Vygotsky also strongly believed in the
importance of social interaction and social influences, also known as the Zone of Proximal
Development. Here in this stage, Vygotsky believed was the range of tasks that are too difficult
for the child to master alone but yet can still be learned through guidance and assistance of
adults or more-skilled children. In regards to the children at Palolo Learning Center, and the
little girl, and young boy that I observed these different theories by these Psychologist have
also been seemed to be proven true. As I sat there as a tutor for these young children, many of
them rushed me with different questions about language arts, mathematics, and some even
had questions about science. The first young boy that I was observing came up to me, asking
me questions about mathematics. When he first asked me for help, he basically told me give
me the answer, when I heard this I laughed and encouraged him to look at the problem with
me, then, I assisted him as we went through step by step in solving the math problem. Here, I
didnt necessarily give him the correct answer, I more so, provided him with the guidance and
assistance pushing him out of his zone of proximal development and allowing him to achieve
the answer on his own. On the other hand, when the little girl I was observing asked me for
help on her language arts homework, it was a little different experience. When she came up to
me, she asked if I could help her because her parents were never home to help her finish her
homework. As I sat there and watched over her as she continued to work, she spoke of
knowing what was expected of her through her homework, but she didnt have the time to
finish any of her work because her parents were never home, to assist her in checking her
work. Here again, I was able to witness how much of an importance education development is
in early childhood and how those decisions of parents can have lasting effects on children.

Lastly, I will go over the sociological perspective or better known as the types of play
that these young children engage in on a daily basis. Attention span, especially for younger
children is quite slim; therefore, they spend little time focused on any one subject, continuing to
wander around and finding various activities to engage with. Children, especially pre-school
children, are more likely to pay attention to stimuli that stand out, rather than those stimuli that
are not relevant, also known as salient versus relevant dimensions. At Palolo Learning Center,
with the little girl that I observed I was able to witness this theory on a first hand basis. The
leader of the tutoring group was explaining to the children about Easter and what that means;
therefore, she was wearing a rabbit ears headband, which stood out when she spoke in front
of the group. When she asked the young girl a question about Easter she had no idea what to
say because she was so blinded by the fact that she was using as she stated, pretty bunny
ears. On the other hand, the little boy that I was observing also allowed me to witness a type
of play, first hand. There are five different types of play that young children are usually involved
in, but the play that the young boy I was observing was involved in was constructive play.
Constructive play, according to our textbook again is as stated, play the combines
sensorimotor/practice play with symbolic representation (343.) This type of play usually occurs
when children engaged themselves in self-regulating creation or construction of a product or a
solution. As I sat and observed this young boy, slowly drift away from the group speaking
about Easter, he slowly started to sink into his own little world and started playing alone. He
wasnt necessarily playing a game, or talking to himself he was dancing by himself. As the rest
of the group sat on the ground, quietly listening to their instructor speak about Easter, he broke
off from the group and started break dancing in the back of the room. His attention was no
longer interested in what the instructor was speaking about; therefore, he focused his attention
on his break dancing moves and didnt seem to put into any thought of stopping when the

instructor asked him to pay attention. Here, I was able to observe both the young girl and
young boy engaged in two different types of social situations.
In the end, through this child observation project I was able to take away great
knowledge and witness events that I didnt think would have encountered. I was able to
understand on a deeper level, how different it is between a middle-socioeconomic child and a
low-socioeconomic child. I was able to observe different behaviors that affect children with
their learning and their friendships with different types of play. Children, even at a very young
age are affected by every decision we as their caretakers decide. Through this observation
project I learned a lot about children as well as myself.