FHS Human Development 1500 OBSERVATION #3

FHS 1500 Human Development

Alex Ingman

Unit 4: Observation #3-Middle Childhood

Background Information

Child’s Age: 6-8 years

Fictitious Name: “Jaxon”

Location: Sandy Elementary School

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Abstract

For our third observation our class had the opportunity to travel to Sandy Elementary

School. We were able to choose one student in one of their classes and observe them for the time

we were there. The class was both inside for class and outside for recess which allowed for a

variety of different activities to observe cognitive, physical, and psychosocial development. My

student’s actual name will not be used for this assignment, instead I will use the name “Jaxon”.

A source for reference and information is the textbook ​Invitation to the Lifespan​ by Kathleen

Berger.
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Physical Development:

The class we were able to observe did a variety of different activities that made observing

physical capability and development more interesting. At first we caught them right before they

were about to go out to recess. The teacher announced to the class that they were going outside

and I noticed the children began to put on jackets, shoes, and everything they needed to go

outside by themselves. Once outside, I followed Jaxon to the playground. While eating his snack,

he was also climbing all over the play place. With one hand he used to balance himself, and the

other to eat his snack. This kind of balance and physical ability is beyond anything a early

childhood child would be able to do. After finishing his snack, he and his friends moved to the

grass field and began to throw around the football. Jaxon was able to throw the football with a

good technique spiral, but also catch and run with the ball.

The physical development of Jaxon makes it possible for him to perform these tasks. The

textbook ​Invitation to the Lifespan ​defines the ability to perform tasks such as putting on jackets,

shoes, etc. as “Self care” and emphasizes that it becomes easier for children this age. All the

teacher had to do was tell the students they should put on their coats and the children, including

Jaxon, were completely capable of doing it themselves. The book also describes the physical

changes occuring in middle childhood. “Unlike infants or adolescents, school-age children’s

growth is slow and steady...Muscles, including the heart and lungs, become strong.” This

explains why Jaxon’s class isn’t much larger than the next oldest that was playing before them.

Although Jaxon and his peers aren’t growing at such a fast rate as before, their muscles are
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developing. The strengthening and development of muscles makes “self-care”, playing on the

playground, and football possible.

Cognitive Development:

When first walking into the school to do the observation, I noticed as soon as we entered

into the classroom every single student noticed that we came in and stared at us for a brief

moment. It seemed they were not only aware but interested in us, the preschoolers hardly

realized we were there. Following the playtime at recess the class came back into the school for

some other activities. The class separated into different groups and began to play various

learning games. I followed Jaxon into one of these rooms and observed the games and activities

he and his classmates were doing. The game they were doing involved letters and pictures in

formulating a sentence. The task was to arrange specific letters and symbols and be able to read

the sentence and have it make sense. Despite some difficulty at first, Jaxon created several

different sentences with his reading capability and cognitive understanding of symbols and

colors.

Beginning with our first entrance into the classroom, I thought it was interesting that they

paid so much attention to us because in the last observation with preschoolers it was like we

weren't even there, they hardly even noticed us. This awareness of the environment is apparent in

middle childhood. The next observed activity, the sentence game, shows Jaxon’s cognitive

ability. With maturation of the brain the different parts become more connected which increases

the mental capacity of the child. With this increase in cognition, reading ability becomes better.

The textbook ​Invitation the the Lifespan​ describes the interconnection of the brain and its effect

on cognition, “Such connections are crucial for the complex tasks that children must master. One
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example is learning to read…” Because of Jaxon’s brain maturation he is able to speed up

thoughts and make more sense of letters and symbols, and his environment.

Psychosocial Development:

Jaxon appeared to be a very social child. Since the moment I began observing him he was

talking with his classmates, and then to (what I assume to be) his best friend. Jaxon did a couple

different activities at recess, but they were all with the same friend group. This was consistent

with the rest of the class too. Everyone had their own “play group” they would hang out with. In

these groups the activities were cooperative play most of the time, but all the time for Jaxon’s

group. They would play sports with each other and throw the football to one another, they even

organized a play or two. With the different activities the class were doing, I observed something

very interesting. I noticed that the majority of the boys were off playing football and basketball,

and the girls were playing on the swing or playing pretend.

Observing the trends and patterns of the social interaction I was able to make many

connections to the psychosocial development of middle childhood we have discussed in class.

Middle childhood is a time when children want to have friends. They drift farther away from the

egocentrism and begin to associate more with other children. Friend groups are formed and

norms are beginning to be introduced. Jaxon spending most of the time with the same few kids

shows the social interaction and grouping of a friend group. In this group they participated in

cooperative play, or playing together. The most obvious of my observations was the gender

differences in the play at recess. ​Invitation to the Lifespan​ says, “Gender differences persist in

activities (girls converse more, boys play active games).” While seeing the children play I saw

these differences, and the children know and understand them. I even had a little girl who saw I
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was watching Jaxon play football a girl came up to me and literally said, “the boys always play

football” which distinguishes the two genders when it comes to social interaction and play.