Cognitive Observation

Part A:

(Background Info: This observation took place at a friends house. I was given permission to use
her son's name, Rafael. Rafael is 11 months old.)

1. A. The first behavior of the child's cognitive growth I observed was exploring/using his five
senses. Caregiver set Rafael in an open play area filled with toys. Rafael immediately started
crawling. Rafael crawled forward, reached the wall (end of play area), paused, and started
crawling backwards back to us. Rafael bumped into his mother, then crawled forward again this
time stopping for a few seconds to hit each toy that got in his way. Rafael occasionally crawled
sideways to hit toys out of his reach. Rafael did this until he was almost at the wall again, turned
around, faced us and crawled back. Rafael bumped into his uncle, his uncle says High five;
Rafael slowly raises his hand off the floor, balancing his weight, then quickly slaps his hand
against his uncle's, Rafael smiles and lets out a coo. A few minutes pass, and his father walks
by walking out the front door. Rafael cried, crawled quickly to the door, raised himself in a
standing position (relying on the door for balance), bangs on the door, still crying. Caregiver
picks him up and takes him back to the play area stating I know...Daddy will be right back. Lets
go play with your toys. It wasnt long until Rafael stopped crying. When his mother started
talking to his uncle; Rafael crawled around his mother, out of sight, and headed towards the
stairs. His mother saw and stated Be careful. Rafael smiled, tried to talk to us, and used the
end of the staircase to lift himself up; slowly he starts crawling up the stairs. Rafael gets 10
steps up before his mother states Rafael, come back here. Rafael pauses, cries, and a few
seconds later he starts going down the staircase backwards. A few minutes later Rafael picks
up his bottle on the floor, held it in the air for a moment, and started slamming it against the
floor. Rafael, stop that. His mother states. Rafael stops, leaves the bottle and crawls 5 inches
to a toy and starts hitting it first softly then harder. A minute or two passes of him hitting the toy,
then he crawls to the next toy in sight and repeats this process. Rafael does this about 5 times
to different toys (lots of hitting) until he finds himself at the end of a couch. Rafael stopped, still
in a crawling position, lifted one hand to place at the edge of the couch, hit it, then pushed
against it. When the couch didn't move, he pushed harder, then crawled to the side of the
couch, occasionally pushing against it. Rafael reached the back of the couch and he used his
upper body to try to get behind it, using his hands to push it away. When the couch did not
move, Rafael started crying.

The second behavior of the child's cognitive growth I observed was problem solving. When
Rafael explored too much, caregivers blocked him off in a play area using the couch, toys, and
a playpen. Rafael crawled to where he is blocked off. Rafael uses the playpen to pull himself to
a standing position. First, he tries to climb over the playpen, then moves to the couch and tries
to crawl over that; when he couldnt make it over he starts crying and falls down. Rafael stops
crying after a few moments, and crawls to the toy section that is blocking him off. He places his
hand where there are light/spaces in between the toys and starts trying to pull them apart, again
fails and starts crying. The caregiver picks him up and moves him away, comforting him. 5
minutes later he is calm and heads to a toy car, but a big black backpack is in the way. Rafael
hits the backpack 2-3 times, then uses it to stand up. Rafael then tries to crawl over the
backpack, when he couldn't he moved to the side of the backpack, placing his hands in the
cracks/spaces of the backpack and starts pulling. The backpack moves slowly. Rafael pauses,
seeing that there's a toy right next to him also blocking the toy car he is trying to reach. Rafael
examines the toy car, touching the wheels and the top of the car. Rafael pushes the backpack
far enough away, moves toward the toy car, and starts pulling the toy car out through the
side/cracks.Rafael is successful in getting the toy car out, sits on it, and plays on it.

1. B. On Piaget's sensorimotor substage, I would say he is between 8-12 months old. Rafael
intentionally plans a movement to make something happen. I often saw Rafael starting to
experiment with objects (hitting, feeling texture, seeing what he can and can't push out of the
way, etc.) Rafael also looked for ways to get out of a situation (crawling down the stairs, getting
stuck behind the couch but finding a way out, finding light/spaces in objects blocking him, and
so on).

2. 12-18 months is the next step. The best toy/materials I saw to get to this step is a toy (a type
of walker) that has 4 wheels at the bottom, and a long handle on top with a lion placed on the
front. Rafael experiences with objects to create a new event by pulling himself to a standing
position to the toy/walker which allows him to take steps/walk. Leg muscles are being used as
he pushes himself up to the handle, and by slowly squatting down to get off the walker.

3. The teacher is fostering cognitive growth in the child by repeating actions and stating the
actions they are doing; such as High fives, and clapping. There is also lots of toys, space, and
different play areas for Rafael to explore.

Part B:

(Background Info: This observation is taken place at creative kids. The girl I am observing is 18
months, and to protect her identity I will address her as a made up name, Emma.)

1. A. The first behavior I saw that helped determine the child's cognitive growth was
exploring/experimenting with objects and her environment as she looked around. Then it
focused in on recognition memory and using objects as tools. When I first entered the room,
Emma was sitting in a chair eating applesauce. She never stopped looking around the room.
Throughout the observation I noticed Emma was constantly curious about what everyone was
doing/playing with. Her eyes always wandered back to the caregivers or her peers. Emma
stared at caregivers, looked at somewhere far then focused her attention on something closer to
her surroundings (such as the table in front of her, or a chair next to her). Occasionally she
would look up then to her left and right. When Emma was done eating, she was standing not too
far from her table, looking around the room. At first she slowly started walking towards the play
area. She eventually saw a toy and walked quickly/almost running to it. Emma reached the toy,
squatted down, while looking to the side, and picked it up. (The toy was a rectangle box that had
several holes cut on top.) Emma carried the toy box to a different part of the room, grabbed a
small skinny yellow toy and tried to put it in the top of the box, where the holes were cut out; it
took a few moments, but she succeeded. Nothing held her attention for too long. Within a
minute or two she was onto the next toy. Emma wandered all around the room, experimenting
with toys such as turning knobs on a toy stove. Emma (using recognition memory) eventually
went back to the toy box she first picked up, in a place she hid it. Emma stared at the holes in
the box, turned the box, until she had touched/saw every side, held it in the air, touched the
holes again, then pulled the box up to her face to look inside the box. She put the toys that
would fit through the holes, and the toys that were too big she took off the top, placed them
inside, then closed the top again. Again, Emma wandered from the box, going around the
room/looking for new toys and eventually came back to get the toys she placed inside the box.
This time (using objects as tools), using a new toy to open the box and get the toys out, then
placed the lid back on top by hammering it close with another toy. Emma also explored a lot
when it was time to go outside; caregivers had to hold Emmas hand to keep her from wandering
(going into classrooms she wasn't supposed to, outside or inside, etc.).

The second behavior I saw that helped me determine the child's cognitive development was
imitation. The caregiver would sing a song, clapping their hands. Emma looked at her peers
who were all dancing, she slowly moved up and down and bobbed her head (dancing like the
other kids were). The caregiver started clapping in a rhythm, Emma picked up two toys, and
clapped them together mimicking the caregiver in the same rhythm. Emma stayed in beat with
the clapping by going as fast or as slow as the caregiver did.

1. B. I saw Emma more towards 12-18 months on Piaget's sensorimotor substage. Considering
she experimented with every toy she encountered. Emma was using her 5 senses by feeling
weight, texture, sight, and taste. She experimented by stacking legos with a friend and finding
new toys and seeing if they could fit together. She also learned if you could put something in the
rectangle box she was playing with (what fit and what didn't). I also saw Emma inventing things
through mental combination.

2. The toys/materials I saw that would assist the child into moving into the next sensorimotor
stage was an A-Z smart pad and a jack in the box pop up toy. Emma was provided with lots of
space and different toys as well. Toys were placed all over the room, but she knew where they
were, helping her with recognition memory. She categorized the toys by size and favorites.
Emma also experimented with trial and error by putting toys in a box, seeing what could fit/what
wouldn't and why. Legos were also helpful as she put toys together and experimented if other
toys would piece together.

3. Teachers fostered cognitive growth by lots of singing and clapping their hands. 30 minutes or
less there was a new song. They also identified noises by playing music with animals sounds
(such as a horse stomping, pigs oinking, cows mooing, etc.) Caregivers would ask What animal
makes that sound?. An activity was also given where the caregiver would hold up a new shape
with a new color and stated the name of the shape and color until the kids repeated it with them.
They also repeated counting in storytime.

Part C:

(Background Info: This observation was taken place at an at home daycare. The child I
observed, Mary (I was given permission to use her name) is 24 months old. I used Scale 2 (13
problems) on the Piagetian scale.)

1. Piagetian Scale 2 (13 experiments)

1. (Appearance of hand-watching behavior)

Mary was engaged in play when I arrived, making it hard to get her away from her toys for the
experiment. She ran and went to toys, refusing to even sit down next to me. She also failed at
getting on her back (She did not lay down once, nor could anyone get her too). Every time I
would get her even close to laying down she would get up immediately and run away. About 15
minutes later she eventually sat down by herself, but still refused to leave her toys. I noticed that
she always kept her hands in view, and very close together (almost if not touching). She
occasionally put them to her face. When she ate, she stuck three fingers in her mouth and
sucked on her hands for a few moments. If her hands wandered out of sight, she would stare
and pull them back quickly together (her hands hardly wandered out of sight). I noticed she was
watching her hands more then she was the toys. Since she would not cooperate with me, in
order to get some observation of hand watching activity; I would wave to her, which followed in
her waving back. Mary stared at her hands while she waved. I moved my hands to get hers to
move hers, she followed every step, never moving them out of sight. Mary was not successful in
this step.

2. (Achievement of visually-directed grasping)

There was no rattle present, instead I used a neon green monster, that was half her size, and
roared when shoken. Mary was engaged in another toy when I held up the green monster and
shook it. Immediately, I caught her attention. Mary went straight for the green monster, not
focusing on anything else. In order to get the monster, she tripped over a toy, got up, reached
for it, and took it. She watched her hand as she grabbed it, just as she watched her hand as she
reached for it (while reaching for the toy, she had hand reflexes: opening & closing). When she
made contact with the green monster she looked at where she grabbed the toy and stared at
her hand/the toy. Mary was successful in this step.

3. (Repetition of actions producing an interesting result)

A circular toy the child could react to I found was a small pink, round/bubbly my little pony
playset toy. It was activated using one of the earliest motor schemas such as hitting (there was
a heart shape button that started it). As soon as I picked it up, Mary stared at me. She observed
me as I observed the toy. Mary tried to grasp it, to stop her I said May I look at it? She allowed
me to look, but never stopped staring first at me then the toy. Mary watched me as I opened all
the drawers. Mary again tried to grasp it, I then said Can you show me how it works?. I then
set it on the floor. Mary, in a standing position, fell, slowly crawled/inched forward to it and came
to the toy. When the toy was finally in her hands, she mimicked my movements by opening the
bubbles, and little drawers, closing them, then pressing the button which made it sing. She
stared at the toy, then her hands as she did movements/playing with the toy. Mary then watched
her hands as she pushed the toy away, stared at the toy, then pulled it closer to her again. Mary
was successful in this step

4. (Overcoming an obstacle in the course of reaching for an object)

The toy I picked for this section was the pink bubbly my little pony toy I used above, because
that one seemed to be her favorite and held her interest the longest. She stared at the toy as I
held it. Do you want this? I asked. She nodded and replied Yeah. She stared at it a few
seconds, then started walking towards it, as stated in the directions I placed a transparent
screen in front of the toy. Mary stopped, stared for about 30 seconds at the toy behind the
screen. She watched her hands again as she bent down and placed her tiny hands on top of the
screen, paused briefly, then pushed the transparent screen out of the way, grabbed the toy and
the screen, playing with both. Doing this experiment the second and third time, Mary was a lot
faster and less hesitant about moving the screen. Every time she ended up taking the toy and
the screen and playing with both. You could tell she was confused and uncertain; nonetheless
Mary was successful in this step.

5. (Letting go of another object in order to reach for another)

I got Mary to hold a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal and a stuffed teddy bear in each hand. She
didnt like how a kid was playing, so I gave her the two stuffed animals and we found our own
space to play in. She hugged the stuffed animals. I then presented a circular plastic cow with
round balls hanging off it. Mary immediately dropped the teddy bear, stopped, picked up the
teddy bear she dropped, and continued to head towards the toy cow. Mary squats down with
both stuffed animals in each arm and used the stuffed animals to pick up the toy cow (3rd toy).
The second and third time I did this Mary hesitated when I showed her the cow again. Mary then
puts the two stuffed animals that are in her arms, down on the ground, grabbed the toy cow, and
placed it next to her two other toys. Mary was successful in this step.

6. (Using locomotion as means)

I presented Mary with a stuffed snake, penguin pillow roll up, and a plastic container. Mary was
unsure and uninterested for a moment. I had to shake the toys in front of her to get her involved.
Mary took the toys, walked away from me, and placed them in a specific area. I allowed Mary to
play as instructed, and slowly came closer to her. I eventually took the container away. Mary
stared at me, then started to walk away still staring at me the whole time with the container next
to me. Eventually she came back for the container. Every time I repeated this experiment, she
did the same thing. Mary was successful in this step.

7. (Using a support)
For this part of the observation I used a small table. Mary watched as I placed a stuffed giraffe
on the pillow. Immediately Mary stands up and tries to climb for the toy, I stop her and she
slowly sits back down. Mary didnt understand how to get the toy without standing up, so I
explained the pillow was there to help her. I demonstrated that the pillow could help by pulling it
towards her, then back in its original spot. Again, Mary tried to climb for the toy this time without
standing and again I had to show her why the pillow is there. This time Mary grabbed the giraffe
right off the pillow, not using the pillow at all. Again, Mary repeats this process not listening to
me at all or the pillows purpose. The last time, she finally uses the pillow to pull the toy to her.
Mary was eventually successful in this step.

8. (Pillow corroboration for the use of support)

When I held the giraffe 4 inches above the pillow, Mary stared at in confusion. Eventually Mary
started whining and reaching for the toy, pointing. Mary didn't try to stand up or climb to the toy;
instead she just stared at the toy, pointed, and whined. A minute or two has passed and she has
not tried to go to the toy, no matter how much I wiggled it or asked her if she could get it. I
eventually put it closer in her reach, when she was comfortable she grabbed the giraffe. I
repeated this process two more times, and Mary did the same thing (whined until I slowly gave it
to her). Mary was not successful in this step.

9. (Using a string horizontally to obtain object)

As instructed I tied a 5 floor string around the stuffed giraffe, in front of Mary's view. She
watched as I placed it out of reach and stretched the string near her hand. When Mary went to
climb for the toy I asked if she could reach it, that sat her back in her seat properly. Mary then
goes to the string and starts to pull the toy close to her. She is successful in this step. I repeat
this experiment several times and each time she grabbed the string and was able to pull the toy
close to her.

10. (Using string vertically to obtain object)

While Mary was still at the table (and no high chair was present) I allowed her to enjoy the
stuffed giraffe. I again tied the 5 foot string around the giraffe in front of Mary's view. Since I
repeated this experiment several times in step 9, Mary knew to grab the string and I had to stop
her from doing so. Mary then seemed lost as a blank face came across her. Mary became
confused but focused as I made the stuffed animal disappear with the string as instructed. It
took her 10 seconds to know to pull the string. The more I repeated this step, the faster she was
at pulling the string up. Mary was successful in this step.

11. (Using a stick to obtain object)

The only stick I could find was a 1ft metal skinny pole. This time I used a stuffed wolf to
change up the toys and keep Mary's interest. Mary was focused on the stick; I had to ask her if
she wanted the wolf that I placed just out of her reach. Mary picked up the metal stick and hit
the stuffed wolf. A big smile came across Mary's face and you could tell she was happy. She
giggled and hit it again. How are you going to get the wolf? I asked. Mary placed the stick
underneath the wolf, accidently pushed it backwards, then to its side, then finally pulled it
towards her. Mary was successful in this step.

12. (Showing foresight-the problem of a long necklace and a narrow container)

When I provided the necklace needed for this experiment, Mary seemed too interested in the
necklace. Mary played/twisted the necklace in her hands completely ignoring the plastic
container I held in front of her. When Mary put the necklace on, I had to ask for it back. Mary
complied and I put the necklace in the tub behind my back then presented it to Mary. Mary
looked shocked when I presented it and tipped the tub sideways to get a better look at the
necklace in the tub. I could tell she was going to take the necklace and leave when she picked
up the necklace and dropped the tub so I asked Can you put the necklace in the tub? Mary
raised the necklace above her head holding it in both hands, paused, then dropped the
necklace in the tub. Quickly she took the necklace out, repeated, then took the necklace out for
good. Mary continued to repeat this step. Mary was only semi successful in this step.

13. (Showing foresight-the problem of the solid ring)

As instructed I got Mary sitting in a new surface with 5 plastic rings with one solid ring. I took a
rod and slid one ring over it, forming the base. I then encouraged Mary to stack the other things.
It took a while to get Mary focused on the rings, considering she wanted to run and play with her
other toys. I had to repeat this process several times until she was interested. Mary first wanted
the rod only (gripping her hands as she stared at the rod), but when she saw me stack the first
ring, she slowly followed my action with the rings provided. Mary hesitated about grabbing the
solid ring, but saved it for last; when she accidently grabbed it she threw it. I repeated the steps,
placing the solid ring closer. Mary hesitated but eventually stacked it. Her expressions showed
concern, worry, and possibly discomfort. Mary was successful in this step.

2. What toys might I offer to facilitate her to the next level and why?

The next level for Mary is the (2-7 yr old preoperational stage). The first toy I would offer Mary to
facilitate her to the next level would be a cause and effect toy. From the observation it seemed
she was able to distant herself from toys and slowly start to catch onto cause and effect of the
experiments or her own toys (ex. You have to push the button to get the toy to sing.). A cause
and effect toy that I can think of is a row of plastic animals that you can push down and be able
to push the animals up by pressing the button laid in front of them. Another cause and effect toy
I would recommend is where you put the wooden shapes into the correct box or even simply
legos. The second toy I would offer is a jigsaw puzzle. Nothing too complicated, one of the
smaller ones that are only 5-6 pieces so Mary could problem solve in her head, match shapes,
and learn numbers by piecing the puzzle together. Any toys with stacking or piecing together I
believe would help Mary get to the next level.