Observing Behavior of

Young Children
Lorraine Borromeo ft. Pamela Leuenberger 
Objectives
After this lesson, the student is able to:
[Link] observation as a naturalistic
method of studying children’s
behavior(s);
[Link] the importance of
observation to early childhood
education;
Objectives
[Link] some ethical considerations
in conducting observations; and
[Link] out why interpretations of what
were observed differ from one
another.
Content
The Meaning of Observation
Importance of Observation
Professional Ethics
Interpretations of Result
 How does a parent
(or a teacher) assess the
progress of her/his child in
an activity?
 One may get information easily
through what one sees or hears, but
observation is not a simple task. The
problem arises when we think of
observing as seeing or hearing only.
Human beings are not cameras or tape
recorders which would only take in
sensory information.
 This lesson will describe observation
as an assessment method of describing
behaviors of young children in a
naturalistic setting.
 What is Observation?
Observation is “sensing especially through
directed , careful, analytic attention”
(Webster, 1959),
“noting and recording facts and events,”
(Webster, 1960)
“Taking notes or paying attention,”
(Webster, 1981).
 Goodwin and Driscoll (1980)
as cited by Bentzen (1993)

Why observation is important in

early childhood education?
 First, it allows measuring many behaviors
of children that may otherwise be
unmeasurable.
Young children’s verbal abilities are limited,
which rule out use of traditional
information- gathering techniques such as
interviews and paper-and-pencil tests.
The area of emotions is especially
suitable to observational methods;
 The observer can see the child as he
actually behaves, without the
shortcomings of limited test-taking
ability, unreliable understanding of test
instructions and eagerness to please
adults by responding in the way the
adults want them to respond.
 Second, formal testing procedures are not
typically viewed seriously by children as by
adults.
G&D (1980) – Bentzen (1993) believe that
children do not take to heart adults’ advice
that the test is a serious business and that
they should try as hard as they can, an
attitude formal testing relies on its success.
 For instance, formal testing is
developmentally inappropriate for
young children; that children become
severely stressed under formal testing
conditions
Observations does not have any of
these disadvantages.
The observer wants to see the
children's behavior as it occurs
without adult interference.
The observer also tries not to
generate anxiety or other emotions
that might inappropriately affect
children’s behaviors.
Third, young children are not easily
affected or less threatened when they
know they are being observed.
Young children are also likely to
change their behavior in response to
being observed.
The assumption here is that, it is
difficult for him to behave normally
than when he thinks he is alone.
Observation of young children then,
yields behavior that is unaffected by
the process of observing it. (G&D,
1980 as cited by Bentzen, 1993).
Characteristic of
Observation
which give importance to the
process.
1. There are variety of settings
where one can observe the
young child
(i.e. preschool classrooms,
playgrounds, the home, among
others;
2. There are may people
studying children in
different situations and
different ages;
3. Theories on development may
be tested to understand the
development process. Such testing
usually involves observation. One
may not be testing the theories, but
theories may assist you in the
observation process.
At the same time observation can
help you understand theories. There
is therefore, a relationship between
we read from the books and our
observation experiences.
4. Observing real children can help
us understand what we read and
hear about them; on the other hand,
what we are learning about
children and their development will
influence what we see as we
complete our observation exercise.
For example, what we know
about physical development will
affect what we learn and
understand about a particular
child’s physical development.
Therefore, observation is crucial,
because many sciences (social and
physical) must gather data that can be
seen, heard, smelled, touched or
tasted.
Such data is called EMPERICAL
DATA, which are data that depend on
experience or observation rather than
abstract theory.
Specific 8 reasons for
“systematic observing
and recording”
- Janice Beatty (1986)
She identifies these as
“particular reasons” that could
be adopted by teachers and
students who wish to learn more
about the young children they
work with.
1. Make an initial assessment of the child's abilities.
2. Determine the child's areas of strength and areas that
needed strengthening.
3. Make individual plan based on observed needs.
4. Conduct an on going check on the child’s progress.
5. Learn more about child development in particular
areas.
6. Resolve a particular problem involving the child.
7. Use in reporting to parents or specialist in health,
speech, and other behavior changes.
8. Gather information for the child's folder and use on
guidance and placement.
What and how much information we
perceive varies from person to
person from person to person and
even within the same person from
one time to another. And so it is that
two individuals can be visually aware
of the same object or event, but
assign different interpretations.
Mrs. Aquino has enrolled her 5 year-old son,
Fred, at the preschool in the community. After
a week, Mrs. Aquino has been invited by the
school. Fred is the two other boys in the block
area. They are building a house together. Mrs.
Aquino knows her son is shy and wonders
what value there is in playing with wooden
block. She thinks that the present activity is
more appropriate to building muscular strength
and coordination than it is developing
interpersonal skills.
Miss Leviste, the preschool director and
teacher is also observing Fred in the block
area. As she looks at Fred, she does not Mrs.
Aquino simply because as his mother, Mrs.
Aquino has had 5 years to get to know her
son; Mrs. Leviste , however has had about
three hours a day for one week to learn
something about the boy.
But Miss Leviste has at least one advantage
over Mrs. Aquino. She can see and interpret
behaviors that are relevant to Fred’s holistic
development. She sees all the boys in the
block area acquiring and sharpening their
spatial relations skills, i.e., learning how
blocks of different sizes and shapes are fit all
together to form a structure and many other
skills.
This hypothetical example tells us
that the teacher and the mother
see and hear overt behavior of
Fred, yet both have different
ways of giving meaning to what
they see and hear.
Because of the difference of their
background and training, however,
each perceives something
different; each draws different
meaning, and each recognizes
something different from the
visual information taken.
The important thing to remember
is that all of us look at and
organize objects and events in
our world according to our past
experiences, our knowledge, and
what we believe in.