Child Development Report
Educating children requires a teacher to observe them for a multitude of reasons. Teachers innately observe how a child grows, engages in learning, and communicates/interacts with others to determine how to best meet a child’s needs and promote their growth, development, and learning. To effectively accomplish those goals, you will need to be able to describe the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development that happens from early childhood through adolescence and the influence on learning.
For this assessment, you will observe children’s development in 2 different educational settings and write a report of your findings that could be used by a school district to inform decisions on children’s overall developmental levels and needs.
Assessment Deliverable
Using the Child Development Observation Guide you completed in Week 3, write a minimum 875-word report of your observational findings as if you were a teacher in the school district to help determine the overall developmental levels and potential needs of the school district’s students. The report will provide important information related to the typical and/or expected developmental characteristics and the actual and/or observed characteristics of children at different developmental stages. This information will help the school district determine the influence of children’s development on learning and what types of developmental supports and services may be needed.
Your report should include the following information with supportive examples from your observations:
Describe each educational setting you observed, including:
School information and the time of day the observation took place
Activity the children were doing at the time and their level of engagement
Developmental stage of children observed (i.e., early childhood, middle childhood, or adolescence)
Describe the developmental characteristics you observed in each educational setting for the following domains:
Physical Development
What was the range of physical characteristics in the classroom related to height and weight differences and body proportionality?
Did most of the children seem to have typical fine and gross motor skills? Were there any who seemed advanced or delayed?
What specific influences did the children’s physical development seem to have on their learning?
Cognitive Development
What was the range of cognitive characteristics in the classroom related to language, communication, and attention span?
Did most of the children seem to have typical literacy and thinking skills? Were there any who seemed advanced or delayed?
What specific influences did the children’s cognitive development seem to have on their learning?
Social/Emotional Development
What was the range of social/emotional characteristics in the classroom related to peer interactions and self-regulation ability?
Did most of the children seem to demonstrate empathy and sympathy or possess typical moral reasoning abilities? Were there any who seemed advanced or delayed?
What specific influences did the children’s social/emotional development seem to have on their learning?
Child Development Observation Report
Date: September 22, 2023
Observer: [Your Name]
Educational Setting 1:
School Information: Nakuru Primary School, Nakuru, Kenya
Time of Day: 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Activity: Children were playing outside during recess.
Developmental Stage: Early Childhood (3-5 years old)
Physical Development
- Children were able to run, jump, and climb with ease.
- They were able to balance themselves on the playground equipment.
- They had good coordination and fine motor skills, as evidenced by their ability to play with balls, sand toys, and other small objects.
- They had a good understanding of their bodies and how to move them.
- One child was able to climb to the top of the jungle gym and slide down without any assistance.
- Another child was able to balance on a beam for several seconds before falling off.
- A group of children were playing catch with a ball. They were able to throw and catch the ball accurately.
- A child was building a sandcastle with a bucket and shovel. She was able to use the tools effectively to create a complex structure.
- Students were able to sit still for extended periods of time without fidgeting.
- They had good hand-eye coordination, as evidenced by their ability to use lab equipment safely and accurately.
- They were able to follow complex instructions.
- They had a good understanding of their bodies and how to take care of them.
- One student was able to carefully measure and pour liquids without spilling them.
- Another student was able to use a microscope to examine a slide of cells.
- A group of students were able to work together to assemble a complex piece of scientific equipment.
- A student was able to explain the steps of the experiment to the observer in detail.