Middle childhood through adolescence

The Human Observation Project is designed to provide practice in naturalistic observations of developmental stages throughout the life span.

Note that this is not a traditional term paper written in paragraph format, but a clinical style observation.

Use the Observation Form (sample notes are deleted and replaced with your own observation notes to report the observed examples of behavior).

Observations should typed and submitted collectively.

Each observation counts as one-third of the project grade.

Procedures:

A total of three separate observations, one for each life span division, must be completed. Students will select one individual, ideally someone you do not know, from each of the following life span divisions:

Early childhood: Infants are difficult to observe as they cannot provide all the behavior needed to complete this project. Toddlers are a better choice and usually will supply the behavior needed to complete all the required criteria. Young children move rapidly and produce a great deal of observable data very quickly.

Middle childhood through adolescence

Adulthood: Older adults may take longer to observe in order to complete each aspect of the observation

Suggested Locations to Observe

Birth through early childhood – Day care centers, Head Start programs, new born nurseries, playgrounds, public parks, and preschool programs.

Middle childhood through adolescence – Public school, after school athletic programs, food courts at the mall, and church youth groups provide opportunities to observe physical participation and interactions with peers and adults.

Adulthood – Offices, gyms, retirement homes, and social organizations

Students should assign a code name to the individual selected at each division of the life span to protect the identity of the subject. The name will usually reflect a characteristic of the individual, as illustrated in names such as Miss Brown Eyes or Giggles.

Observations can be completed in a public area such as a day care, hospital, gym, school, retirement center, church group, athletic practice, or workplace, or in a private setting.

If observing in a private setting, the signature of a supervisor (school principal, supervising nurse, etc..) and telephone number must be provided to ensure proper permission has been granted.

Use the following guidance in recording observations:

Be as objective as possible.

Statements such as, “he is very smart,” are insufficient. Explain what behavior and/or language indicates this individual is smart Examples of language/speech are very important. Be descriptive and provide specific behavior examples, such as, “He uses sentences which contain five words,” “She can count to ten with one to one correspondence,” or “He recalls the discussion on the editorial page of yesterday’s newspaper.”

Examples of language/speech are very important.

Save your document on your computer or memory device as an .rtf (rich text format) document.