Observation #2

Introduction:
Im watching a little girl named Elizabeth in a preschool class during free-play. I dont
know her exact age but I know she is between 4-5.

Biological:
When I first entered the room Elizabeth was immediately interacting with everything that
she saw and responding to every sound she heard. This was showing her increased myelination.
The areas of the brain that show the greatest early myelination are the motor and sensory areas,
so preschoolers react more quickly to sounds and sights with every passing year. (Berger, 2016,
p. 169) Elizabeth was very interested in everything everyone was doing and saying. She was
bouncing back and fourth between different social partners and would respond instantly if they
interacted with her. She almost seemed anxious. As well as observing that this was a clear sign of
her increased myelination, she was showing zero impulse control. (Berger, 2016, p.171) She was
picking up every object someone else put down, almost as if she only wanted it because someone
else had just wanted it. If at this moment during her free time she was asked to sit still and not
move, she would not be able to accomplish that task. It made me anxious just watching her mind
race and her body move before she could process what she was trying to accomplish. Although,
after a while she began to focus on a toy baby, and her perseverance showed. (Berger, 2016, p.
171) She stuck with that baby for the rest of the time that I was watching her. She was fully
committed to pretending to be that babies mother, and went above and beyond acting as so. After
finding the child she began cooking for it, as the food was cooking she dressed the child and
sat it in a high-chair, and then she fed the baby. This all took 20 out of the 30 minutes that I
studied her.

Cognitive:
As Elizabeth was playing with this doll she showed her preoperational intelligence,
Piagets term for cognitive development between the ages of about 2 and 6; it includes language
and imagination (which involve symbolic thought), but not yet logical, operational thinking.
(Berger, 2016, p. 173) Exactly as the definition states, she was showing her language
development by speaking with the toy baby and other children in the class, but she was also
using her imagination in pretending the baby was alive and feeding it. A logical person would not
pretend that this toy baby is actually hungry and cook it fake food. This is how Elizabeth is
acting because she is in this cognitive development stage. She acted without really thinking
about it, and she did not care if the baby actually had a beating heart or diet restrictions. She
simply saw a baby, remembered seeing other adults in her life cook for babies and feed them,
and reenacted that. In doing all of this she also showed animism, The belief that natural objects
and phenomena are alive in the way that humans are (Berger, 2016, p. 173) She treated this
toy child as if it were a living breathing child. She sat it in a high chair, put a bib on it, dressed it,
mixed invisible food for it, and fed it. After feeding the child she undressed it again and placed it
on a table as if it were the babies bed and placed a blanket over it. Her mentor then came over
and told her what a good job she was doing. (Berger, 2016, p.176) In doing so, her mentor was
encouraging Elizabeths actions toward this child which is positive reinforcement.
Psychosocial:
In the book Invitation to the Life Span by Kathleen Berger, they touch on effortful
control. This is being able to regulate actions and emotions by continuous effort, not having the
natural ability to do so. While watching Elizabeth there was a point when she was putting the toy
baby in the high chair and the toy kept sliding down. At first, she watched the baby slide down
and by the expression on her face you could assume she did not understand why. She
repositioned the toy baby twice before she began to become frustrated. By the third time, her
actions showed that she was making a conscious effort not to have a tantrum about the toy baby
sliding down in the high chair. She then called for the mentor to come over and help her, but the
mentor did not hear her and did not respond to the childs cry for help. Finally, she got the doll to
sit up right in the chair so she could feed it. If at this point the toy would not have sat up
properly Elizabeth most likely would not have been able to contain her emotions and she would
have had a break down. Most adults would not have reacted this way. Also, while going about
playing with the doll one of Elizabeths classmates joined her. This was her engaging in social
play (Berger, 2016, p.205) Her friend pretended to be the toy babys dad, and at one point as
they were putting the child to bed he pretended to cry. Since Elizabeth is engaging in social play
studies show she is more likely to be happy and abler comprehend new ideas and concepts.
References:
Berger, K. S. (2016). Invitation to the life span (3rd ed.) [with Salt Lake Community College
supplement]. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.