Eguen 1

Kayla Eguen

Professor Cheryl Westfall

ECE 252

November 5, 2017

Cognitive Observation

Part A - (15 points)

For this section, observe a child between the age of 4 – 12 months.

1. a. Using objective observation, state at least 2 examples of behaviors that might help

you to determine the child’s cognitive development.

1. Infant crawls into the open box-like structure (almost like a leather box with a

cut-out in the middle big enough for the child to crawl into), and tosses out the

soft blocks that are inside the box. She then tries to get out of the box but gets

stuck. Then she puts her leg up against the left side of the opening that she

crawled through, and sticks her head through the opening and uses her leg to

push herself out of the box. Then she picks up the blocks that she tossed out,

and tosses them back inside of the box.

2. The infant crawls to the stand-up band set, grabs a hold of the set and pulls

herself up. She starts pressing the different instrument buttons that make

different sounds. Then she crawls to the diaper changing area and starts to

play with the child lock on the cabinet. Then the caregiver told her that she

could not get into the cabinet and then picks her up, puts her in the highchair,

and gives her a bottle.

b. Which of Piaget’s sensorimotor substages do you think this child is in?

 Eguen 2

I think that this child is in the 8-12-month sensorimotor stage, she seemed intentional in

what she was doing.

2. What toys or materials do you see that would assist the child in moving to the next

sensorimotor substage and why?

I did not see any toys or materials that would assist the child in moving on to the next

sensorimotor substage because there were not many toys or materials for the child to play

with. However, she may be receiving advanced care at home because her sensorimotor

stage is higher than anticipated given the lack of manipulatives in daycare/school.

3. How is the teacher fostering cognitive growth in this child? (Give examples of available

toys/personal interactions, etc.)

From my observation, I did not see how the teacher was fostering any cognitive

growth in this child. The main interaction that the teacher had with this child was when

feeding and when changing her diaper. There also were not a lot of toys in the classroom

for the teacher to use to help foster cognitive growth in the child.

Part B – (15 points)

For this section, observe a child between the ages of 13 – 19 months.

1. a. Using objective observation, state at least 2 examples of behaviors that might help you

to determine the child’s cognitive development

1. One of the infants walks around the classroom with a sock in her hand,

pushing a 4-wheeled bike. The bike gets stuck on the foot of the crib. The

infant leaves the bike and crawls to the climbing area, with a sock in her hand.

She drops the sock at the climbing area and crawls across the climbing

structures. She then crawls into an open box-like structure at the end of the
 Eguen 3

climbing structure (almost like a box made of leather, with a cut out square

big enough for the infant to crawl into), she pulls out a soft block and pushes

it out of the opening that she entered. She crawls out of the box and rolls the

block a couple of times. Then she crawls back to the climbing area, crawls

across, picks up her sock and crawls back to the box-like structure.

2. The infant crawls towards the airplane bike that was stuck on the crib. She

pulls the bike back and the rear wheels hit her foot. She pulls it back again and

it hits her foot again. She pulls it back a third time and moves her foot away.

Then she pushes the bike away from herself and watches it as it rolls across

the floor.

b. Which of Piaget’s sensorimotor substages do you think this child is in?

I think this child is in the 4-8-month sensorimotor stage where they repeat the same

activities over and over again.

2. What toys or materials do you see that would assist the child in moving to the next

sensorimotor substage and how would they help?

I did not see any toys or materials that would assist the child in moving on to the next

sensorimotor substage. The classroom did not have many toys or materials for the children to

manipulate or play with. All the toys that were available for them were the soft blocks, the bikes,

3-4 stuffed animals, and a stand-up band set that had buttons for the different instrument sounds.

3. How is the teacher fostering cognitive growth in this child? (Examples of available

toys/personal interactions, etc.)

The teacher was not able to foster much cognitive growth. She spent a lot of time feeding

and changing diapers for the children and did not have much time to personally interact
 Eguen 4

with the children during their play. She didn’t speak with them much when feeding or

changing them, and mainly spoke to them when she wanted them to do something or not

to do something. Also, the lack of toys and manipulatives hindered the possible cognitive

growth that the teacher could foster within the child.

Part C – (35 points)

For this section, you will be utilizing a child between the age of 20 – 27 months (include

exact age of child observed).

1. Using the one of the Piagetian scales (scale 7 is NOT to be used) listed as a file in the

Content Module (week 8). Begin on the 2nd half of the scale chosen. Example: If the

scale you have chosen has 24 steps, then you will begin at step 12. Assess what step the

child is at currently by administering each step and writing how the child responded,

whether they successfully completed the step, etc.

The child observed was age 25 months. The scale that I chose to use to examine the toddler is

Scale 6B, gestural imitation.

3. Familiar invisible gestures.

He usually smiles when engaged in other activities. So, I smiled at him

when he wasn’t engaged in any of his familiar activities and he stared at me

without smiling and hid behind his father.

4. Imitation of unfamiliar gestures.

I bent my index finger multiple times and mouthed “hello” to the toddler.

He initially stared at me and then after the third time of demonstrating this gesture

he smiled at me but did not bend his finger like I did.

5. Imitation of unfamiliar gestures invisible to the infant.

 Eguen 5

I looked at the infant and made my eyes big and then made them normal size

again. I did this about 3 times and then I blew air into my cheeks, making them

bigger and then made them normal size again. He did not imitate me, he smiled

and waved at me.

6. Deferred imitation of new actions.

He did not imitate those actions at a later date.

2. What toys might you offer to the child to facilitate her/him to the next level and why? (Next

step on scale or next cognitive level)

The toys that I might offer the child to facilitate him to the next level would probably be a

mirror so that he can see the different facial expressions that he makes. Also, I would offer the

child a doll or stuffed animal that he can play pretend with, acting as if the toy is a person so that

he can practice imitating the gestures that he sees other people make. I would also have him

spend more one on one time with children older than him as well as adults so that he could start

imitating the different gestures that he observes.