Observing Children and Writing Anecdotal Records

Observing Children and Writing Anecdotal Records

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  Observing Children- WritingAnecdotal Records
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  Research Methods Whenobserving children, there are many research methods used to gain information such as; observations/anecdotal records, surveys and interviews, standardized tests, physiological measures, case studies, correlational research, experimental research, cross-sectional and longitudinal methods.
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  Lab Observations Inyour lab assignments, you will be observing children using observations called anecdotal records. More about anecdotal records can be found in your course pack on pages 6-14. Please read these pages.
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  Written observations ofchildren in anecdotal records allow us to; Assess development in all areas; physical, social, cognitive and emotional Learn more about the child as an individual Identify interests for the group and/or the individual Remember information Show progress and share information Assess the curriculum Gather data to drive various decisions
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  Observing Children- AnecdotalRecords Anecdotal records tell a story as they describe behavior, complete with verbal responses in a narrative style.
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  Guidelines for writingAnecdotal Records Start with a statement; setting, date, time of day, name and age of child. Describe the child’s behavior NOT what you think of the behaviors. Use details of the child’s actions and comments, include other’s responses.
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  Guidelines for writingAnecdotal Records (continued) 4. Write down the exact words used in the conversation. 5. Most complete episodes have a beginning, middle and end. Documenting this helps your understanding to be more complete.
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  An example…
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  An example… Itis ten-thirty on Wednesday morning, October 12, 2010, in the Dino room at Grand Rapids Community College Preschool Laboratory. Liam, a four year old, is standing at a kidney shaped table with 5 other children and three different tubs of blocks. Liam watches the boy on his left pick up a block from the floor, Liam moves over to the block on the floor and tries to touch it with his foot. Liam returns to the table, he has a blue tubular block in his right hand. He says, “ Whoa, watch this.” and he begins to roll his block on the table and pushes it across the table. He runs around the table and retrieves the block. He takes his right hand with the block in it and pushes the train in the center of the table to the side. Next Liam returns to his original spot at the table and says, “Oh, watch this, watch this.” He then rolls the tubular block again on the table. Liam looks at the boy next to him and smiles and rolls his block to the center of the table again. This time the block goes to the center of the table and Liam reaches out with his right hand and retrieves the block. He repeats this motion with the block this once more.
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  Some things toremember about anecdotal records… Professionalism- Anecdotal records are confidential! The objective analysis is not conclusions or diagnoses. Should not include any bias.
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  Observing Children Watchthe following 2 clips of children in action located in the week 1 folder. Write an anecdotal record for each clip. Post your anecdotal record to the discussion thread and give feedback to 3 classmates using the guidelines listed below. The anecdotal record includes; The setting, date, time, name and age of the child Objective descriptions of the child’s behavior Details of the child’s behavior such as; actions, comments Evidence of exact words A beginning, middle and end