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Running Head: Child Observation Project

Topic: Child Observation Project


Subject: Psychology of Learning
Teacher: Mr. Noel Carballo
Student: Elma Chun

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Notes for the Observation of Students:

Definition is stated
Binary Operation
Students know that they must raise their hands to answer questions
They asks a lot of questions
Teacher solves 8 problems slowly step by step
Teacher asks yes or no if they understand
Students were confused about Absolute value
Changed symbol and students got even more confused
Teacher clarify their confusion
Gave 3 practice problems
Teacher goes around to see if the students understand
Students were volunteered to solve problems on the board
Teacher uses Behaviourism (check mark)
Teacher gives even harder problem to the students (-4)3
Teacher ends the class off with a revision
Students are given problems as practice for their tests
Teacher tells the students what to study for
Not all students do the work in class
Clicking pens
students are talkative
Students choose to sit close to others from their previous school (segregation)
15 females, 14 males
Several students look outside as other students exit their classes
Majority of the students seem attentive at all times (look at the teacher)
Few students seem eager to answer but some hesitate.
Some students lose attention and distract others by speaking to them.
Some students arent afraid to admit they dont understand.
The students at the back of the class are relatively quiet.
The right side of the class are the most vocal in the class

Descriptive Observation:
On Tuesday, July 19th, we observed Mrs. Eva Castanedas Mathematics Classroom where
she taught Binary Operation to soon to be first formers. The class comprised of 29 students; 15
females and 14 males. Mrs. Eva started the lesson by orally stating her objectives for the day and
then proceeded to writing the topic for the day with its definition. She explained that they will be
focusing on substitution and for the students to ask questions if they needed to. The first thing we

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noticed about the students was that they were segregated by the primary school that they came
from. We also noticed that Mrs. Eva had created a routine with her students that they must raise
their hands to answer or ask questions. She solved eight problems on the board explaining step
by step what she did and why. For every step, she asked the students if they had any questions
before moving on. After solving the 8 problems, she gave the students three to do on their own.
She went around seeing if the students were solving the problems correctly and gave a check
mark if they got the question correct. Many of the students raised their hands and waited eager
for her to reach by them to get a check mark (Behaviourism). We noticed that while others were
busy solving the problems, there were a few students distracted by other things such as talking
with their friends, clicking their pens, and one student in particular, was busy painting his nails
with a green marker. The teacher volunteered three students to the board to solve the problems
and told the others to follow along. She asked if everyone got the answer. Few admitted that they
didnt but that they realized their error.
Mrs Eva then changed the symbol and gave harder problems to for the students to solve
(absolute value and negative exponents). Many admitted that they didnt understand it and that
they were confused by the questions while only a few went ahead and solve the problems. Mrs
Eva proceeded by explaining why the change in symbol does not affect the way the problem is
solved and showed three examples to the students for them to see what she meant. She then gave
them 2 problems to solve on their own and then continued to walk around checking to see if they
were going right. She asked two students to go up and solve the problems and again for the
others to follow along. Mrs. Eva then reminded the students that they have an upcoming test and
gave revision problems for homework. She asked if they had any questions before dismissing

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them. While she did this, many students were distracted by students from other classes passing
by and many were busy closing their books and preparing to go home.
To conclude, we noticed that students at the right hand side were the most vocal and the
ones to the back were the quietest. Mrs. Eva kept control of her class by having established
routines. Her students were not afraid to say that they did not understand and she asked after
every step if anyone had any question. While some of the students were very talkative and
distracted others in the classroom, they all seem to be very attentive when the teacher starts
explaining the procedures. Most were quiet while solving the questions on their own but a few
got easily distracted. Mrs Eva utilized the behaviourism theory by putting a check mark if the
students got the question correctly. This persuaded them to be eager in solving the problem and
to raise their hands when finished. She also uses questioning techniques by asking the students if
they had any questions. This helps in making the students feel that it is okay to ask questions.

Analysis of the Observation:


Albert Bandura said, The people around the child will respond to the behaviour it
imitates with either reinforcement or punishment. If a child imitates a models behaviour and the
consequences are rewarding, the child is likely to continue performing the behaviour. We see
this in Mrs. Evas class where by the students are given a check mark if they got the answer
correct. This is positive reinforcement which makes the students want to get all the questions
correct so that they can get a check mark in their notebooks. Bandura also says that a person
learns by observing the consequences of another persons behaviour. The students saw that the
teacher volunteered students who look as though theyre not paying attention to go to the board

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to solve the problems. This in turn, made the other students act as though they are paying
attention so as to not get called to the board.
An important aspect in the adjustment to a new school is the students sense of belonging
and their socio-emotional functioning; in other words: their level of well-being. This could be the
reason why the students were segregated in class. A high sense of belonging, the feeling of
social connection and being socially connected may lead to higher motivation and grades. As
was said in class today, coming to a school such as CCC makes students feel as though they are
to withhold a certain academic standard. This encourages student achievement. I think this is also
why the students werent afraid to ask questions in class.
We also saw BF Skinners theory of Operant Conditioning being implemented in this
classroom. For example, if the students who were volunteered to the board got the answer
correct, then teacher would say, good job and the child would smile. Unwanted behaviors,
such as tardiness and dominating class discussion can be extinguished through being ignored by
the teacher. This was also seen in the classroom where a little girl in the back started to talk and
both the teacher and her classmates ignored her. She eventually shut up and continued on with
her work.
John Watson proposed that the process of classical conditioning (based on
Pavlovs observations) was able to explain all aspects of human psychology. Watson believed
that all individual differences in behavior were due to different experiences of learning. Classical
conditioning has already been set in the class. This is seen by the students knowing that they
must raise their hands to ask or to answer a question. Also, students know already that the

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teacher is the one who dismiss them not the buzzer. This is also seen with the students feeling
comfortable in saying they did not understand.

References:

McLeod, S. A. (2016). Bandura - Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from

www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html
McLeod, S. A. (2015). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from

www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
McLeod, S. A. (2014). Classical Conditioning. Retrieved from
www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html

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