Observation and Interview Paper

A Summary of an Interview with a Seven Year Old School-Going Child 

The child under observation is a 7 year old school aged child. A seven year old is expected to have good motor development in terms of balance, eye coordination and execution of simple gymnastic movements. Conservation is the logical thinking capacity that allows an individual to evaluate the quantity of an object will remain similar despite the alteration in the shape or apparent size. Psychologist Jean Piaget conservation theory postulates that this ability is evident in children in the preoperational stage of their development between the ages of 2-7 but develop in the concrete operational stage of 7-11. Conservation of number is normally mastered by the age of 5 or 6 while volume is often mastered by age 9 or 10 (Watanabe, 2017 p. 210). The child was presented with some conservation tasks. The first conservation test administered to the child was to test the concept of numbers. I administered the test by arranging quarters in a number of quarters in two straight line, the child responded by counting and admitted that there were the same number of quarters in each line. I then disarranged one row of coins and the child admitted that they were still the same number since he did not see me add any coins. In the second test I asked presented two glasses with the same amount of liquid and the child indicated that it contained the same amount of liquid. I transferred the contents of one glass into a taller glass and the child indicated that it was still the same amount of liquid. I administered a conservation test of length where I presented the child with two rods of equal length then switched the stick’s position; the child admitted that the sticks were still of equal length. A test of conservation of mass indicated that the child had not fully grasped this concept. He admitted that a flattened piece of clay had less mass than round shaped clay. 

I presented the child with a moral dilemma where he had to choose whether to eat cookies at a friend’s house thirty minutes before dinnertime even after her mother had told her not to eat sweets close to dinner time. The child admitted that he would not take the cookies since his mother had told him not to eat sweets before dinnertime and if she followed this rule she would have her favorite ice-cream during the weekend. According to Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, seven year old kids have a strong sense of what they should do and they want to be involved in making the rules. Children at this age often have a sense of fairness and comprehend the importance of rules (Turiel, 2015 p. 1). The child’s response at this age is consistent to Kohlberg’s pre-conventional level where a child’s sense of morality is controlled externally. These children believe the rules of authority figures in their lives. A child with pre-conventional morality has not internalized societal rules but instead focuses on the consequences each action causes. Stage two of preconventional level is instrumental orientation which the child acts in a way which is in their best interest. Children often think that authority figures such as parents have rules that children follow. Parents often reinforce this positive behavior with an incentive. 

In terms of social development, seven year old children enjoy making friends and are happy to imitate friends and take pleasure in imitating the actions of peers. Children at this age often recognize friends based on the closeness and frequency of interaction. The child indicates that he had about ten friends whom they were in the same class; these peers consist of girls and boys between the ages of 6 and 7 years. However he indicates that among the friends he has one best friend who he plays with more often. The child indicated that they only played with other friends in school but played with his best friend at home since they live in the same neighborhood. The child indicated that he preferred to play with boys since girls were “weird”. He indicates that girls only want to play with dolls toys yet he preferred car and superhero toys. The child also indicate that it is okay for girls to play with boys but he just preferred to play with boys. By the age of six, most children spend most of their playtime with members of their own gender and may prefer sports and other activities linked with their gender. It is crucial to allow children to make choices linked to sports and peers.at this age children are often capable of empathizing with others and are more likely to share. Children at this age often understand that other people might have differing perspectives and feelings about ideas therefore he might understand that a peer will be mad if he did something wrong to them. 

Most responses provided by the child throughout the interview were consistent with the development of a seven year old. The child was conversant with the conservation concept however he had not fully grasped the concept of mass. A child at the age of seven can conserve numbers as indicated by the interviewed subject but fails to conserve the concept of mass and therefore will mistakenly perceive that the flat mass of clay is less that the round mass of clay. At the age of seven, children often gain an understanding of the ability of mental operations. The child was presented with a moral dilemma to test for moral development. The subject interviewed was still in the first level which is preconventional (Turiel, 2015 p. 2). The child mostly relied on the authority provided by parents and have not internalized societal rules but instead focuses on the consequences each action causes. The child’s behavior is mainly focused on the need to obey the rules and avoid punishment. The child responded that he would not eat the cookies since his mother had told him not to eat sweets before dinner; however, the motivation for his behavior is the promise of a treat during the weekend. The act is consistent with stage two of the preconventional level. 

Performing this interview provided an understanding that not all children achieve developmental milestones at the same time. This has therefore improved my social awareness about children at this stage of development. I have learnt that it is important to be patient when dealing with kids at this stage since their attention spans might be limited. That was evident when I was performing the conservation tests and the child’s attention would stray and I would have to explain the concept to him then record his response. Most children at the age of seven have often achieved the conservation of mass but this particular interviewee had not grasped this concept; hence confirming my understanding that not all children attain developmental milestones at the same time. The child seemed to perceive that friends of the opposite gender were quite different and at some point in the interview he referred to them as “weird”. This provided me with an insight of my perceptions when I was at the same stage of development where I felt that classmates of the opposite sex were different and did not get me. This helped me understand that what I experienced was quite normal. 

References  

Watanabe, N. (2017). Acquiring Piaget’s conservation concept of numbers, lengths, and liquids as ordinary play:  Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology ,  7 (1), 210 

Turiel, E. (2015). Moral development:  Handbook of child psychology and developmental science , 1-39.