42 Part One Children in Today’s World
observe will depend on the purpose
of your observation. Because this
book looks at the sequence of
children’s growth and development,
you will consider these principles
when you observe. Your teacher will
assign you a task from the book.
As you observe, you will look for
answers to each task.
What Do Researchers Want
to Know?
Sometimes researchers, while
observing, think of another idea
to study. You, too, will notice
behaviors that were not part of your
assigned work. You will want to ask
questions about what you see. This
is how researchers learn.
Other times, researchers
decide to observe further because
they want to know more about
a behavior. For example, you
may hear three-year-olds reciting
numbers from 1 to 10. Does this
mean they can count objects to
10? To fi nd out, you may need to
observe behavior more closely.
Researchers may also look for
causes that affect behavior, such
as factors that cause a child to feel
secure. You may try to understand
the behaviors of children or note
why a certain game worked well
with children.
Observing children can help
you better interact with the children
in your care. You can learn this by
observing how others work with
children and how the children react
to them.
1-12
Each time this student observes and
takes notes, she learns to see more.