Introduction
For this paper, I observed a 4 ½ year-old Chinese-America boy named Daniel Yap who was trying to learn to play the game Cut the Rope on the iPad. The boy was in the living room of his family’s home while playing the game. He was from a middle-class family and his father was also around at the time. I am good friends with the family and was visiting at the time that the observation was made. The observation lasted for about three minutes and was conducted on December 9, 2012.
Observation
I observed Daniel as he played the game Cut the Rope on the iPad. He was obviously very familiar with how to operate the iPad and how he would load the game. He knew exactly what to touch or press on the screen.
In the game Cut the Rope, a candy dangled at the end of the rope and the goal was to cut the rope so that the candy went into the mouth of the monster. Daniel had no problem completing the first few stages of the game as only a few ropes were involved. The monster was also located directly at the bottom or at the top of the rope, which made it easy for the candy to reach the monster’s mouth. The rope that held the candy was also in the middle of the screen. However, as Daniel moved to higher levels in the game, he found that the monster was already located on the lower left corner of the screen and there were now more ropes to deal with. However, all of the ropes were still located at the center of the screen. He was probably baffled about how he could bring the rope to the lower left part of the screen so he called his father to help him with the game. His father initially responded that he was sure Daniel could figure it out. However, Daniel really needed his father’s help and begged for him to take a look at the game. With that, his father took a quick look at the game and initially tried some moves that did not work. After a few moments, the father saw a transparent button on the screen and pressed it, which displayed a rope on top of the monster. This immediately made Daniel realize how to continue playing the game and he thanked his father for the help. Daniel then went on to successfully complete several more stages before dinner was served.
Inferences
Although Daniel’s activity was performed with an iPad and an iPad game, it could still be considered a good physical-knowledge activity as it helped him use his logic and his analytical skills as he figured out how to complete each level of the game. This activity involved the movement of objects and changes in objects, which are the two types of physical-knowledge activities (Karmii & Devries, 1978). In particular, the positions of the characters and the objects in the game moved and changed with each level and in accordance to Daniel’s actions.
As Daniel was learning to play, Daniel started the activity in accordance to one of the principles of teaching physical-knowledge activities, which was letting children act on objects and see how these objects react (Karmii & Devries, 1978) where his father refrained from interfering with his game. By seeing what happened every time he cut a rope and touched buttons on the screen, Daniel was able to become aware of how to produce the desired effect, which is another principle of teaching physical-knowledge activities.
When Daniel moved on to more challenging stages, he couldn’t figure out how to make the rope move near the monster so that the monster could catch the candy. As such, he asked his father’s help. Daniel’s father had to figure out what his son was thinking in order to help him. It could also be observed that the father responded sparingly to Daniel in order to allow Daniel to learn to play the game on his own. These, too, are principles in teaching physical-knowledge activities (Karmii & DeVries, 1978).
Reflection
Focal Child
My observation of Daniel while he played Cut the Rope affirmed Piaget’s theory, which posited that children constructed their own knowledge based on their experiences; that they learned many things on their own without the intervention of adults and other children; and that they have an intrinsic motivation to learn (Oakley, 2004).
Integrating the Assessment
Curriculum Intervention
My observation of Daniel has taught me to refrain from interrupting children during physical knowledge activities in order not to interrupt their learning process. As Daniel has shown, children would ask for an adult’s help when they need it; otherwise, it can be assumed that they’re doing just fine on their own. In addition, I would integrate games into these activities where the games increase in complexity every time in order to present the children with more challenges. This in turn will encourage them to explore their skills even more.
My Professional Development
Based on my observation of Daniel, I have learned that integrating physical knowledge activities into the curriculum will contribute a lot to a child’s learning and that games where the complexity increased can help them go beyond what they already know or what they can already do. I would also develop follow up activities to further assess the children’s learning. On hindsight, I believe a good follow-up activity for Daniel would have been to ask him to teach me to play the game. This would allow me to assess how well he remembered and understood the mechanics of the game and whether he could explain why certain buttons needed to be pressed or why a particular rope needed to be cut.
References
Karmii, C. & DeVries, R. (1978). Physical knowledge in preschool education: Implications of
Piaget's theory. Teachers College Press.
Newman, B. M. & Newman, P. R. (2007). Theories of human development. Mahwah, NJ:
Routledge.
Oakley, L. (2004). Cognitive development. New York, NY: Routledge.
