School of Education and Cognitive Science

ECE 133
Child Growth & Development

Assignment (60%)

Introduction

This Guide explains the basis on which you will be assessed in this course during the
semester. It contains details of the facilitator-marked assignment.
One element in the assessment strategy of the course is that all students should have the
same information as facilitators about the Assignment. This guide also contains the
marking criteria that facilitators will use in assessing your work.
Please read through the whole guide at the beginning of the course.
Academic Writing

a) Plagiarism
i) What is Plagiarism?

Any written assignment (essays, project, take-home exams, etc) submitted by a

student must not be deceptive regarding the abilities, knowledge, or amount of
work contributed by the student. There are many ways that this rule can be
violated. Among them are:
o Paraphrases: The student paraphrases a closely reasoned argument of an
author without acknowledging that he or she has done so. (Clearly, all our
knowledge is derived from somewhere, but detailed arguments from
clearly identifiable sources must be acknowledged.)
o Outright plagiarism: Large sections of the paper are simply copied from
other sources, and are not acknowledged as quotations.
o Other sources: often include essays written by other students or sold by
unscrupulous organizations. Quoting from such papers is perfectly
legitimate if quotation marks are used and the source is cited.
o Works by others: Taking credit deliberately or not deliberately for works
produced by another without giving proper acknowledgement. Works
includes photographs, charts, graphs, drawings, statistics, video-clips,
audio-clips, verbal exchanges such as interviews or lectures,
performances on television and texts printed on the web.
o The student submits the same essay to two or more courses.
ii) How can I avoid Plagiarism?

o Insert quotation marks around copy and paste clause, phrase, sentence,
paragraph and cite the original source
o
Paraphrase clause, phrase, sentence or paragraph in your own words
and cite your source
o
Adhere to the APA (American Psychological Association) stylistic
format, whichever applicable, when citing a source and when writing out
the bibliography or reference page
o
Attempt to write independently without being overly dependent of
information from anothers original works
o
Educate yourself on what may be considered as common knowledge
(no copyright necessary), public domain (copyright has expired or not
protected under copyright law), or copyright (legally protected).

b) Documenting Sources
Whenever you quote, paraphrase, summarize, or otherwise refer to the work of another,
you are required to cite its source parenthetical documentation. Offered here are some of
the most commonly cited forms of material.
Direct

Simply having a thinking skill is no assurance that children will

use it. In order for such skills to become part of day-to-day
behaviour, they must be cultivated in an environment that value
and sustains them. Just as childrens musical skills will likely lay
fallow in an environment that doesnt encourage music, learners
thinking skills tend to languish in a culture that doesnt encourage
thinking (Tishman, Perkins and Jay, 1995, p.5)
Indirect
According to Wurman (1988), the new disease of the 21 st century
will be information anxiety, which has been defined as the everwidening gap between what one understands and what one thinks
one should understand.
c) Referencing
All sources that you cite in your paper should be listed in the Reference section
at the end of your paper. Heres how you should do your Reference.
From a Journal
DuFour, R. (2002). The learning-centred principal: Educational
Leadership, 59(8). 12-15.
From an Online Journal
Evnine, S. J. (2001). The universality of logic: On the connection
between rationality and logical ability [Electronic version].
Mind, 110, 335-367.
From a Webpage
National Park Service. (2003, February 11). Abraham Lincoln
Birthplace National Historic Site. Retrieved February 13, 2003,
from http://www.nps.gov/abli/
From a Book
Naisbitt, J. and Aburdence, M. (1989). Megatrends 2000. London:
Pan Books.
From a Chapter in a Book
Nickerson, R. (1987). Why teach thinking? In J. B. Baron & R.J.
Sternberg (Eds), Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice. New
York: W.H. Freeman and Company. 27-37.
From a Printed Newspaper
Holden, S. (1998, May 16). Frank Sinatra dies at 82:
Matchless stylist of pop. The New York Times, pp. A1,
A22-A23.

Details about the Assignment (60%)

The Assignment consist of TWO PartS:

Part A: (20%) 7 pages

Observation of a Child
The purpose of this exercise is to develop a profile of a child based on your
observations.
1. Select a child in your class or any child between 4-6 years of age.
2. Observe him or her for 5 days.
3. Observation should focus on the following dimensions:

Physical abilities of the child Refer to Chapter 2

Social and Moral competence Refer to Chapter 5 and 8
Emotional state Refer to Chapter 6
Language abilities Refer to Chapter 7

4. Use the above chapters as a guide only because you cannot observe everything.
5. You decide which aspects of the childs physical, social & moral, emotional and
language development characteristics you want to emphasise.
6. Based on your observations, identify the childs strengths and weaknesses.
7. Write a written repot as follows:
a. Brief description of the child selected 0.5 pages
b. Physical Aspects and discuss what you observed - 1.5 pages
c. Social & Moral Aspects and discuss what you observed 1.5 pages
d. Emotional Aspects and discuss what you observed 1.5 pages
e. Language Aspects and discuss what you observed 1.5 pages
f. Conclusion on what you observed about the child 0.5 pages
Note: DO NOT MENTION the childs. You may give a fictitious name.

Times Roman Font 12 with 1 spacing.

Part B: (40%) 10-12 pages

Assessment of a Preoperational and a Concrete Operational
Thinker
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is for you to collect data from TWO
children and to compare the thought processes by recording and interpreting
their responses to three types of conservations tasks.

[Read Chapter 3: Cognitive Development Piaget & Vygotsky and view the Video
clips to help you with this Assignment]
Remember: You are not playing tricks here, or doing magic, or attempting to teach
conservation. You are only observing and recording the childs answers to the tasks.
Photographs:
Get someone to take about 2-3 photographs of you conducting the experiment. Include
the photographs in your report.
Method:
a) Identify two children; one about 5 years age and another about 7 to 8 years of
age.
b) Using Piagets conservation tasks, administer THREE conservation tasks to each
child, and compare the childrens responses with each other and attempt to
interpret their responses in view of Piagets theory.
c) You can use any language during the experiment (English, Bahasa Malaysia,
Mandarin or Tamil)
d) Find a quiet place for the observation and set up your materials.
e) DO NOT SAY, This is a Test
Conservation Task 1: Conservation of number task [see Video Clips]
Make two sets of 10 identical items with each set having a different colour. The items
could be plastic chips, 50 sen coins (painted with 2 colours), big buttons, checker and
others.
Place one row of 10 same-coloured items in front of the child.
Ask the child to make an identical row with the other set.
Ask the child if the two rows have the same amount of items or if one row
has more.
Do not go on until the rows are identical in number and arrangement and the
child agrees that the two rows are the same.
Now spread one row out and push the other row together so that the display
looks as follows:
OOOOOOOOOO
O O O O O O O O O O O

Ask the child if the rows are the same or if one row has more.
Ask the child why it is the same or why one has more and which one, if either,
has more. [The key word is more]
If the child says one row has more, ask the child where the more came from.
Record all responses.

Conservation Task 2: Conservation of liquid task [see Video Clips]

Pour an identical amount of liquid into two identical glasses (same size & shape). Ensure
that the colour of each liquid in each glass is different.

Ask the child if the two glasses have the same amount, and adjust the volume in
each glass until the child agrees the same.

Now pour the liquid from one glass into a taller, thinner clear glass. Ask the child
if the amount of liquid is the same in both glasses or if one has more. If the child
thinks one has more, ask which one.
Have the child justify the judgment of the glasses having the same or different
amount
Format of the Report
a) Introduction: [5 marks]
Short description of the children used in the study precise age, gender, fathers highest
level of education, mothers highest level of education
b) Describe how each experiment was conducted: [5 marks]
Set up, materials used, place, etc.
c) The question [5 marks]
State the question you are seeking to answer (refer to Chapter 1 Scientific method of
inquiry). E.g. I wonder if there is a difference in how...............

d) Data collection [13 marks]

Describe what you did
Record the conservation between you and the child
Example:
o Researcher: Look at these 2 glasses of water and tell me........
o Child: Same amount of water
o Researcher: Now, do the glasses still have the same amount of
water..........
o Child: This one has more water
o Researcher: Will you tell me Why you think so

Be sure to make note of the reasoning of the child, the why part of the
childs answer.
Include a photograph of you and the child for each of the conservation task
during the experiment.

e) Interpretation [7 marks]
Sample of questions you may use:

Are there differences between the performances of the younger and older child on these
tasks? Why do you think?
What do you now understand about a child's thought processes that you were unaware of
before?
What was the child successful at? Why was the child successful at these behaviours?
What activities gave the child problems? What frustrated the child?

f) Conclusion and Summary [5 marks]

o Based on the answers, is your research question answered.
o Does you study support Piagets theory
Requirements:
Your paper should be between 10-12 pages
Times Roman Font 12 with 1 spacing.
Do not cut and paste from the learning materials. Use your own words and
express your own opinions.
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Cover Page for the Assignment

ASSIGNMENT (60%)
MAY 2016 SEMESTER
SUBJECT CODE

ECE 133

SUBJECT TITLE

: CHILD GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAMME

: GRADUATE DIPLOMA

STUDENTS NAME

MATRIC NO.

ACADEMIC
FACILITATOR

LEARNING CENTRE