Child Observation

The child that I chose to observe was a 4 year old boy named AJ. He is a very smart young man. He comes from a middle class family, and has one older sister. I observed AJ at our local church with his older sister keeping us company. The room was a larger atrium that was fairly empty at the time. There was a small café in the corner where the church sold coffee and pastries before service, and had small tables spread about the room for people to sit and chat. AJ and I sat at one of these tables once I convinced him he would get candy if he helped me.

Upon pulling out the bag of M&Ms, AJ immediately became very happy and excited. He then started reaching out for them, at which time I told him he’d have to wait and help me first. He agreed. I then gave him 7 M&Ms and told him he cannot eat them yet. I then spread out 7 more M&Ms for myself in way that made it look like a bigger amount. Before I could even ask the question AJ immediately shouted that I had more! I then asked him why he thought I had more and he replied, “because yours are bigger”. I then counted both sets along with AJ and asked him how many I had, and he had, and he agreed 7 each. I asked him again who had more and he still pointed to me.

After completing this exercise and allowing him to eat his M&Ms, I reached into my bag and pulled out two larger but shorter glasses and pored water into them equally from my water bottle. After carefully making sure they were exactly the same I asked him if they had the same amount and he said they did. I then reached in the bag and pulled out a taller yet thinner glass and proceeded to pour one of the smaller/fatter glasses of water into the larger one, all the while AJ is watching and still munching on his M&Ms. I then asked him which glass has more water in it, at which point he replied to me immediately that the tall one did.

Observing both of these exercises tells me that AJ is in the