1. Observation
&
Assessment
Recording a Child’s
Use of Materials
Dorothy H. Cohen And Virginia Stern

2. Why and how should teachers record what young children do?
Cohen and Stern suggest that when teachers pay
attention not only to what children do but also to how
they feel, they are responding to the whole, integrated
behavior of children. How they interrelate with people
and materials.
Presented by Brent Daigle, Ph.D. (ABD)

3. Skill of observation and recording by example
Records that take on the form of stories.
Presented by Brent Daigle, Ph.D. (ABD)

4. Combination of objective data and
subjective interpretation
Presented by Brent Daigle, Ph.D. (ABD)

5. Transform
Play Materials
Feeling
Into
Action
Transform
Impressions
Transform
Into
Ideas
Products
Into
Forms
Concepts
Shapes
Presented by Brent Daigle, Ph.D. (ABD)

6. Response to clay
The Setting
Length of time spent with material

7. On-the-Spot Records Lead to Supported Generalizations
The review of a child’s use of materials over a period
of time will be a mirror of his/her growth in this area.
Responses are evaluated best when seen against the
backdrop of a child’s general coordination, maturity,
experience, and age, as well as against the usual
behavior of children in their peer group.
Presented by Brent Daigle, Ph.D. (ABD)

8. A word of caution!
 It is impossible to get everything into every record.
 Keep your eyes on the child, not on the printed page
 It is not how much you record, but what and how,
that makes a record valuable.

9. Arnold Gessell (1880-1961)
 Mental growth in babies
 Normed the babies
 Growth is not linear
 The task of
understanding the
preschool child is more
rewarding if we focus our
attention on the
organizing processes of
growth.
Presented by Brent Daigle, Ph.D. (ABD)

10. Use and Abuse!
 Gessell School
Readiness Screening Test
 Exclusionary
 Who is the sample based
off of?
 School readiness tests
for initial curriculum
planning for individual
children
Presented by Brent Daigle, Ph.D. (ABD)