{"id":93,"date":"2026-07-02T04:26:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T04:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/?post_type=chapter&p=93"},"modified":"2026-07-03T23:40:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T23:40:49","slug":"the-role-of-observation","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/chapter\/the-role-of-observation\/","title":{"raw":"The Role of Observation","rendered":"The Role of Observation"},"content":{"raw":"

An Introduction<\/h2>\r\nObservations are conducted every day in early childhood classroom environments. Teachers are constantly surveying the environment and completing safety checks to make sure the equipment and materials are safe for the children to use. Teachers also perform daily health screenings to ensure their children are healthy enough to participate in program activities. Beyond the standard safety check and health screening, teachers have many other important tasks and duties that they must do in order to maintain a copasetic classroom environment.\r\n\r\nIntentional teachers use their observations to plan and implement curriculum, set up engaging learning environments, monitor the children\u2019s social interactions, track behaviors, communicate with families, and assess each child\u2019s progress and development. Essentially, observations help teachers be more accountable.\r\n
\r\n

Key Takeaways<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\nBy conducting regular observations intentional teachers can:\r\n
    \r\n \t
  • Make improvements to ensure quality practices<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Plan and implement developmentally appropriate curriculum<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Measure and assess a child\u2019s development<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Evaluate program effectiveness<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Evaluate teacher effectiveness<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Develop respectful family partnerships<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Understand the cultural practices and family structure<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Select effective learning strategies to support and accommodate the diverse needs\r\nof children<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Ensure ethical conduct and professional standards of practice<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Teach with confidence<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
    \r\n\r\nPin It! Observation\r\n\r\nObservation is defined as \u201cthe process of gathering information about objects and events using senses of sight, smell, sound, touch and taste, noticing specific details or phenomena that ordinarily might be overlooked\u201d (CDE, 2016 p. 64).\r\n\r\nAccording to Bentzen (2009) observation is \u201cthe ability to take in information through one or more of the five\u00a0 physical senses and to make sense of that information so that it can me used in meaningful ways\u201d (p.4).\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nIf we want to understand children, we must first watch them and listen to them. Then, we must try to make sense of what we observed and give it meaning. The role of observation is to provide teachers with information and evidence that they will need to make informed decisions on how to best support the children in their care. With each observation, you will get a glimpse into a child\u2019s developing mind. Not only will you see a child\u2019s personality emerge, you will be able to see what a child can do. As you watch your children, you will see how they problem solve when conflicts arise and how they cope with the stress from being in a group setting. You will learn about their individual needs and their cultural practices. When you watch children closely, their interests and abilities are revealed. With each observation, you will gain useful insight that will help you become an intentional teacher.","rendered":"

    An Introduction<\/h2>\n

    Observations are conducted every day in early childhood classroom environments. Teachers are constantly surveying the environment and completing safety checks to make sure the equipment and materials are safe for the children to use. Teachers also perform daily health screenings to ensure their children are healthy enough to participate in program activities. Beyond the standard safety check and health screening, teachers have many other important tasks and duties that they must do in order to maintain a copasetic classroom environment.<\/p>\n

    Intentional teachers use their observations to plan and implement curriculum, set up engaging learning environments, monitor the children\u2019s social interactions, track behaviors, communicate with families, and assess each child\u2019s progress and development. Essentially, observations help teachers be more accountable.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \n

    Key Takeaways<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

    \n

    By conducting regular observations intentional teachers can:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Make improvements to ensure quality practices<\/li>\n
    • Plan and implement developmentally appropriate curriculum<\/li>\n
    • Measure and assess a child\u2019s development<\/li>\n
    • Evaluate program effectiveness<\/li>\n
    • Evaluate teacher effectiveness<\/li>\n
    • Develop respectful family partnerships<\/li>\n
    • Understand the cultural practices and family structure<\/li>\n
    • Select effective learning strategies to support and accommodate the diverse needs
      \nof children<\/li>\n
    • Ensure ethical conduct and professional standards of practice<\/li>\n
    • Teach with confidence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
      \n

      Pin It! Observation<\/p>\n

      Observation is defined as \u201cthe process of gathering information about objects and events using senses of sight, smell, sound, touch and taste, noticing specific details or phenomena that ordinarily might be overlooked\u201d (CDE, 2016 p. 64).<\/p>\n

      According to Bentzen (2009) observation is \u201cthe ability to take in information through one or more of the five\u00a0 physical senses and to make sense of that information so that it can me used in meaningful ways\u201d (p.4).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      If we want to understand children, we must first watch them and listen to them. Then, we must try to make sense of what we observed and give it meaning. The role of observation is to provide teachers with information and evidence that they will need to make informed decisions on how to best support the children in their care. With each observation, you will get a glimpse into a child\u2019s developing mind. Not only will you see a child\u2019s personality emerge, you will be able to see what a child can do. As you watch your children, you will see how they problem solve when conflicts arise and how they cope with the stress from being in a group setting. You will learn about their individual needs and their cultural practices. When you watch children closely, their interests and abilities are revealed. With each observation, you will gain useful insight that will help you become an intentional teacher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Observation","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":"cc-by-nc-sa"},"chapter-type":[50],"contributor":[],"license":[58],"class_list":["post-93","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless","license-cc-by-nc-sa"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/93\/revisions\/379"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/93\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palomar.edu\/observationandassessment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}