Inquiry 4

Session 3: Observing Young Children

 

Inquiry 4: Making Thoughtful Inferences

 

Inferences, or interpretations of patterns, are conclusions based on facts gathered from observations. Child care providers can find clues to children’s behaviours and responses that help them plan appropriate programming for the future. When a set of behaviours is repeated, such as when a child acts aggressively to a situation or withdraws quickly during different situations, you can see a characteristic pattern for that child.

 

An inference statement includes an interpretation of the behaviour, feeling, or ability. Thoughtful inferences are the conclusions reached about the collection of observations and their patterns after careful consideration. They are based on what is developmentally appropriate for the child. You will learn more about children’s development as you progress through the Early Learning and Child Care courses.

 

Thoughtful inferences should follow these guidelines:

• be a tentative statement (best guess based on knowledge of the child and the collection of data)
• be based only on that observable behaviour

There are different ways to word inferences. Some examples follow:

• It appears that . . .
• It seems that . . .
• Maybe this shows that . . .
• I think that . . .
• A possible explanation is . . .
• Perhaps the child is able to . . .
• This could mean that . . .
• The child probably understands . . .

A child care provider’s personal history and experiences can affect the way the provider observes and interprets children’s behaviour. Being aware of how your thinking is shaped by your understanding of culture, upbringing, language, and traditions can help you recognize your biases when making inferences or interpretations of observations and to remain as objective as possible. Acknowledging a child’s cultural practices, values, and traditions can help you identify whether or not there should be concern about the observable behaviour.

 

 

Checking My Understanding

 

Recording Observable Behaviour

 

Directions

 

Complete the multimedia activity “Recording Observable Behaviour.” As always in this course, the names and situations are fictitious.

 

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