This article is about professional observation and its evaluation using the New Zealand model of educational and learning stories, which are called “learning stories” there.
In order to make the child’s educational processes visible, free observations must first take place to record the child’s daily activities, which are then analyzed using the five learning dispositions
- Being interested
- Being committed
- Withstand challenges and difficulties
- Express and share
- Participate in a learning community and take responsibility
Only after the observation does a collegial exchange about the observed child take place, in order to be able to take further information, influences and the like into account (recognizing a common thread). After we have completed the three observations and the collegial exchange, the last step is to create a learning story that is read together with the child. It is particularly important to ensure that the learning story is formulated in a way that the child can understand.
Please note: This is not intended to give the impression that a total of three observations by one person are always necessary for the educational and learning stories. Ideally, different professionals should carry out the observations in order to reduce subjective influences. Theoretically, the observation process can also be carried out with only one observation.
The education and learning stories are similar to the Leuven Engagement Scale, but they should not be confused with each other or even considered the same!
First observation sheet
| Child’s name: | M. |
| Age | 5:3 |
| Date and Time | 27.04.2022; 08:24 – 08:28 |
| Observer | S. Goetz |
Observation & Description of the initial situation
M. is in the studio of the group room during free play. J. and A. are at the table with him.
Description of the course of action
M. is sitting at the table in the studio of the group room. J. is sitting at the table opposite him on the left and A. is sitting at the table opposite him on the right. M. has a white A4 sheet in front of him and is folding it with both hands. While folding, M. says in a strong voice: “Nozzles, nozzles, nozzles.” Without interruption, M. folds a paper airplane. J. looks over at M. and says: “It turned out big this time.” M. turns to J. and answers: “This is my jet fighter and I’m going to fly it into space!” A. turns to M. and looks at the paper airplane. M. suddenly gets up, takes the paper plane in his right hand and runs
from the studio towards the entrance of the group room.
Meanwhile, he makes parabolic movements with the paper plane in his hand. An educator calls out to M.: “M., there is no running!” M. looks at the educator and says, “I know!” At the same moment, M. turns 180 degrees around his left axis and runs back into the studio to A. and J., who are both still concentrating on painting. M. shouts loudly: “J. look at that, that’s my paper plane and it’s going like a rocket!” J. raises his head and turns to the right towards M. He says: “Boring. I’ll make a paper plane too, but it’ll be colorful!” M. then looks at J. for 10 seconds and then goes without saying a word to the studio’s materials shelf. There, M. takes a blue and a red crayon with his right hand. With these crayons in hand, M. goes to the painting table and sits down.
Analysis of this observation according to learning dispositions
| Be interested: | M.’s interest in this observation lies with airplanes and paper planes that can take off (into space) with one engine. |
| Be committed: | M. makes noises when flying and moves the plane as he imagines. He says his destination (space) and knows that he needs energy for this (“jets”). Furthermore, M. ran as soon as he got up and even had to be “braked” by a teacher. |
| Withstand challenges and difficulties: | After J. had called his paper plane boring because it had no colors, M. didn’t think twice and went to get crayons to color his paper plane, too. |
| Expressing and sharing: | M. speaks to himself in a strong voice while making paper planes (engines, engines, engines…). M. also exchanges ideas with J. and A. while making the planes in the studio. M. reacts verbally to the educator’s reaction, but does not change his behavior. |
| Participate in and take responsibility for a learning community: | M. addresses J.’s objection and “improves” his paper plane by adding color. He thus takes J.’s ideas on board and lets him have his say. |
Focusing on this observation
During free play, M. builds paper planes and moves them in parabolas. In doing so, he unconsciously applies physics, which is covered by the educational area of scientific and technical education. Making the paper plane and especially the colored design with crayons touches on the educational areas of mathematical and musical-aesthetic education.
During the observation, M. entered into a dialog with J. and a teacher. The verbal and non-verbal exchange touched on the educational areas of language and communication as well as social, cultural and intercultural education.
The free play time was too short to offer M. sufficient space for his interests, as the free play time ended shortly after the observation (the plane was not tested and was not completely painted).
Second observation sheet
| Child’s name: | M. |
| Age | 5:3 |
| Date and Time | 27.04.2022; 09:36 – 09:39 |
| Observer | S. Goetz |
Observation & Description of the initial situation
M. is in the studio of the group room with X. and I.
Description of the course of action
M. is sitting at the painting table. X. is sitting to his right and I. to his left. M. is talking to X. about pictures and says, “My mom paints more beautiful pictures.” X. immediately replies, “No, my mom paints better.” Both look at each other and laugh. M. takes a sheet of paper lying in front of him in his right hand. He looks at it briefly and puts it back on the table after 5 seconds. He then reaches with his right hand and uses the tweezers grip to pick up a red pen. With this he draws circles on the sheet, once larger and once smaller. A total of 9 times. I. meanwhile gets up and goes to M. and asks: “Do you have the bag?” M. looks at I. and does not react. I. continues to look at M. Then M. picks up the bag on the table, turns to I. and says: “Here’s the bag. It opens like that!” I. snatches the bag out of M.’s hand and runs away. X. then starts laughing loudly. M. looks at X. for three seconds and then runs after I.
Analysis of this observation according to learning dispositions
| Be interested: | M.’s interest in this observation lies in the painting of pictures. |
| Be committed: | M. repeatedly draws circles in different sizes on his sheet of paper (9 times in total). |
| Withstand challenges and difficulties: | This observation does not reveal any ability to withstand challenges and difficulties. |
| Expressing and sharing: | M. engages in dialog with X. about pictures and her mommies’ painting skills. Both laugh together. M. also responds to I.’s question and can react to it appropriately. |
| Participate in and take responsibility for a learning community: | M. helps the younger I. to find the bag. He doesn’t just want to give the bag to I. like that, but also explains where the bag comes open. |
Focusing on this observation
M.’s painting touches on the area of musical-aesthetic education. M.’s communication between him and I. and X. touches on the area of language and communication. The free play time without targeted supervision in the studio was not optimal for M. This situation did not sufficiently contribute to M. being able to pursue his interests.
Third observation sheet
| Child’s name: | M. |
| Age | 5:3 |
| Date and Time | 27.04.2022; 10:21 – 10:25 |
| Observer | S. Goetz |
Observation & Description of the initial situation
M. is in the construction area of the daycare center with L., V., F. and A. during the free play.
Description of the course of action
M. is sitting with L. and V. around the Lego bricks in the middle of the room. V. says to T: “Do you know what a big pack I have?” M. answers to V.: “Do you know what kind of big room I’m getting? Huge!” M. then gets up, takes a Lego plane in his right hand and turns in a circle to the right. As he does so, M. lifts his arm up and down. M. says while turning: “We’re taking off, let’s go!” After 4 turns, M. sits down again in a cross-legged position and places the plane between his legs. M. then screams: “Aaah and oo oo oo!” M. quickly gets up again and flies the plane out of the room into the hallway. M. shouts: “I’m flying away from Earth, with jet propulsion and rocket propulsion!” V. and L. look towards the door of the room. M. then shouts in the hallway: “Ui Ui Ui” and runs back into the room directly to V. and the Lego box. M. asks V. standing: “Shall we have a race? You know, I have a protective shield.” V. then says to M.: “Let’s go!” V. then gets up and stands next to M. V. runs out of the room and into the hallway without saying a word. M. runs after V., making “woo woo woo” noises.
Analysis of this observation according to learning dispositions
| Be interested: | M.’s interest in this observation lies with airplanes and rockets in order to be able to fly/take off with them. |
| Be committed: | M. varies and differentiates his actions with the Lego plane. He flies different routes (in circles and out of the space) and makes noises (Aaah and Oo oo oo). M. also expresses his exact intentions with the plane (I’m flying away from the earth…). |
| Withstand challenges and difficulties: | This observation does not reveal any ability to withstand challenges and difficulties. |
| Expressing and sharing: | M. addresses V. and exchanges with him (Do you know what kind of room I’m getting?). M. also describes his game in his own words. M. speaks clearly and full of energy. |
| Participate in and take responsibility for a learning community: | M. interacts with V. and the two agree on a game (a race). The exact rules of the game are not known (V. runs without saying anything and M. is still waiting). Nevertheless, M. can accept V.’s different idea and get involved in V.’s starting rule (he then also runs). |
Focusing on this observation
M. gets to know the effect of natural scientific laws (gravity and centrifugal force) and applies technical knowledge (kerosene/jet propulsion) to achieve his wish (flying/taking off). This touches on the educational area of natural science and technology.
M. also communicates with V. during free play and he also shares his ideas/wishes with him (Shall we have a race?). This communication touches on the educational areas of language and communication as well as social, cultural and intercultural education.
The free play situation in the playroom offers M. sufficient space to pursue his interests. The adjacent hallway offers a longer path for him to take a faster flight from time to time. The Lego pieces offer many possibilities for diversifying the airplanes. The time in the free play area was also sufficient until lunch, at almost 2 hours.
Form for the collegial exchange of information about a child’s learning
| Child’s name: | M. |
| Age: | 5;3 |
| Date: | 27.04.2022 |
| Specialists present | Goetz, Mueller, Maier, Schultz |
Various observations and impressions
M. feels very comfortable at daycare. He often plays with H. and A. during free play. M. has very specific ideas about airplanes, rockets and space. What we find particularly interesting and impressive is that M. analyzes the airplanes he builds in a scientifically oriented way. He tests the flight range of his different constructions by throwing them out of the first-floor window. In doing so, he repeatedly comes up with new hypotheses.
M. also likes to play with Lego. Here, too, he shows an interest in constructing and building. It is interesting that with Lego, spaceships are in the foreground. In comparison, when tinkering and folding with paper, it is mostly planes/aircraft.
In the construction area, M. and V. built a space station. In doing so, both of them repeatedly integrated new ideas and everyday objects. It was interesting to see how M. thought of a garage when building the space station and talked about his father’s car. We would not have come up with such a combination and connection (space station & garage).
Ideas for next steps
We have decided to let M. into the construction area more often, together with V. We will also see if we can find more instructions for building planes or rockets. We will also change the material for building (cardboard instead of A4 paper). When the opportunity arises, we can provide suitable stimuli, for example when measuring the range of the planes, and suggest using a measuring wheel to accurately measure the distance.
A targeted offer on the subject of magnetism or the cosmos would also be appropriate in view of M.’s current interests. Magnets, in particular, could strengthen his knowledge of natural phenomena, because M. often talks about taking off and that he needs kerosene (energy) to do so. This can be used as a starting point to convey that there are also other forces, such as gravity.
Learning story
Dear M.,
Today we were in the studio together. There you showed me the pilot’s logbook with a great deal of motivation. You quickly found the page with your favorite aircraft, which you call a “rocket plane”. I was very impressed with how much joy you were able to explain the respective construction steps to me. Now we can finally build a “rocket plane” together and make it fly. H. and A. were also watching you very curiously while you were building your plane. Do you remember how H. and A. also wanted a plane like that in the end? Without asking, you built them both your “rocket plane” too. I thought that was really great and you were very proud of yourself.
After morning circle, you were in the studio again with V. You were talking about flying and taking off. I still remember a sentence of yours that you said full of energy to V.: “We need jets and kerosene to take off from the ground.” V. then said to you that you were flying into space. It was nice to see the two of you looking at each other and starting to laugh.
You quickly ran to the cupboard and got a sheet of paper and a pen. Without thinking, you started drawing. V. stood next to you and said, “We need rockets and a tip.” Without hesitation, you started drawing. After a few minutes, your rocket was already finished. Full of joy, you called me over to you and V. and explained the rocket you had drawn.
Together we decided to have a rocket day the following Wednesday to test our “flying rockets”. It was a very nice day,
your educator Sebastian.
