The following account is a field observation of a four-year-old preschooler named Josh. Josh attends a preschool while his parents both work. His parents drop him off at the center at 7:30, and pick him up at 4:00. I started my observation with his arrival, but did not stay for the entire day. Instead, I observed Josh for one hour, with the first fifteen minutes given to simply watching him. During this first fifteen minutes, I avoided taking notes, not wanting to miss any behaviors that might go unnoticed if I was busy writing. For the following fifteen minutes, however, I jotted down, with as much detail as I could, everything that Josh said or did. For the subsequent half hour, I considered six questions while continuing to watch him.
When Josh's father dropped him off, he was riding on his father's shoulders. I watched Josh try to take a leaf from a tree before coming up to the preschool door. His father stopped so he could get the leaf. Josh entered the door and immediately went over to a table which contained some modeling clay. While he was handling the clay, his father signed him into the preschool for the day. Josh said goodbye to his father. While Josh was rolling, pounding, and tearing the modeling clay, other preschoolers kept arriving. Later, he said hello to Todd, David, and Troy. He showed the others what he was doing with the clay. He got up from the table several times to get various toys in different parts of the room. He brought these to his table. The other boys, Todd, David, and Troy, started to play with some action hero toys that Josh provided.
Also during the first fifteen minutes, I remember that Josh was drinking some juice. He was the only boy at his table with something to eat or drink. At one pint, David took Josh's juice, and started to drink it. Josh let him have the juice without a struggle. The group of Josh, David, Todd, and Troy stayed together even as the other children...