A day care center observation

A day care center offers a richly rewarding setting in which to observe the behavior of preschool children. Basic principles of learning, relevant to the field of behavioral psychology, may be seen first-hand, if one works with children in such a controlled, intimate setting. The terms of classical and operant conditioning will be illustrated with real examples of the principles themselves, gained over a year's experience working with children on a daily basis.

The eighteen children observed range in age from 2 and 1/2 to 5 years. There are 10 boys and 8 girls. Two of the boys, Christopher and Troy, have attention deficit disorder (ADD). This combination of young children makes for a lively day, and behaviors change so rapidly that it is sometimes difficult to see where one behavior ends and another begins. Even so, the following is a best first-person attempt at keeping up with some extremely active children, most of whom know each other from being together for more than a year. The staff and children are subject to change, so uniformity in the enforcement of the day- care rules is important so that we maintain order and continuity. The children are mostly free to engage in organized play, rather than instruction, since they are preschool age, but play is organized according to principles of preschool learning. In other words, the day is more than just organized chaos.

The older children know that the daycare staff expect certain behaviors from them. However, bec

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tioned stimulus, or reinforcer, strengthens behavior in organisms without any particular history. Many unconditioned reinforcers are of direct biological significance. Air, water, and food are examples of unconditioned positive reinforcers, and intense cold or heat are examples of unconditioned negative reinforcers. Because response to such biological motivators as hunger do not have to be conditioned through a learned association, we do not use food as a reward (even though hunger is one of the strongest needs). In other words, we do not feel that behavior should be a factor in whether or not a child gets a snack; besides, the children will not be ready to work and play at their fullest capacities if hunger is a deterrent. School lunch programs are the direct result of such thinking. In addition, two of the children having attention deficit disorder are particularly unruly if their metabolism dictates that they should eat something. Christopher, 5-years, and Troy, 4-years, both have attention deficit disorder, or ADD. They have posed particular problems for us because of their wild and erratic behavior. At an age when most children are more capable of attending to completion of a task, they resemble more the younger chil

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