Brief Description of Evidence:

In the fall of 2022 in my EDUC 121 Child Adolescent Development, I conducted a Child Case Study. In this study, I had to find a child under the age of 13 and ask their parents for permission to do my case study on them. The child I chose is 12 years old.  The first step was interviewing the parents of the child. I asked them questions about her personality and physical characteristics. I also asked them if they had any concerns about specific parts of her development (like physical, cognitive, language, social, emotional, and moral development). The parents didn’t have many concerns about the child’s development besides social skills and regulating emotions. The mother mentioned that the child needs help in her science class because that is the only one she has a bad grade in. I looked through the child’s past assignments to see what she needed help with specifically. I created the first observation activity involving the child’s matter vocabulary. This activity was just a graphic organizer where she put the vocabulary words with their definitions. During this activity, I noticed that she gets distracted easily and that she struggles with understanding the concepts. For the second observation which was also the intervention activity, I came up with multiple activities to help her learn. The first thing we did together was a Blooket game I created over the vocabulary words. Her accuracy rate was 74%. After that, we completed a worksheet together matching the vocabulary words with their definitions. Then we played a game called “Roll A Word”, which is where she rolls a die and does whatever that number says. For example, she rolls a two and it says to use the vocabulary word in a sentence. The very last thing we did together was the Blooket game again to see if she was able to remember any of the definitions. Her accuracy rate at the end of our activities was 94%.

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Analysis of What I Learned:

During this Child Case Study project, I learned how to work with a child one-on-one, how to conduct observations, and how to figure out solutions to problems.  I have conducted observations on children in the past so I had previous knowledge but the more I do it the better I get. When I first started this project I didn’t know what I could help this child with. However, after speaking with her parents and observing her I was able to notice more and find out more information than before. I learned that it isn’t a big deal when things don’t go as planned. The “Roll A Word” game didn’t 100% work for every vocabulary word, but we adapted it as we went to fit those words. I also learned about Hermann Ebbinghaus’s theory. His theory talks about how learned knowledge needs to be consciously reviewed frequently (Repetition and Learning). Reviewing the material over again will help students understand and grasp the information. The intervention activities that I did with the child were repetitive and helped her retain the information.

How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the InTASC Standard:

I demonstrate my competence for InTASC Standard #1 because I understand how learners grow and develop, and I am able to implement developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences. This experience will help me focus on individual children and notice when they need more help in my own classroom. During this case study, I was able to identify what the child needed help with and come up with activities to help her learn. I will be able to use this experience in my own classroom by making sure I am observing and taking notes of each child. I can also do one-on-one activities every now and then with each of my students to help them with whatever they need. This case study has allowed me to come up with new ideas on what I can do to help my own students as individuals. It’s important for students to get one-on-one interactions with their teachers and this would also allow me to observe how each student learns and the developmental domains of each student.