[00:00.00]NARRATOR: Listen to a conversation between a student and his psychology professor.
[00:07.66]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Good afternoon, Alex. [00:11.21]Can I help you with something?
[00:12.70]MALE STUDENT: Well, I wanted to talk with you about the research project you assigned today. [00:17.08]I, um, hoped you could clarify a few things for me.
[00:20.72]FEMALE PROFESSOR: I'll certainly try.
[00:22.28]MALE STUDENT: OK, all we have to do is do two observations and take notes on them, right?
[00:27.61]FEMALE PROFESSOR: That’s a start —but you'll need to do some research, too. [00:32.00]Then you'll write a paper that’s not so much about the observations, but a synthesis of what you've observed and read.
[00:39.26]MALE STUDENT: OK…and what about the children I'm supposed to observe?
[00:43.47]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Not ‘children’—a single child, observed twice.
[00:47.39]MALE STUDENT: Oh! OK. So I should choose a child—with the permission of the child's parent, of course—and then observe that child a couple of times and take good notes. Then?
[00:57.21]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Actually, after your first observation, you'll go back and look through your textbook or go to the library and find a few sources concerning the stage of development this particular child is in. [01:10.53]And then with that knowledge, you'll make a second observation of the same child to see if the expected developmental behaviors are exhibited.
[01:19.31]MALE STUDENT: Can you give me an example?
[01:20.99]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Well, um, if you observed a four-year-old child—uh, for example, my daughter is four years old—you might read up on Piaget's stages of cognitive development. [01:32.35]We covered those in class.
[01:33.91]MALE STUDENT: Uh-huh.
[01:34.54]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Most likely, what stage would a child of that age be in?
[01:39.24]MALE STUDENT: Um…the preoperational stage?
[01:42.35]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Exactly. If that's the case, her language use would be maturing, and her memory and imagination would be developed.
[01:50.84]MALE STUDENT: So she might play pretend! Like, she can pretend when driving her toy car across the couch that the couch is actually a bridge or something.
[01:59.59]FEMALE PROFESSOR: That's right. [02:00.54]In addition, her thinking would be primarily egocentric.
[02:05.01]MALE STUDENT: So she'd be thinking mostly about herself and her own needs and might not be able to see things from anyone else's perspective.
[02:12.05]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Um hmm.
[02:12.84]MALE STUDENT: But…what if she doesn't? [02:14.82]I mean, what if she doesn't demonstrate those behaviors?
[02:17.98]FEMALE PROFESSOR: That's fine. [02:19.02]You'll note that in your paper. [02:20.80]See, your paper should compare what is expected of children at certain stages of development with what you actually observe.
[02:29.48]MALE STUDENT: OK. I have one more question, though.
[02:32.06]FEMALE PROFESSOR: And what's that?
[02:32.88]MALE STUDENT: Where can I find a child to observe?
[02:35.06]FEMALE PROFESSOR: Um, I'd suggest you contact the education department secretary. [02:38.88]She has a list of contacts at various schools and with certain families who are somehow connected to the university. [02:45.99]Sometimes they are willing to help out students with projects like yours.
[02:49.46]MALE STUDENT: OK, I'll stop by the education department office this afternoon.
[02:53.22]FEMALE PROFESSOR: And if you have any trouble or any more questions, feel free to come by during my office hours.
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