Naturalistic Observation Project

The Affect Of Classes On A Child’s Mood And Energy Kevin Hou IB Psychology HL Y1 27/9/09 1488 Words Abstract: Our aim is to find out whether different classes promote different levels of positive energy in children. We hypothesized that physical classes, like PE would potentially give more energy than mental based classes like Math. We set out to measure the amount of energy children had after certain classes using a rubric, grading the class from a scale of 1 to 5 on various energy traits. However, our data conflicted. In one case, PE provided more energy than Math, while in another; Math provided more energy than PE. With this confliction of data, we cannot make any specific statements about individual classes accurately, but we can conclude that different classes provided children with different amounts of energy.

Introduction: Our aim is to observe the mood and energy of a child after they have a certain class. A study done in 2007 showed that children who had a bad day at school would bring their negative energy and mood back home. So when children had had a bad day at school, they would bring home the negative energy, and it would affect their parent- child relationships even after school, and the negative event, had passed.. School events, then, especially good and bad ones, would affect a child’s mood. Building upon the conclusion of this study, then, we predicted that classes would affect a child’s mood even after they leave the class. The more ‘enjoyable’ classes that promote positive energy and mood, PE, for example, would leave a child in a better mood than a work focused class like Math. Of course, we do not know whether PE would generate more energy and better moods than a Math class – which is why we are doing the observation. The study is naturalistic, as we would be simply observing them.

Method: Design: We will simply observe 3rd grade students as they come out of their classes and rate their general moods using a rubric shown below, from a scale of 1 to 5 – a naturalistic observation. There are no ethical issues with this study, as we will not be directly interfering with the children in any way, though we have received informed consent from Mrs McVean anyways, shown in the appendix. We operationalized our data by using the rubric shown in Appendix i), grading the children from one to five on their actions, which show how much energy they have after a certain class. We simply observed the children and noted the frequency of actions from a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 being most or all. The chosen actions reflect the amount of positive energy a child has – for example, a child in a good mood would most likely smile and laugh more than a child who is unhappy. A child with energy would jump and make a lot of noise than a child who is tired after class.

Participants: Our target population is 3rd graders of Shanghai American School, and possibly 3rd graders of other international schools as well. Our sample population are a mixture of randomly chosen classes of these 3rd graders in SAS.

Materials: Paper and pencil for observational and recording reasons, as well as multiple copies of the above rubric. Possibly some place to sit in a manner that would not attract attention from the children.

Procedure: 1) We found schedules of the 3rd grade students and went over to their classes shortly before they were let out, after obtaining permission from the teacher. 2) We would find somewhere to unobtrusively sit or walk (as with the PE class) far from the children so we would not interfere with them, but close enough so that we could then rate the group using the rubric shown above from a scale of 1 to 5 with pencil and paper. 3) As the children leave the class, we rated their behavior and actions, as well as taking notes on why we chose that rating for the behavior. No verbal or physical contact was made. 4) The observation time is roughly a minute – the time it takes for them to exit the class and leave the area. *Nathan and I both observed two Math classes and two PE classes, as well as an Art class and an English class for comparism.

Results September 22, 2009. 10:25 AM. Day 2 - PE (Kevin) Action Rating Smiling 3 (Some) Laughter 3 (Around half of group) Noise 5 (Lots of noise) Talking 5 (Most were talking) Jumping 2 (Three skipping)

September 22, 2009. 10:25 AM. Day 2 – PE (Nathan) Action Rating Smiling 1 Laughter 1 Noise 3 Talking 4 (over 80% of the crowd was chattering) Jumping 2 (three to four people)

September 22, 2009. 9:20 AM. Day 2 – Math, Ms Toa (Nathan) Action Rating Smiling 3 Laughter 2 Noise 2 Talking 3 Jumping 1

September 22, 09. 9:20 AM. Day 2 – Math, Mr Harder (Kevin) Action Rating Smiling 1 Laughter 1 Noise 5 (Squeaky feet from rain) Talking 2 Jumping 1

September, 24 2009. 1:25 PM. Day 4 – Art (Kevin) Action Rating Smiling 2 Laughter 2 Noise 3 (Feet, walking noise) Talking 4 (Quite a few talking) Jumping 1

September 23, 2009. 11:35AM. Day 3 – English, Ms Toa (Nathan) Action Rating Smiling 2 (A few) Laughter 1 Noise 2 (Walking sounds) Talking 4 (A lot of chattering about the class) Jumping 1

Discussion The children we observed, the sample population, were all 3rd graders, mostly white but with some Asians as well. There were a balance of male and female, neither gender was overrepresented in any group. The environment varied depending on the class – math and language, for example, would be done in the hallways while PE would possibly be observed near the gym or even outside. Surprisingly, there weren’t a lot of children who smiled or laughed after class, the most coming from PE and, strangely, Math. Talking showed more difference, as there was a noticeable difference in Math and for PE (3 and 2, as opposed to 5 and 4). Jumping was quite rare, as the only class which displayed jumping came from PE. And while we had judged noise to be a measure of energy (e.g. A child banging on nearby lockers as they walked past), there were too many outside factors like wet shoes that threw it off, so it was not a good measure of energy or mood. While smiling and laughter seems to be arbitrarily dispersed, the amount of talking and the occurrence of jumping points to the fact that children coming out of PE seemed to have more energy than those coming from Math. English we had included so that we could compare the results to another class, and we found that English gave similar results to Math, except that there was a high degree of talking in English that Math lacked. Apparently, Math and English had similar amounts of smiling and laughter while English, and PE had similar amounts of people talking. Jumping was unique to PE only, while noise should be disregarded as an untrustworthy value. While I had taken measurements on Art, Nathan and I discussed it at length and we concluded it did not fall under either a physical or mental class, as it involves both. Therefore, while I included the raw data, we did not use it in our analyzation. I realized that there were many flaws and problems in this observation. The first and foremost one is that of observer bias. Nathan and I would judge values in vastly different manners, and would give different scores to the same class. When we attempted to grade our psychology class in a preliminary run of our rubric, we both graded different values, and the bias most likely would have carried onto the observation. Because we based the rubric on how much of a group is displaying a certain trait, the amount of children doing an action that equals a certain rank varies, as we did not set a number requirement for each rank, because class sizes varied. We also observed different classes with different students, which would have affected our results. More children could like PE in one class, for example, than another, or they may have just had a test in Math. Without multiple tests on every group, we would not be able to make accurate assumptions of the effects of one class on a child. If we had followed the same class, though, through all of their classes, we would probably be able to find more accurate results. The most accurate method would be to follow each 3rd grade class through each of its classes for at least two to three observations per class. A more specific, quantitative rubric, rather than a qualitative one, would yield more consistent results as well. The reliability of our tests is low, as our rubrics do not agree. Smiling and laughing are displayed in seemingly random amounts through the classes, and are most likely affected by other variables. Talking gave more data, as there was less talking for math than the other classes – a noticeable and reasonable difference. Noise was not always a factor in positive mood and energy. Jumping is probably the most reliable piece of data, as it was the most noticeable and easiest to note how many were doing it, as well as being a good demonstration of energy. With our conflicting data, we cannot make any clear conclusions – the PE and Math classes rated by me showed that PE provided more energy, while the PE and Math classes rated by Nathan showed that Math gave more energy. However, from the jumping and talking data (the more accurate areas of our data) and personal observations, PE did seem to provide more energy and happier moods in both Nathan and my observations. Relating back to the psychological article, we can however conclude that different classes have different effects on a child’s mood and energy based on what they had experienced in school. However, we, unlike the Mood study, cannot conclude the exact amount of energy provided by specific classes, nor can we confidentially say which class promotes better moods. We focused on a variable as our independent variable – that of a class. Many things may happen in a certain class that affects the mood of a child afterwards, while the Mood study focused on whether or not the child had a bad day – a yes or no variable. They found that negative energy would be carried out of school and back home, and we attempted to do the same after class, but we found that without knowing the child’s full day and experiences, that is, follow them around the whole day, we cannot accurately judge the veracity of our data. References

Lehman, Barbara J., Repetti, Rena L. (2007). Bad Days Don't End When the School Bell Rings: The Lingering

Effects of Negative School Events on Children's Mood, Self-esteem, and Perceptions of Parent–Child

Interaction [Electronic version]. Social Development. Retrieved 9/23/09 from

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=26253105&site=ehost-live Appendices i) Rubric used. Action Rating Smiling (Or looking happy) 1 Laughter (Volume and quantity) 2 Noise (Physical noise e.g. Footsteps, banging on walls, etc.) 3 Talking (In particular excited or energetic talking) 4 Jumping (Includes skipping) 5 Data collected as well as the comments are shown in the Results section.

ii) Copy of the permission letter from Mrs McVean, for Fay Leong, our Psychology instructor. ______September 15, 2009

Dear Fay,

We are only too pleased to work in collaboration with you and to support the learning of your students. The administration confirms approval of your project. Please have your students request permission directly from classroom teachers for classroom and student observations.

Thank you, Sacha McVean Shanghai American School Elementary Principal Pudong Campus ______