Page 12 - LESSION 14.pmd

Methods of Child Study

14.6.2 Portfolio

A portfolio is a collection of children’s work which reflects their development
Notes and progress. It includes children’s writing, drawings, art and craft work,

activity sheets, photographs, videos, etc. It is an evidence of children’s growth,
development and learning providing a rich and comprehensive picture of a
children’s lives. Any form of drawing, writing and any other activity of the
children can be assembled in the portfolio. It provides a comprehensive medium
to assess growth and development of children in various domains. The collection
also gives an opportunity to children to discuss their work, recall and remember
special episodes or events and share it with others.

WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNT

• Specific techniques of systematically studying children, their behavior and
thoughts viz..observation, interview,questionnaire, art and role play.
• Research design which a is framework or detailed procedures for carrying

out the research systematically. These include Cross Sectional Research,
Longitudinal Research, Experimental Design and case study.

• The characteristics of a good tool used for data collection.
• Anecdotal records are detailed description of important episodes which are

written and maintained on a daily basis to record children’s progress over
a period of time. These provide important periodic information of children’s
lives.

• A portfolio is a collection of children’s work which includes children’s
writing, drawings, art and craft work, activity sheets, photographs, videos,
etc. It is an evidence of children’s growth, development and learning. It
provides a rich and comprehensive picture of a children’s lives.

TERMINAL EXERCISE

1. Discuss some of the issues and concerns that may be explored through a
case study of a child.
2. How can different art forms be used to gather data on children?

3. Describe the usefulness of observation as a method to understand infant
behaviour in the first six months.

4. Describe the differences between the interview method and the questionnaire.

90 EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION