Harry Harlow Monkey Experiment

After watching this video it is shown that Harry Harlow uses a monkey in his experiment to see which type of mother he prefers; a wire mother who nurses or a cloth mother who provides comfort. It was obtained from the experiment that the monkey spent 17 to 18 hours a day with the cloth mother and less than 1 hour a day with the nursing wire mother. What is really love? I believe from this video that the monkey preferred the mother of cloth over the mother of wire because comfort is necessary in order for one to develop. Being comforted is much more worthwile then being lonely. Cloth is much more satisfying then wire.

He's up up and away!

Today was the final day at St. Mary's. The theme was all about Super Heros so my group and I made sure to go all out=). My group and I were in charge of the special projects, which meant that we took care of the equipment room, were in charge of the song of the day, one game, and the closing cheer. When it our time to show the game, the children seemed to be much more involved and more excited then they usually were on other days. I believe it was our costumes that made the children truly interested in participating. The game went well, and when it came time to introduce our song we gathered the children and Cortland students into a big circle. The song went " There goes the super hero watch him go, flying, flying, he's up up and away!" We used differnt moves throughout the song, and it seemed fairly easy for the children to pick up. My group and I closed the day with a cheer, and then we said our goodbye's to the children. It was almost sad to leave, because I felt that I really connected with the children. Certain children remebered my name and always wanted to play when I came into the gymnasium. It felt good to know that I had some kind of impact on them, as well as they did on me. Looking back at day 1 in St. Mary's to today, I know that I have really changed as a teacher & leader. I now know that working with children and helping them to stay active while teaching them skills that they can use in their everyday is what I want to do. I spent some time this semester thinking if my major as Psychology was really what I wanted to do, but now I know that Physical Education is where my heart really is. Switching back into the P. E. major is the best decision at this time in my life, and I know that it will benifit me and also the children that I aspire to work with.

" Move Around ! "

This is my group and I performing our infant skip to the song Move Around. It was a great time!

Buzzing Kick's

Today at St. Mary's was a new experience. We were told that the gymnasium was closed due to a spring concert, and that we had to play with the children outside. At first I have to admit I was scared about how the children would be ourdoors, and came to find out that it was a definite eye opener on how one should come across when trying to teach children. My group and I started the game and activitys. My group member Stephanie set up different stations where the children would participate in activitys where they bounced and kicked balls. She made the theme of her stations Toy Story related. Controlling the children was a had task, and at times being outside made them more out of control then usual. It was difficult to make all of the children hear what you had to say, so using a loud and clear voice was always needed. Stephanie's activity went well, and with group members at each station the children had someone to ask if they didn't understand what it is exactly that they needed to do. Kyle went next, and his game strictly involved kicking the ball. There were many balls in his game so at times the children did get riled up and balls ended up going everywhere. But again, when we had group members assigned with different groups of children, everything became much more controlled. We did not have time for my game, because the next group had to start on their activitys. My game was a drill that involved both kicking and bouncing. I made Buzzlightyear flash cards for the children which related to the Toy Story theme. All in all, it was a good day outside it just took some time to get used to the new environment.

Day 4, The Easter Bunny is Coming!

Today at St. Mary's involved great Easter Fun. I thought it would be a good idea to bring some visual props to excite the children, so my group and I came prepared with Easter Bunny ears & Easter egg necklaces. As soon as we put the props on the children become overjoyed and came running over to us. The Bunny ears definitely caught the children's attention and made them ready to interact in all of our Easter activites. The day started off with my group and I observing the children participate in activities where they were working on skills such as the overhand throw and catch. We watched a girl named Mady and a boy named Garrett's reaction to both skills. As they passed a ball back and forth to each other, Mady struggled a little more then Garrett in how she did the " T " and extended her arm during the throw. Mady did an underhand toss almost every time instead of any initiation of a wind up. She didn't have any follow-through or weight transfer during the attempt. Garrett was succesful in the overhand throw for the most part, but had trouble rotating his body. When catching the ball, again Mady struggled and caught the ball close to her chest; almost using her chest as a backboard. Garrett was good at catching, he flexed his elbows and held his friends infront of his body. After observing the children, my group and I posted the collages that the Cortland student's made onto posterboard, and put the poster board on the door of the St. Mary's gymnasium. We tried to be as creative as possible as we decorated the door's, and took our time making sure that they looked great. Next my group and I cleaned up the exquipment room. It took a little while and we did our best. When it was our turn for my group's activity, we split up the children into two different groups. The goal of our game was to have to have the children participate in different skills such as hoping, skipping, jumping. We placed Easter cards with instructions such as " hop 5 times ", " jump 10 times on your right foot", after finishing the skill the children could pick up a nearby bean bag and run to the oppoiste end to place the bean bag in a Houla Hoop. Then the children would run back to the Easter cards and complete another task until all the Easter cards were picked up. Our game was a good time, and I felt like the children really liked it. My group and I were assigned to make up a Easter themed song, and to teach it to both the children and Cortland students. It was a fairly easy song to follow, and we sang it togeather 4 times. To close up the day my group did an end of the day Easter cheer. All in all, it was a great Easter filled day. I had a good time with the children, and I hope they enjoyed us ! =)

Childhood Growth & Motor Development

http://prezi.com/stkwxdmofxex/

Dinosaur fun !

Day 3 with the St. Mary's children was a blast. The theme was dinosaur related, so my group and I dedicated our games and activites to dino fun. We brought props for our games, coloring cartoons, and also dinosaur books. We each dedicated our time with the children to have a dinosaur twist. When first arriving at the gymnasium, my group and I observed children jumping, sliding, and leaping. We were assigned to watch a red headed girl and a boy named Zaine. The girl and the boy were good at jumping, but at times both didn't quite land with two feet on the ground. Zaine slid well, but the slide for the girl seemed like more of a jumping motion. The leap for Zaine seemed to have hopping included in it, while the girl continued to have a walk rather then a leap. The girl did not seem as interested in the activity as Zaine, and did not really pay attention when the Cortland students were giving out directions. After the gymnasium my group and I went to the Pre-k room. The children were awesome! I found it really easy to capture the attention of this age group, and had fun playing house with two of the girls. After snack time Stephanie and I each read a story to the children. I found that when you truly put a lot of excitement and enthusiasm into the story that the children focus more on what is being read. My story was about Princess Dinosaur who had to find her way back to the toy box before the family dog Spot could reach her. It was an easy story to understand and the children seemed to enjoy it. After spending time in the Pre-k room my group and I headed to the gymnasium. Kyle, and Stephanie did great with their games, and the children loved the props that they used. It seemed that the more props the easier it was to grasp the children's attention. We ended the day with a group sing-a-long to the dinosaur hokey pokey. As a group we really involved the children into the song, and it was a great way to end the day.

The 7 homework questions !

1. 1. The three critical issues facing children in the US today are early puberty , in school and community violence, and also the rate of rising childhood obiesity.
2. 2. Goals of the concept "Developmental Physical Education" are increased movement skills, increasing physical fitness, and trying to advance in physical activity.
3. 3. Three factors that explain the relationships that lead to the development of the whole child are the conditions of the learning environment, requirement of the movement task, and the biology of the individual. It is stated that Developmental Physical Education rrecognizes the relationship between certain necessities of the movement task, the conditions of the environment, and the biology of an individual in promoting motor control and movement competence.
4. Individual appropriateness is the inclusion of learning experiences into the physical education program geared to learner's phases and stages of motor development and the levels and stages of movement skill learning. Group appropriateness is the inclusion of learning experiences into the physical education experience based on chronological age or grade level.
5. Fundamental movement skills include locomotion and manipulation. Three examples of locomotion skills are leaping, running, and jumping. Three examples of manipulation skills are striking, throwing, and bouncing.
6. Patterns of stability can be observed as axial, static, and dynamic movements. Two examples of axial movements are bending and turning. Two examples of static and dynamic movements are rolling and doging.
7. Physical fitness is defined as a combination of health related fitness, and also performance related fitness.

St. Mary's day 3 - hopping, galloping, and running

This week at St. Mary's the theme during our games was hopping, galloping and running. We tried to incorporate these skills into the games that we used with the children. We began by watching the children participate in games hosted by other groups, while evaluating the movement and behavior of one particular boy and girl. I did not see any clear pattern of development between the two children; they both seemed to respond to the new skills almost the same. Both children hopped on one foot equally well, but did need time every few hops to land on two feet. The boy and girl had a little trouble galloping, both did almost a run rather then a gallop. The running looked to be pretty well off for both the children. At the end of evaluating the children my group and I had to introduce our games. Some of the games were a bit too much for the children, and we had to explain the game a few more times then usual. We played two tag games, and then went to the cafeteria. I sat at the end of a table with about 6 or 7 girls, who were all coloring pictures. I offered to draw anything they wanted for them to color, and after one Hello Kitty drawing I ended up making every girl one. The drawing went over great, and I was happy to see that the children all wanted one of my pictures. All of the children in the cafeteria were pretty controlled, except for when we had the children pick up which got a rowdy. They had to be told to stay in a line after they picked up their things a few times by all of my group members. When going back to the gymnasium, it was my turn to introduce a game. I gathered the children to the center circle, and asked if anyone had heard the game " What time is it Mr. Fox" and the children started screaming in excitement. I asked for two helpers, and then told the children to go to one end of the gymnasium while me and the two helpers stood at the opposite end. I waited for the children to yell down " What time as it Mr. Fox", and would only respond if the children were really excited and yelling down to me. If they weren't really yelling, I would tell them that I couldn't hear them and also wouldn't give them a time until they got louder. I tried to incorporate the new skills into my game each round of the game, I would have them hop and gallop back to safety. I enjoyed my time with the children today, and loved the feedback I got from the children with my tag game and my Hello Kitty pictures.

Ped 201 Lab at St. Mary's

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Octopus Tag

Throughout every child's lifetime, tag games take place in the heart of every physical education classroom setting. There are thousands of different learning tecniques that contribute to a childs development in life physically, mentally, and socially. Tag games can aid in a childs heath, bringing a hidden workout into a fun and exciting experience. Every child who takes part in a tag game will build skills in runnning, and in spacial awareness of their surroundings. Children can interact with one another and build relationships off of the teamwork they have while participating in these games. The games have large amounts of participation time where children will take turns and learn patience when being assingned to be "it". Developing these forms of tolerance can encourage a child to handle frustration in a controlling manner, building social skills that the child can use for the rest of their lives. Even though tag games seem to aid in the proper development of a child, the physical education classroom has put tag games on their Hall of Shame, and has banned these games from the classroom.

Tag games are looked upon as games that aim to highlight one specific child while eliminating other children from participation within that game. Although most tag games involve much physical activity around any given gymnasium, it is said by the Hall of Shame that the total amount of time that the children are being physicaly active is limited.

The Hall of Shame can list tag games as lacking to children, physical education teachers have the awesome job of picking and choosing which tag games give children the most involvement in the act and fun of physical activity. By coming up with a game where there is continuous action and participation, no child will be sitting on the sideline. For example, the game of Octopus tag has every children moving and always having something to do. Once a child is tagged, they become an Octopus where they sit on the ground and flail their arms trying to get every other peer who passes by. No child is ever not participating, and always has something to do, whether it's being "it" or becoming an octopus. Another tag game could be Blob tag. This game has children connect to the tagger one by one after being tagged, slowely creating one large blob who can capture whoever has not yet been tagged. This can creates teamwork within the blob, and does not have any time outs or sidelines.

With creation of new tag games with continuous involvment and participation, no child will feel left out or put down because of being tagged. By focousing on eliminating embarrasement and minimal activity, tag games can progress and help a child to have fun while enjoying physical activity.

St. Mary's Lab # 1

Question 1: Based upon observation, what are the differences in motor behavior and social between the St. Mary's student's you observed? What differences did you observe between grade levels, gender, and ability? Do you think that grade level, gender, and ability have any influence on motor behavior?
Question 2: Based upon your observation, what fine motor activities did you observe(describe these) when watching the St. Marys student's? Were there differences between age? Gender? Ability?


1. Based upon my observation and involvement with the children at St. Mary’s, I determined that the children behaved differently depending on their grade level or age group. When going to the cafeteria with the younger kids, they tended to react to enthusiasm from me and my fellow peers. The more we talked, laughed, and put effort into gaining the children’s attention the easier it was for them to want to play whichever game I asked them to play. When playing checkers with a young boy, the more fun I looked to be having seemed to fall into place with the amount of children who wanted to try and beat me. The more games I won and the more interest I put into gaining the children’s attention seemed to be easy. It didn’t matter if the child was good or bad at checkers, they still kept coming back to try and beat their last score. To me, gender did not matter with this activity, for both girls and boys wanted to take place in the game. After the cafeteria my peers and I took the children to the gymnasium. Being loud, upfront, and showing excitement in the tag games played grasped the children’s attention. I came up with octopus tag, which the children seemed to enjoy. It seemed that if a boy was a tagger, he would tag more of the boys than girls, and vice versa. The boys tended to go outside the boundaries in order to keep clear of being tagged, while the girls were more likely to stay in bounds and be tagged. When free time came along, the younger children in the gymnasium were more in clusters and groups continuing to play games while the older children seemed to be shooting baskets and playing by themselves. It took more effort to try and grasp the attention of the older children.

2. When watching the children of St. Mary’s interact and play games with each other, it was obvious that the older the age, the more ability the children had. When coming to involvement in games such as kicking a ball, the younger girl’s I played with tended to miss the ball when trying to kick it; the older girl’s did not have this problem. When a younger girl was in goal and an older girl was kicking, the older girl would tend to score often. It seemed the older girl had better or more progressed skills when coming to kicking and saving a soccer ball then the younger girl. Also, this happened to be the case when playing with hoola hoops as well. The older girls spun the hoop around their bodies longer then the younger girls, who would finish a few spins only to have the hoop drop on the floor very fast.