Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Observation and Guidance II will include a brief overview ECE 121 (Observation and Guidance I) covering basic observation and guidance techniques for individual children (infancy – six years). Observation and Guidance II further expands the guidelines, techniques, and methods of observing individuals (children and adults) and groups of young children. The course will also consider group guidance techniques in early childhood environments and the observation methods which facilitate the identification or development of group guidance strategies. Using expanded observation and guidance techniques, students complete a term project involving the planning and implementation of strategies and environments that support children’s play.

This course is required for the Early Childhood Certificate and the A.A.S. Degree in Early Childhood Education. In order to count toward the Early Childhood Certificate or AAS degree, this course must be taken for a letter grade.

Completion of, or concurrent enrollment in Child Development (HEC 226) is recommended. 

Students must have access to infants, toddlers, or young children (2.5 – 5 years) in order to complete observation assignments. PCC’s Child Development Center is available for this purpose.

This course requires college-level reading and writing abilities (passing or testing into Writing 115). Students who are concurrently working toward this level of competence in a developmental writing class or on their own may audit this course. 

1.      Identifies, individually and collaboratively, appropriate guidance techniques for groups of children based on proven theory and practices.

2.      Refines knowledge of environmental, developmental, and cultural factors that impact children’s behaviors.

3.      Explains the skills and strategies needed for make accurate observations of groups children based on child development principles.

4.      Demonstrates an understanding of the connection between observations and appropriate guidance, management, and planning for groups of children.

5.      Recognizes standard assessment tools commonly used in the field of early childhood education.

6.        Articulates the role of observation in communicating with parents and professionals.

Students Will:

·        Participate in weekly large and small group discussions.

·        Complete required observation and guidance assignments and personal reflection statements.

·        Complete an integrative observation assignment utilizing observation techniques to conduct a case study of a child (age 0 – 6).

·        Complete an integrative observation assignment utilizing observation techniques to address or solve a group management issue or problem.

Students will acquire skills and abilities through practice relating to:

·        Event samples, checklists, and rating scales.

·        Record keeping and portfolio building.

·        Group management techniques.

·        Indirect guidance and the relationship between children’s behavior and the environment.

·        Communication of information derived from observations and portfolios to parents, staff, community members.

·        Relationships between personal belief systems, children’s behavior, and use of guidance techniques.

·        Integration of observations techniques into the Observe, Plan, Do, Reflect, Revise process.