Applications of the observational methodology in childhood education

Abstract

The observation of behavior is the basis of all scientific knowledge in general and psychological in particular, although traditionally there have been many who, making a mistake, have tried to associate scientific knowledge with experimental methodology and oppose both to observation , relegating it to the level of the pre-scientific. In the last twenty-five years, the use of observational methodology for the scientific study of human behavior in many areas of application has been clearly growing, and at the same time it has been consolidated as the most appropriate whenever the daily life of the human being is studied. its spontaneity, its activity in natural contexts, and provided that the object of study focuses on perceptible behaviors. These characteristics make it the methodology that offers the most application possibilities to capture children's competitions. In fact, in the field of education, and even more so in that of early childhood education, systematic observation has reached the rank of being, legally, one of the main methods through which the evaluation of the educational process must be carried out in said stage. , both in relation to the learning and development of the student body and the teacher's own educational practice. This is established in Order ECI / 3960/2007, of December 19, which establishes the curriculum and regulates the organization of early childhood education (BOE No. 5, of January 5, 2008). This methodology also offers multiple possibilities in research in school settings. In this Symposium five papers are presented that show the application of observational methodology in the field of early childhood education, including issues related to the process of development and learning of the student body as well as the teaching activity.