Observation notes relating to Combined Music and Movement Entrainment Activities Positively Impact Sharing Capacity in Children aged 4-5 years

The research team working on "Combined Music and Movement Entrainment Activities Positively Impact Sharing Capacity in Children aged 4-5 years" observed child participants across two consecutive mornings, noting sharing (S), empathetic (E), cooperative (C), and helpful (H) behaviours. They handwrote these notes, and these were subsequently typed up by the lead researcher for analysis. There were two observation periods (each two mornings in length), one before and one after a series of entrainment interventions which were hypothesised to improve prosocial behaviours (especially sharing).<br>All observers were provided with the following instructions, and were not informed of the hypotheses. They all worked with the children at the school where the study took place:<br><b>OBSERVATION PROTOCOL </b>- The particular behaviours to be observed are those associated with <b>sharing </b>(primarily), <b>cooperation</b>, <b>empathy</b>, and <b>helpfulness</b>. The definitions and examples of these can be found below. - Not every child needs an entry - you might simply not see a child exhibiting these behaviours - that is ok. - If a child is absent, please continue their observation on another day, so all children should have the same amount of time to exhibit prosocial behaviours (The earlier in the process the better). - Please make sure you document the events on the correct time sheet! - Anything else of note could be important, so just note it down. - All notes should be brief, this is not meant to be a time consuming activity! <i>- Sharing </i>is defined for this purpose as any activity in which a chid voluntarily offers something in their possession or care to another, as a result of noticing that they may enjoy it, need it mor than them, or so that they can achieve a shared goal together. This can include during role play e.g. making toys share things out. They should not be asked to share for this behaviour to be documented. It also does not include things like passing on a piece of play equipment and then running off to play with their next toy. <i>- Cooperative behaviours </i>are when two or more children to work together towards a common goal. There may be some cost to one or mor of the children, but if the main aim is to achieve together, and the children are solving problems and perhaps altering their approaches without ending up arguing then this is deemed cooperation. It might be interesting to note any occasions when you think cooperative behaviour may be emerging, but ultimately fails as a fight ensues. <i>- Empathy </i>is demonstrating the ability to view the world as another, and to understand the emotions of others, and acting accordingly. By this I mean that in response to “how do you think <i>x </i>feels about that”, the answer cannot merely be “sad” for empathy to be expressed. the sadness must almost appear be felt by the other person and their behaviour impacted e.g. they recognise (independently) that somebody might be feeling sad, so go to give them a hug. <i>- Helpful behaviour </i>must again, be voluntary. If a child helps another, and particularly if at a personal cost, this must be documented. By cost to themselves, I mean that perhaps they are already engrossed in something they clearly enjoy, but give that up momentarily to fetch and adult for a friend who has fallen over, for example. Or perhaps the helpful activity might cost them time, or standings in a game or competition. Interesting notes on this might include whether they are friends with the person they help, how much the personal cost was, and if there was any personal gain in helping the other. <i>- </i>Note that there may well be cross overs with these pro-social behaviours. This is true, and likely! So if in doubt, please enter every code that you think is relevant, more than one code per incident logged is perfectly fine.- Codes: S, C, E, H <br>