ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some of the ways in which observations of children can be interpreted, and at ways of describing children’s attitudes or dispositions to thinking and learning, particularly concepts such as involvement, flow and mastery. Developing on from these, it is useful to consider the relationship between the documenting of observations and children’s thinking, and the parts played by the children themselves in informing adults’ understanding and actions. In recent years, there has been a valuable, and increasing, emphasis on the importance of the children’s own voices, and the gathering of their own perspectives on their lives (Alderson 2005; Clark and Moss 2001; Pramling Samuelson 2004; Harcourt et al. 2011).The chapter concludes with a brief consideration of a particular approach to the description and assessment of thinking, the idea of ‘intelligence’ and ‘intelligence testing’.
