ABSTRACT
The theme of this book has been the use of behavioral observations as a method by which we can understand children in their everyday worlds. These places in clude home, school, playgrounds, day-care centers, camps, and numerous other settings where children spend their time. I have noted repeatedly that most of the descriptions of children available to us are of children in schools, preschools, and day-care centers. These descriptions provide important information for ed ucators and parents in terms of the design, implementation, and evaluation of educational programs (see Pellegrini & Bjorklund, 1998). Although these de scriptions of children in various school settings are important, it is also impor tant, as Wright (1960) noted more than 40 years ago, to have descriptions of children in other settings. After all, they spend much of their time in those other places yet we know very little about them. It is probably the case that knowledge of what children enjoy doing and are capable of doing in these diverse settings can provide useful information for educators. Using information about chil dren's competence in everyday settings as bases for educational and interven tion programs will provide the core of this final chapter.
