Instructions for writing THIS essay #4. Type your essay in MS-Word. If you use another word processing application, use file/ save as to save it in Word format (*.doc). Answer the question completely and thoroughly and in your own words. Support your position with evidence from the textbook, but DO NOT quote the textbook (paraphrase). Cite page numbers where appropriate. Use proper written English. Proofread and correct errors before submitting your essay in the drop box for Essay #4. Since you have a long time to select and write each essay, it should be well written.
This IS a 5 paragraph essay paper as in an English course (i.e. you will have an introduction (1 paragraph), body (2 paragraphs), and conclusion (1 paragraph)). You should have a clear thesis statement with clear and sufficient supporting evidence, using terms and organization appropriate to the topic.
For essay #4 I would like you to reflect on what you learned across all the chapters (rather than just part four). As in previous essays, you will select a topic from the list. This essay should include: personal reflection and application in regards to emotions and thinking and behavior; demonstrated understanding of one or more life stages; and demonstrated understanding of one or more organizing frameworks. This is outlined below.
The textbook organized the life span into four major parts and discussed the following life stages:
(1) prenatal and infancy (2) early childhood (3) middle childhood/school age (4) adolescence (5) young/early adulthood (6) middle adulthood (7) late adulthood.
ALSO
We learned that the study of human development can be organized and described in various frameworks:
- (a) recurring issues and themes: nature/nurture, continuity/discontinuity, universal and context-specific developmental (choose one and discuss in detail or compare/contrast all three and discuss in broad terms)
- (b) the basic forces of the biospychosocial framework: biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle (choose one and discuss in detail or compare/contrast all four more broadly)
- (c) approaches, developmental theories, and perspectives: neuroscience, psychodynamic theory, learning theory, cognitive-developmental theories, ecological and systems approach, life-span, selective-optimization with compensation, and life-course perspective (as shown in Table1.3). (choose one, and discuss with details/ in depth)
- (d) components: physical, cognitive, emotional, and social components that change across the lifespan (provide details for one component or broadly address all four)
It might help to review chapter one before making a selection for your essay topic. Once you have selected your topic, do not just discuss a single concept (ex. sensorimotor development according to Piaget) from one chapter, but rather, the sum total of what you learned about that stage across multiple chapters (developmental changes in infancy according to a framework). To help you focus, please organize your essay according to one of the bullets listed above. That is, answer the essay question with a, b, c, or d (above) as a framework for your response. Demonstrate understanding by appropriately using relevant terms.
Essay #4. Choose one of the following topics:
Identify one life stage that you feel you learned the most about (added the most to your knowledge prior to taking this course). Explain what you learned about that life stage. Answer the essay question with a, b, c, or d (above) as a framework for your response. Demonstrate understanding by using terms appropriately. Also describe how that information changed your emotions, thinking (ex. interpretation of past events or future plans) and behavior regarding your personal life or career path.
Identify one life stage that was emotionally difficult for you to read about because of memories that it triggered or because you were experiencing a life crisis at the time you were reading about that. Why was it difficult and how did reading about this life stage affect your emotions, your thinking, and your behavior? Answer the essay question with a, b, c, or d (above) as a framework for your response. Demonstrate understanding by using terms appropriately.
Identify one recurring issue or theme (see (a)), that you found particularly interesting or enlightening. Explain what you learned and why it was interesting or enlightening. How did this understanding change your emotions, thinking (attitudes, beliefs, perspective), and/or behavior? Demonstrate your knowledge of that issue or theme across all life stages, as listed above.
Identify one specific perspective, approach, or theory (see (c)) that had a significant impact on your understanding of family dynamics or relationship with an individual in your family of origin (your mother, your father, your siblings). Explain in specific terms how this perspective, approach, or theory influenced and changed your emotions, thinking, and/or behavior toward family of origin OR toward your own immediate family (partner, children). Demonstrate understanding of the key elements of that perspective/approach/theory as part of your explanation.
Lifespan Project
Learning objectives
- Summarize key changes in physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development for specific life stages.
- Identify/select personal images as examples of development concepts within various stages of life.
- Demonstrate comprehension of concepts used to describe developmental changes, milestones, and events throughout the lifespan.
- Apply knowledge of concepts to explain/justify selected images.
- Organize and present accurate information using a variety of digital media.
Assignment Description
Create a personal multi-media product with personal photographs and artifacts (photo/scan of a sonogram, baby footprints, award/trophy, obituary, etc.) to illustrate and apply concepts of development throughout the lifespan.
The multi-media product can be in any of the following formats: digital photo album, digital scrapbook, personal website, digital Timeline (http://www.timetoast.com/), PowerPoint, Word, Excel, or Publisher document. You are not limited to product examples listed here as long as you can meet minimum requirements. At the end of this document are some sample ideas.
Specific Minimum Requirements
Product must have a minimum of 20 images.
You must include at least five different life stages (as below). You may have more than five.
- Prenatal or infancy or toddler
- Early childhood
- Late childhood
- Adolescence
- Adulthood (early or late)
For each life stage, you will provide a summary of key developmental changes and age-range. This is a slide/page like a section divider. It should be clearly labeled with the life stage.
The photos and artifacts must be in digital format from multiple life stages in any generation of your immediate family (you, your children, your parents, your siblings, your grandparents). If you do not have any photos of your family (ex. all family photos were destroyed in a fire) then you can use photos from other relatives (aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, step-family). If you do not have access to any personal photos for the project, then you will need to obtain images from another source. Try searching this public domain site for images http://www.public-domain-image.com/. Do not use photos that have copyright restrictions.
Photos/artifacts selected should illustrate developmental concepts appropriate to the age. They should be appropriately labeled and be accompanied by text that explains why you selected that image and what developmental concept it represents.
Each life stage will include at least four images to represent four different concepts/topics appropriate for that developmental stage. Concepts/Topics:
1. Prenatal/Infancy/Toddler. Topics: Temperament, physical development, language development, cognitive development, moral development, social development.
2. Early Childhood. Topics: Temperament, physical development, language development, cognitive development, moral development, social development.
3. Middle childhood. Topics: Temperament, physical development, language development, cognitive development, moral development, social development.
4. Adolescence. Topics: Physical changes, cognitive changes, personality & social development, identity formation, problems of adolescence.
5. Adulthood (early/late). Topics: aging senses, physical changes, cognitive changes, personality changes, love and relationships, parenting, work & retirement, old age, stages of dying.
Each topic within the stage should be clearly labeled and have a new image to illustrate the topic. You will have at least four topics therefore you will have at least four photos/artifacts per life stage.
Each new topic should begin on a new slide/page and must include:
a) Topic title and key points
b) Picture/artifact representing significant events appropriate to life stage and topic
c) Brief explanation of the picture/artifact and how it is related to the topic appropriate for that life stage
Project Organization
How you choose to organize the items in the product is up to you. You can mix photos from different generations within a life stage. You can organize around the topics or around the stages or around a specific family member. Organization does not matter as long as everything is clearly and accurately labeled and explained and all topics and stages are clearly represented in the final product as described above.
Submission
You will submit the final multi-media product as a digital file in the assignment drop box located in the Projects folder in your Blackboard course or as directed by your instructor.
Evaluation
The media project will be evaluated based on whether it meets all minimum requirements for content and on overall quality of product. It will also be evaluated for thoroughness and accuracy (comprehension) of course concepts based on correct application of stages and concept terms.
- includes all the five stages (listed above)
- for each stage, uses at least four photos/artifacts to illustrate at least four stage-appropriate topics (concepts/milestones or outcomes as related to physical, cognitive, emotional, or social development)
- minimum of 5 stages X 4 topics=20 images
- correctly identifies key points and typical age range associated with each life stage
- identifies/labels images with developmentally appropriate concepts, milestones, or outcomes from the topics and, when appropriate, the theorist associated with a concept
- explains why the particular image depicts the identified stage and concept
- product includes, at minimum, visual and written media (“text only” is not acceptable)
- product is digital format (not paper albums or scrapbooks)
- product is high quality (neat, organized, consistent in appearance, correct grammar, spelling, etc.)
- product is complete and thorough (nothing is missing, explanations are adequate)
PROJECT OPTIONS– remember, it must meet the minimum requirements!
Basic project: Use a Microsoft Office product (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Publisher) or a Google product (slides, docs, etc.) and your existing photos to create your multi-media project.
If you want to be more creative and practical, you could use this project to (1) jump start something you have been wanting to do anyway or (2) spend quality time with a special family member (great grandparent, grandchild, or child) as you look through photos and share stories about them.
Creative projects:
Scan old print photos and newspaper clippings from grandparents to convert to digital format and/or organize your digital photos and artifacts of your children to create a multi-generational digital photo album that you might give as a gift.
Create a family website, perhaps to share at a family reunion, which you can continue to update even after the project is complete.
Create a family history or biography “photo book” to pass on to the next generation.
Create a digital timeline on Timetoast.com (or other timeline generator). This could be for the project only or in preparation for a special occasion such as 50th wedding anniversary, or in honor of a grandparent’s birthday.
Example: http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/life-span-development-psychology-timeline-final-project
If you have an idea for a media project not listed, or for a variation of one of the above projects, consult with your instructor to see whether your idea is acceptable.
A student asked for clarification on the project. Here is my response, in case it helps others:
You will collect family photos from all life stages. For each life stage, you will have four photos that are related to the topics of that stage. You will have a description that explains the topic and stage. The life stage photos do not have to be from the same generation. For example, if you have a baby photo of your mother or grandfather, that can go in the infancy stage along with a photo of your own baby or yourself as a baby.
It is up to you if you want to limit the project to your immediate family–self, spouse, kids–or extend it to include other family members like grandparents or your siblings. What you can do is partly determined by your age. Someone who is 20 years old without kids of her own will need to include other generations and/or siblings; whereas someone who is 55 years old with kids and grandkids may be able to limit photos to immediate family for a more personal timeline.
If you have print photos you will scan or use your camera phone to convert to digital media.
Think of this project as an opportunity to collect and/or organize family photos in a way that is meaningful to you. It can be for personal use or something you can ultimately use as a gift (Christmas is coming!). The only limitation is that you include four images of relevant concepts for each life stage, as described in the instructions. The images do not have to be presented in life stage order but they do need to be appropriately labeled. If you don’t want to have the labels or descriptions directly with the images (ex. if the end product will be a gift) then the labels and descriptions can be separate, as long as you indicate which photos correspond.
I need to be able to determine that a) you recognized the life stages and b) understood key concepts for each stage. Other than that, you have a lot of flexibility and creativity. It also must be digital rather than print. I don’t want a traditional bound photo album. But you can take an existing bound album and convert it to digital. Just make sure all the life stages and four concepts per stage are in there.
