Psychology homework help. PSY 314: Developmental Challenge
Learning Objectives
1) Identify and describe the range of physical, cognitive, language, moral, and social-emotional development of individuals from conception through adolescence.
3) Apply the developmental theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson, B.F. Skinner, Bronfenbrenner, and/or Bandura to analyze instructional activities and student behavior.
5) Apply their knowledge of effects of diverse influences on development to individuals from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
Assignment Description
For this assignment you’ll write at least a 4 page (excluding title or reference pages), double-spaced paper in which you demonstrate your understanding of child development, two major developmental theorists and contemporary professional practice. You will choose a specific developmental challenge at a particular age level and then write a paper that demonstrates your ability to apply concepts of two developmental theorists and professional practice. This assignment is worth 50 points.
The term “developmental challenge” refers to a particular aspect of physical, social, or emotional development in which children or adolescents must develop new skills or competencies. For example, learning to read is a developmental challenge faced in early childhood. A list of possible developmental challenges is included below. If there is another challenge you would like to address, you must let me know what it is so I can approve it as an appropriate topic.
In your paper you’ll need to describe the developmental challenge you have chosen, provide an analysis of it from the perspective of two relevant developmental theorists, and integrate findings from two professional references related to your topic. These references must come from the professional literature (peer-reviewed journal articles and other professional literature) that relate to the developmental challenge.
Here are the specific requirements for the two references:
- One of the references needs to focus on applications or best practices regarding the issue. This could be a best practices paper, a literature review, or recommendations from professional organizations. Best practices refer to techniques, methods, or approaches accepted by the profession as being effective in addressing the challenge. An example would be recommendations for elementary math instruction from a professional organization such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. An excellent resource for this type of reference is the professional organization for your particular discipline or specialty. You could identify the professional organization for your discipline and explore the best practice resources they have available through their respective websites. This reference should have been published within the past 10 years.
- The second reference should be a current (within the last 10 years), empirical (based on data) research report of an actual study conducted on the issue. For example, the article may report the results of a correlational study, an experiment, or a survey. The key requirement is that the article reports the results of an actual research study conducted by the article’s author(s) and it addresses the challenge of your paper. If you are not sure if your article meets this requirement, please check with your instructor.
Possible Developmental Challenges (not an exhaustive list)
- Learning to read
- Learning social skills/prosocial behavior
- Developing positive self-concept/self-efficacy
- Developing psychomotor skills (gross motor or fine motor)
- Developing reasoning and problem solving skills
- Developing self-regulation
- If there is another challenge you would like to address, you must let me know what it is so I can approve it.
Possible Developmental Levels
- Early childhood
- Middle childhood
- Adolescence
Required Outline of the paper
- Describe the developmental (e.g. educational, social, physical, psychological) challenge and the particular developmental level you have chosen. Be specific about the challenge and the developmental level. In addition, describe how the developmental level and challenge affects your choice of professional intervention techniques (e.g. teaching, counseling, parenting, etc.) to address the challenge. (5 points)
- Provide an analysis of the challenge from the perspective of the two most relevant developmental theorists for that particular issue. Choose two theorists from this list: Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson, Skinner, Bronfenbrenner, or Bandura. For each of the two theorists:
- Describe at least two theoretical concepts that are most relevant to the developmental challenge. Be sure to describe how each one is relevant.
- Describe at least one element of the challenge that is not addressed by their theory.
(15 points)
- Describe your two sources (one empirical paper and one best practices paper) and how they relate to the developmental challenge. For each source:
- What was the purpose of the research or information?
- Who were the research (or best practices) participants? Where was the research (best practices) setting?
- What were the major findings or results in the paper?
- What were the major recommendations?
- What are the limitations of the paper? (20 points)
- Separate from the recommendations in #3d above, identify and specifically describe at least 2 practical implications of the information from the theorists in #2 or your two references – how can you as an educator or other professional apply the material from them to help the child or adolescent manage the developmental challenge?
(10 points)
Additional Requirements
- At the end of your paper, include a reference page with references in APA-style.
- Submit paper copies of both your paper and the two references in class on the due date. Submit your paper to Canvas, also. Do not submit the references to Canvas.
- Be especially alert to the issue of plagiarism in this assignment. Review the information on academic dishonesty and the penalties for plagiarism in the course syllabus. You are to write your own summary, not one copied from an article, classmate, or any other source. Plagiarism is inexcusable and appropriate penalties will be enforced, with no opportunity for resubmission. All papers will be submitted to the plagiarism detection software Turnitin.
- Points will be deducted for careless work (e.g. spelling/grammar errors), insufficient summaries, missing or inappropriate copies of references, and incorrect references. Proofread your paper! One point will be deducted for each spelling or grammar error.
Late papers will not be accepted.
