GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT PAPER CLARIFICATION AND
EXAMPLES
I just wanted to give you some clarification and examples of what is expected with the paper. Some students in the past have misinterpreted elements of the directions so I am going to give you a list of important elements and common mistakes. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them during our FAQ conference session, course questions forum, or contact me directly. First, read the instructions and grading rubric documents in the syllabus.
Important Elements: Select a person you know well to be the subject of the paper. Gather as much information about them as possible. The first section of paper should give an overview of demographic information (see #1 of grading rubric). Make sure to identify and briefly describe their current age period/stage (i.e. middle childhood, young adult etc.). You can integrate this into the demographic section or make a separate paragraph (See #2 of rubric).
The main goal of this paper is to compare the “person-specific” information you gather to the developmental norms related to many of the physical, cognitive and psychosocial theories, concepts and study information we review throughout the course that relate to the person’s current age period. Structurally, most people find it easiest to literally create sections of the paper (with headings) that focus on the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains. For example, if you have a young adult subject, for some of the cognitive domain discussion you might (1) introduce and describe some of the relevant reasoning concepts (e.g. postformal thought, reflective thinking etc.) (2) describe “where” the typical young adult “would fall” in terms of their functioning related to these concepts, and then (3) relate person-specific observations that suggests they are “on track” or not in these areas (see 3 & 4 of rubric).
You may have many observations in each of the 3 main domain areas, but be sure to tie at least 3-4 topics into cited info for support – the process is just like we have done in our scenario driven forums. For example, in the physical domain you might talk about many observations around weight/weight, motor skills, sleep, eating, illness, health risk behaviors etc. and then just be sure you tie in some supporting norm info on at least a 3-4 of the topics. If you are writing about a child you could tie their physical skill observations to specific age period norms around fine and gross motor skills from charts in the text – and define those basic motor skill concepts too. Or you could cite their weight compared to age norms and pull in a cited quote about trends in obesity in our society. Be creative. Naturally, the health domain will be less theory centered and more pulling in specific pieces of norm info, while the cognitive and psychosocial domains can pull in more theories and concepts. Almost all papers – with rare exception – should pull in the specific stage info for the person’s age period for Erikson and Piaget. Then there are nearly countless other theories and related skill/development concepts you could discuss around topics like: identity development, cognitive skill concepts, moral reasoning, social relationships and on and on. There are also almost countless pieces or interesting age-specific norm from studies across domains you could pull in. One example: if your subject has been divorced and you discuss this in the psychosocial section, you could bring in study info around prevalence, avg age, avg time before remarriage, info about the impact of divorce on men vs. women etc.
After you discuss several theorists/concepts/ pieces of norm info in each of the 3 major domains most students have found it helpful to have at least one summary paragraph that describes the area(s) in which the individual appears to be “on track” and the area(s) in which they may be “lagging” developmentally. You might make a heading for this section called something like “Met and Unmet Tasks” or something similar (see #5 of rubric).
Finally, most students have found it helpful to create a final paragraph that addresses something the person or their parent(s) etc. might be able to do differently to help attempt to improve progress in an “unmet” or “off track” area (see #6 of rubric). If the person has no unmet areas then try to at least mention a few specific actions that would help maintain their current progress in a few areas. Think about things like: specific social supports for interpersonal functioning, educational/work activities for vocational progress or cognitive development, eating and exercise changes for physical development and better stress management ….the list could be endless if you think about possible supports and actions across system levels (intrapersonal skill development, friend and family level, social/educational/work level, broader societal level etc.).
Make sure to comply with the basic rules of APA style. There is an APA style link on the Canvas site under resources and you can Google “APA Style” to find summaries of the key areas to consider. Most common mistakes relate to formatting (ex. you need a cover page, no single spacing, certain margins are required etc.), having a reference page that is formatted correctly (and should at least include the text), utilizing appropriate “in sentence” citing, proper citing of quotes, making sure you have page numbers etc. The quality of writing is important. Please spell-check the paper before submitting it and edit to reduce “run- ons,” incomplete sentences and other common grammatical/structural errors. Be careful about informal/conversational tone, this is not appropriate for an academic paper. Also, for this type of academic paper the use of first person voice (“I”) is not recommended.
Length Requirement and Common Mistakes and “Don’ts”: The minimum length of the paper is 4 pages of actual text – not counting the cover page and reference page. Practically, it is not possible to cover the topics noted above in enough depth to meet the rubric expectations fully in less that 4 pages of text. I will not penalize people for submitting longer papers but there should be no need to go past 5 pages.
If your paper only addresses one theorist, you have not adhered to the instructions. Your paper should address a number of theorists and concepts across the physical, cognitive and psychosocial domains that relate to the current age period of the individual. Do not discuss the individual’s functioning across their life to date. In other words, you are not trying to describe how they did or did not meet norms across domains for every age period of development so far in their life. You are describing their functioning, in depth, related to the current age period they are in – across the major domains (physical, cognitive, psychosocial).
Primary structural elements:
Cover Page
Intro with basic demographic Information and identification of age period (i.e. early childhood, adolescence etc.) with possible brief overview of major topics common to that age period.
Person-specific information vs. norms for the given age period across the 3 major domains…anchor at least 3-4 topics in each domain with cited supporting information. Should have a paragraph or two for each of the 3 main domains of development – Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial
Summary of Priority “Unmet/Met” or ”On Track/Off Track” areas discussed earlier in the paper
Discussion of “measures to assist or maintain” the individual’s effort to accomplish some specific age-appropriate tasks – at least one or two specific recommendations.
Reference Page
I hope this helps clarify expectations related to the paper. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions. Dr. Stodghill
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