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EARLY LIFE SPAN ANAYSIS: COURSE PAPER

You will need to choose two people from two distinct life periods(e.g., a 6 month old vs. a 3-year old, a 5 year old vs. a 12 year old, etc) and interview them about three specific domains of development covered in either the textbook or in class.These domains can be broad (e.g., cognitive development, moral development, etc) or they can be specific (e.g., autobiographical memory development, language development, attachment, etc). For example, you might ask a parent about the physical(e.g., growth, nutrition, brain development), cognitive(e.g., cognition, memory, and language),and social development(e.g., attachment, peer relationships, empathy and prosocial behavior)of his or her infant and then compare your interview observations of the infant to a toddler around these same domains. You will be required to provide research support from the textbook or from class lectures to attach to your observations. Sample papers will be provided for you and we will discuss this paper more thoroughly as the course progresses.

This is an excerpt from a sample paper. The domain is physical development: “Sara is 37 inches tall and weighs about 27lbs. This is about average for females her age. Sara’s mother reported that at her two year check-up with her pediatrician, Sara was in the 70^th percentile for height and the 40^th percentile for weight. The rate of growth during the second year of life tapers off in comparison to the first year. This is consistent with Sara’s case. Her mother reports that Sara has remained about the same size for the last few months. In concert with this relative slowing of physical growth, toddler’s appetites often decrease or go through periods where they eat very sparsely followed by periods when they eat several large meals a day plus snacks. Sara’s mother reports that this fits Sara’s pattern of eating quite well. Some days Sara may only eat a few snacks and maybe some applesauce or yogurt and seem complete satisfied. Other days her meals are quite large sometimes eating a sandwich, banana, cottage cheese and several fig Newton cookies in a single sitting. This can be quite frustrating for Sara’s mother, especially the days she doesn’t eat much. Sara’s mother reported that she is always worried that Sara will get hungry in the middle of the night or that something is wrong with her if she doesn’t eat much.”

Paper Specifics:

Your paper should be typed and double spaced with reasonable margins and reasonably sized font (e.g., 12 point Times New Roman). Assign a title to your paper and place it at the top of the first page. Put your name in the upper right corner. Do not use plastic covers and staple pages together (do not use plastic covers). Also, use APA format when necessary, but you do not need to include a reference page unless you cite sources that were not in the textbook. The early lifespan paper is due on March 30, 2015. Please only hand in hard copies of your paper. Emailed papers will not be accepted. Most papers range from 12-15 pages in length.

Papers will be graded according to how well they are written, relate to the assignment, and the ways in which ideas and concepts learned in class or in the textbook are linked to the observations made during each interview. Each domain will be worth 15 points (x 6 domains = 90) + 10 points for overall style = 100 points in total.