Early Childhood (Material from Week 2)
Where did the individual fall on the growth chart? Did he or she remain at about that same spot as he or she grew? Discuss the cognitive development of the child. Discuss how he or she exhibited (or failed to exhibit) Piaget's sensorimotor thinking and preoperational thinking. Did the child meet expected developmental milestones? Explain the child's development through Erikson's first three psychosocial stages.
Discuss the child's emotional development. Did he or she show traditional development of basic emotions? Did complex emotions appear at 18 to 24 months? When was he or she able to recognize emotions in others? How did the child fare at regulating his or her emotions while progressing thought the pre-school years? What was the child's level of attachment to his or her caregivers? Give examples and details.
Discuss how the child interacted with others from birth until entering kindergarten. Did the child show the typical types of play at the expected ages? How did he or she fare in learning to cooperate? Was the child altruistic? What factors can you see attributing to this? Did he or she have imaginary friends? What was the child's imagination like? Be sure to give some details and examples.
Middle and Late Childhood (Material from Week 3)
Describe the physical growth of the individual selected. Were the height and weight within normal limits? (Use Figure 6.10 in Chapter 6--page 243) How did motor skills develop? Was the physical development in line with that of at least one of the parents? (tall parent = above-average-height child, athletic parent = athletic child, etc.) What development of motor skills was observed during the elementary school years? Was the child physically fit? Describe the cognitive development of the child. Did he or she proceed normally through Piaget's concrete-operational period? Formal-operational period? What are examples of the individual demonstrating the thinking of this period? How did the individual fare in school? Did he or she make use of the memory strategies mentioned in the text? Did the demonstrated academic abilities fall in line with what might be expected of the child, given genetics?
Discuss the relationships within the family and their influence on the child's social/emotional development. What was the family environment in which the child was raised? What was the parenting style? Were the parents a unified team? Did the parents argue a lot? Divorce or never marry? Remarry? A blended family? What can be ascertained about how all of this impacted the child? How did the child's temperament impact the parenting style? Did the birth order have an impact as may be expected? Be sure to give plenty of details and examples. Discuss the individual's peer relationships, as well as the television viewing habits, as they influenced the child's social/emotional development. Was the child able to make friends easily? Did he or she have a large circle of friends? What were the factors that contributed to this? Did the child watch much TV? Play video games? What types of shows/games did he or she gravitate toward? Did this have an impact on behavior or morals? Did the individual show Selman's stages of perspective-taking? Did he or she acquire any prejudices? If so, how?
Adolescence (Material from Week 4)
Describe the physical development of the adolescent. What was his or her physical growth like during adolescence? Did he or she have a growth spurt? What about sexual maturation? When did signs of sexual maturation first appear? What was the individual's response to reaching sexual maturity? What was his or her diet like as an adolescent? Did he or she have weight issues? Did the person notice any friends having eating disorders or problems with obesity? How did the adolescent view his or her own physical development during adolescence? Give details and examples.
Describe the cognitive growth of the adolescent. Did the person's beliefs interfere with his or her reasoning? Where does (did) the adolescent fall on Kohlberg's levels of development? Give examples of why you placed the individual there. How did the individual fare in school? How did (does) the individual see his or her cognitive development during adolescence? Did the person exhibit the characteristics of adolescent thinking? (Table 9.2 on page 343) Be sure to give details and examples.
Discuss the adolescent's identity (including ethnic identity) and self-esteem. Did he or she exhibit Marcia's four identity statuses? What was his or her self-esteem as an adolescent? What were the influences on that? What kind of relationship did the person have with his or her parents? Did earlier parenting styles indeed play into who the adolescent was becoming? How did (does) the adolescent view himself or herself during this period in life? Discuss the adolescent's peer and romantic relationships. How important were peers? What type of company did the adolescent keep? How much influence did the acquaintances hold? How were issues of sex and drugs handled? Did the adolescent experiment? Was peer pressure involved? What did the adolescent do with free time? How did the adolescent particularly see the issues of sex and drugs?