Assignment 1 - Foundations

Instructions

Part A: Exploration Activity 1-E-Journal Scavenger Hunt

Your Module 1 text reading provided an overview of the major research designs used to answer research questions about child development. You will now embark on a scavenger hunt to locate examples of published research that exemplify some of these research strategies.

As noted before, research findings in developmental psychology are typically published in journals. The TRU Library contains databases that index these articles. Some of the databases such as PsycARTICLES provide links to full-text articles, which allow you to download the complete article and save it to your own computer. Others such as PsycINFO provide only the abstract, which gives a brief summary of the article, but not access to the full text. For this activity, you are required to peruse a few issues of the well-known developmental journal Child Development for a web-based version of a scavenger hunt. For any of you unfamiliar with this term, a scavenger hunt is a game in which participants seek to gather all items on a list. You will use the TRU Library website to access PsycINFO where you will find the journal Child Development. For this part of Assignment 1, you will only need to examine the title and abstracts of research reports.

Note

TRU library carries several periodicals that have the phrase "Child Development" in their title. Be certain you are drawing from the correct journal. Child Development is the complete title of the journal published by the Society for Research in Child Development. If necessary, reread the instructions "How to locate the journal, Child Development."

Locate Child Development published by the Society for Research in Child Development. Focusing on articles published from 2010 onward, search through their titles and abstracts, and locate the citation and abstract for a study that used a:

1. Longitudinal Design

2. Cross-sectional Design

3. Cross-sequential Design (sometimes called an accelerated longitudinal or simply a sequential design)

4. Experimental Study

Hint: The type of design is sometimes provided in the research title.

For each study you select, identify the following:

1. Reference for the article as it would appear in the "References" section at the end of a research report. The most reliable online source for current and accurate information on American Psychological Association (APA) documentation style (which is updated regularly) is at the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/. APA style is specific about all aspects of a reference, including punctuation, italics, etc., so you are advised to consult the Purdue resource. Following is an example of a reference using APA style:

Camione-Barr, N., & Smetana, J. (2010). "Who said you could wear my sweater?" Adolescent siblings' conflicts and associations with relationship quality. Child Development, 81(2), 464-471.

2. Abstract (the paragraph summary of the research found at the beginning of a research article)

3. Explanation about how the study you selected illustrates the research design in question.

Part B: Discussion 1-We Were All Children Once

Go to the "Discussions" area on the left-hand navigation menu and complete the first formal discussion posting entitled "Discussion 1: We Were All Children Once."

Introduce yourself to your Open Learning Faculty Member and fellow classmates. Explain where in the world you spent your childhood and the general time period. Give an example of a personal observation; an item from news media, magazine, website; etc. that you feel highlights a feature of life for a present day child that differs from your own childhood experiences. Identify what level of Bronfenbrenner's "ecological perspective" is captured in your reflection. Explain your choice.

Even though you may have started this course at a different time than your peers, you can read the postings and respond to at least one fellow student's input. It helps to start building a community of learners, since you are all taking the same course.
Reply to a posting made by another student in which you provide your reflections on the issues raised in their post.

Part C: Exploration Activity 2-Extending the Healthy Pregnancy Quiz

1. Download The Sensible Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy published by the Minister of Health available at

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-gs/guide/assets/pdf/hpguide-eng.pdf.

2. To check your understanding, complete the Healthy Pregnancy Quiz located at the Public Health Agency of Canada website at

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-gs/quiz/quiz-eng.php.

3. Consider the range of topics covered in your textbook readings and in The Sensible Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy and propose three additional questions that could be included in this quiz. Along with each of your proposed questions, include an answer with a rationale, including a link to further reading at a reputable and credible website.

Part D: Written Questions

Write a response in your own words to each of the following questions:

1. Watch a 15-minute video entitled Giant turnip from the BBC children's program Mr. Bloom's Nursery available at

http://www.cbeebies.com/global/mr-blooms-nursery#activity-265006.

As you watch the episode, make note of how social learning theory and Piaget's theory apply to what is being demonstrated and experienced by the children in this video. Then, summarize how the episode integrates both of these perspectives into its portrayal of how children learn, and what is likely to facilitate learning. (10 marks)

2. Researchers report finding a significant correlation between measures of family stress and levels of aggression found in children. The correlation is positive, meaning that in families under stress, more stress is associated with greater aggression in the children. Note that the correlation also can be stated in the opposite way: aggressiveness in children is associated with more stress in the family. Although we know that correlations cannot be interpreted as cause and effect, it would be common for people to conclude from this finding that family stress causes children to be aggressive. What other causal explanations are possible for this correlation? Explain your answer. (10 marks)

3. Read the following passage from J. K. Rowling's (2000, p. 9) Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets:

Harry looked nothing like the rest of the family. Uncle Vernon was large and necklace, with an enormous black moustache; Aunt Petunia was horde-faced and boney; Dudley was blond, pink and porky. Harry, on the other hand, was small and skinny, with brilliant green eyes and jet black hair that was always untidy. He wore round glasses, and on his forehead was a thin, lightening-shaped scar.

It was this scar that made Harry so particularly unusual, even for a wizard. This scar was the only hint of Harry's very mysterious past, of the reason he had been left on the Dursley's doorstep eleven years before.

At the age of one, Harry had somehow survived a curse from the greatest dark sorcerer of all time, Lord Voldemort, whose name most witches and wizards still feared to speak. Harry's parents had died in Voldemort's attack, but Harry had escaped with his lightening scar, and somehow - nobody understood why - Voldemort's powers had been destroyed the instant he had failed to kill Harry.

So Harry had been brought up by his dead mother's sister and her husband. He had spent 10 years with the Dursleys, never understanding why he kept making odd things happen without meaning to, believing the Dursley's story that he had got his scar in the car crash which had killed his parents.

And then, exactly a year ago, Hogwarts had written to Harry, and the whole story had come out. Harry had taken up his place at wizard school, where he and his scar were famous . . .

Use this passage and your reactions to it to illustrate the following concepts :

1. Passive gene-environment interactions

2. Evocative gene-environment interactions

3. Active gene-environment interactions

4. In this question, you will reflect on how Bronfenbrenner's ecological model applies to children in different social, economic, and cultural contexts. Specifically, use the following examples of children in traditional Inuit culture

(go to http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/ssognc/inuitlifestyle/)

and in traditional Bedouin culture

(see http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Bedouin.aspx).

List some of the elements of the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem for children in each culture.

5. Your textbook discusses several types of teratogens. Choose any one, and create a one-page (one-sided) infographic aimed at informing women about the potential harmful effects of teratogens. For more information about teratogens, see

http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/en/resourcecentres/pregnancybabies/pregnancy/healthcareinpregnancy/pages/things-to-avoid-during-pregnancy-teratogens.aspx and http://www.hss.gov.yk.ca/teratogen-hp.php.

Your infographic would be suitable for information campaigns targeting women's washrooms in public buildings, restaurants, etc. You could create a handmade infographic and submit a scanned photograph or an online or electronic document. You can find many examples by Googling "baby infographic" and many online templates are available that you are welcome to use. Your infographic will be graded on visual interest (images, well-organized) and accurate information about the timing and effects of a teratogen.