Final Project

Your community is opening a brand new community center. Now that you are an expert in the field, you have been chosen to lead a development team that will create a proposal for interactive, fun, and educational programming activities that will be provided for children and adolescents in this center. Utilize problem-solving techniques in exploring developmental issues, grounded in child development, in order to assess what activities and items should be included in each program. Once you have chosen these features, you will present your ideas to a mock city council board (i.e. your instructor) with both a written proposal describing the programming, as well as an interactive presentation that will illustrate your ideas for promoting continued learning throughout childhood and adolescence.

You have been asked to propose programming for five different age groups in the community center:

Infant (0-1 year)

Toddler (1-3 years)

Early Childhood (3-6 years)

Middle/Late Childhood (7-12 years)

Adolescence (13-18 years)

There are two parts to your final project; a written proposal (Part A) and a visual presentation (Part B). In Part A, you will be creating a written proposal in which you identify and describe at least two weekly activities for each age group (for a total of 10 activities) that address their developmental pathways: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial. All three domains of development must be addressed within your classes or activities. For example, you may have one activity which enhances cognitive and psychosocial development and a second activity which enhances physical development. In addition to identifying these activities, you will demonstrate a foundational knowledge of the age group's developmental continuum by explaining your reasoning for choosing each activity, based on your analysis of theory and current child development research. 

Additionally, you will go "shopping" for at least one age-appropriate game, toy, picture, or other "play" item to enhance the chosen activities within each age group. Keep in mind that this may include things like art, music, technology, or safety gear as you deem fit. For each item that you recommend, your written proposal will provide a link to a website from which the item can be purchased by the city, as well as an explanation for why the city should purchase the item informed by research and theory. 

The overall goal of the written proposal and visual presentation is much like that of a grant proposal, in which a developer must convince the city council that their new business or activity is both cost-effective and beneficial to the community. You are encouraged to be creative and persuasive in your proposal, but remember that everything must be supported by the theories and research covered in our class. Included in Part A is a Written Proposal Template, demonstrating what information should be included in your written portion of the project. While you are expected to cite facts and include a reference page in your proposal, these do not need to be read out loud in your final visual presentation.

In addition to the written component of the assignment, Part B will utilize a visual and audio/interactive screencast to share your learning acquisition in child development with the members of a mock city council (again, your instructor will be acting as this council) in an interactive presentation which visually and vocally presents the activities and products which should be available for each age group. Design your community center presentation as if you were guiding a visitor through each activity. Your presentation will include a picture of each activity (appropriately labeled), while you will utilize a screen casting tool (such as screencast-o-matic.com) to provide the voice-over description of the activity and item(s) to be purchased for the activity. Below is a sample screencast presentation, demonstrating how your own presentation might look and what you might say in your proposal. (Please note that this is a sample only. No part of this video should be used in your own assignment.)

Part A: Written Proposal

You will utilize the PSY104 Written Proposal template to create your script. Enter the requested information on the title page where indicated. Where you find the text "This is where you will..." within the proposal, please remove that and enter your own content. The headings in bold and the outline formatting with numbers and letters should not be altered.

In your Written Proposal, you must include the following:

Complete each section of the template including the information requested.

Within section "iv" for each room, you will be asked to justify your activities and items by analyzing interactions of the major themes: Health and Well-Being, Family and Parenting, Education, Culture and Gender as factors influencing the developmental physical, cognitive and psychosocial pathways. Your written proposal must address how you have accounted for each of these themes in its associated room as they relate to physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development. Each theme must be included in at least one room, and each room must address one or more themes. (Please see these samples for ways to explain how you have accounted for this.)

Cite your sources according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. For information regarding APA samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing Center, located within the Learning Resources tab on the left navigation toolbar in your online course. The EBSCOHost and PSYCinfo databases in the Ashford Online Library are helpful sources of information, as are the required and recommended resources found in your course materials. To locate EBSCOHost and PSYCinfo, visit the Ashford Online Library through the tab on the left navigation toolbar in your online course and select "Databases by Subject" and then "Psychology." (For further assistance in researching scholarly sources, please access the tutorials page on the Ashford University Library website.)

Part B: Presentation

In your presentation, you must include the following:

A visual presentation which includes:

A title slide/image which includes the name of your Community Center, a picture, your name, the course, your instructor's name, and the date submitted.

Ten images representing children's activities which correspond with what your own Community Center Rooms might look like for each specified age group in your Written Proposal.

A 5-minute screencast which includes:

A vocal introduction to your Community Center, in which you state a description of the overall goals of the Center and a brief overview of some of the activities found inside.

With each of your ten activity images, you should provide very brief vocal summary the activity, what item(s) are needed, and the theory and research supporting your decisions.

A vocal conclusion to your presentation, in which you thank the city council and state that this is your official recommendation for these rooms.

You may utilize technology from this list, or any other visual or screencast editing software which you see fit, as long as the instructor will be able to view the presentation without needing to download and/or pay for additional software.

For Visual Presentations:

Prezi (recommended)

PowerPoint

PowToons

For Screencasts:

Screencast-O-Matic (recommended)

Jing

Screenr

Creating the Written Proposal

The Final Written Proposal:

Must be 6 to 8 double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Must include a title page with the following:

Title of Community Center

Student's name

Course name and number

Instructor's name

Date submitted

Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement, in which you introduce the topic and your Community Center.

Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought within each of the designated age groups.

Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis and thanks the mock city council for their time and consideration of your proposal.

Must use at least two scholarly sources, including a minimum of one from the Ashford Online Library.

Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Creating the Presentation

The Final Presentation:

Must have at least 12 slides/images, including an introductory picture, two infant activities, two toddler activities, two early childhood activities, two middle/late childhood activities, two adolescent activities, and concluding slide.

Must utilize the Written Proposal Template, including an introduction that has a succinct thesis statement.

The pictures of activities must address the topic of the paper with critical thought within each room.

The presentation must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis and a thank you to the mock city council for their time and consideration of your proposal.