Chapter 1: Issues and Themes in Child Development



Class ExercisesChapter 1: Issues and Themes in Child DevelopmentClass Exercise #1: Social policyChapter 1 introduces students to the influence of child development on social policy. The purpose of this activity is to become more familiar with this topic. Students should go online to look up social policies related to children. Come to class with three examples of how child development influences social policy. Class Exercise #2: Guarding Against GeneralizationsStudents are experts about their own experiences and often believe their way of thinking about things is the right way. What are some of the generalizations you bring to the class?Do you think a child should be spanked?At what age do you think a child should be left alone?What should a parent do when a child has a tantrum in a store?Is it ok if children watch cartoons in which people fight? Is it ok for children to play violent video games?Should older siblings babysit their younger siblings?What time should children go to bed?What do you do if your child only wants to eat mac and cheese, hot dogs, grapes, and chicken nuggets? Should you make the child eat other foods?If your young child begins to curse, how do you keep the child from repeating the words?Should you teach children to hit back?After answering these questions, think about other ideas you may have about parenting. Write them down, and be prepared to discuss these in class.Class Exercise #3: Finding a Peer Reviewed Journal ArticleChapter 1 discusses ways in which individuals may learn more about child development. It is important that students learn how to find peer reviewed articles and understand the difference between reliable and unreliable websites for obtaining material. In this exercise, students will practice finding reliable references by going to the library and performing the following tasks:Find a journal article from the journal, Child Development.Find any peer reviewed article on the topic of child development.Find two reliable websites that one may reference when researching child development.Find two unreliable websites that one should not reference when researching child development.Print out the first page of each article/website, and bring them to class.Class Exercise #4: Developing a Theory NotebookThis project may be used for this chapter or as an ongoing exercise throughout the course. Instructors may ask for it by chapter, collect it a few times during the semester (as checks to make sure students are working on it and to provide feedback), or at the end of the semester. Chapter 2 gives an introduction to the Theories of Development, but some instructors may want to give this assignment early.Student Instructions:Throughout this course, students will be introduced to many theories about child development. There will be a lot of information to memorize, and some theories may contradict others. It is important that students become familiar with theories and their criticisms to be able to apply theories to understand child development. Additionally, it is important to understand that students’ opinions about theories will develop over time. One’s opinion on day one may not be the same at the end of the semester. The purpose of this assignment is to help students understand the main theories of child development, to be able to compare and contrast the theories, and to be able to apply them to everyday experiences of children.The theory notebook should be written using APA 6th edition guidelines. It should include the following:Title PageTable of ContentsSections covering each theory discussed in the textbookEach theory should be written in bold and centered on the page.Each section should include a description of the theory written in the student’s own words. You may cite the textbook, but do not quote it.Each section should include criticisms of the theory.Each section should include subheadings that include your opinion of the theory and a discussion about how your opinion does or does not change during the course of the semester.Students may cite peer reviewed journal articles to support their arguments for and against theories. You may not cite: dictionaries, encyclopedias, Wikipedia, or any online web site.Reference sectionThere should be a minimum of 1 to 2 pages of text per theory. Some theories will require more pages. ................
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