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Journey across the Lifespan: A Developmental Psychology Project
You will trace a person throughout the developmental stages of life. Use what you have learned about developmental psychology and apply it to a real or imagined person.
Task 1: Provide an overview of developmental psychology by reviewing nature and nurture, continuity and stages, and stability and change.
Task 2: Trace the development of your individual through each life stage by focusing on the topics below. You must apply the concepts of developmental psychology to your person’s life and explain their development as they progress through each stage. Provide an example of what your person is doing at key points in their development. The format is diary entries
- Prenatal, Newborn, Infancy, Childhood, and adolescence
- Prenatal Development from zygote to newborn (include sexual development)
- Physical, Motor, and Language Development
- Cognitive Development (Piaget’s Stages and Vygotsky’s Scaffolding)
- Moral Development (Kohlberg’s Stages [also continue into adolescence])
- Social Development
- Gender Development
- Adolescence
- Physical Changes
- Cognitive Changes
- Personality and Social Development (Erikson’s Stages)
- Gender, Sexual Development, Sexual Orientation
Individual’s Traits:
Gender: male
Race: white
IQ: 110
Socio-Economic Status: middle class,
Sexual Orientation: straight
Geographical Location: central Michigan
Hobbies: playing video games
Grading:
| Expectations | Beginning Needs Improvement |
Developing Getting There |
Progressing Mastery |
Accomplished Perfect |
| Accuracy | Project contains significant errors or omissions that cloud the meaning of key terms and understandings.
[0-11 points] |
Project is mostly accurate but contains some errors or omissions that detract from the meaning of key terms and understandings.
[12-15 points] |
Project is completely accurate but at times fails to fully develop key terms and understandings in regard to fictitious individual.
[16-18 points] |
Project is completely accurate and fully develops key terms and understandings as necessary in regard to fictitious individual.
[19-20 points] |
| Content Application | Key terms and concepts are partially applied to fictitious individual. Made up scenarios rarely highlight the concept.
[0-11 points] |
Key terms and concepts are mostly applied to fictitious individual. Made up scenarios do not fully highlight the concept.
[12-15 points] |
Key terms and concepts are clearly and fully applied to fictitious individual. Made up scenarios are on track but may not be perfectly illuminating.
[16-18 points] |
Key terms and concepts are clearly and fully applied to fictitious individual. Made up scenarios are plausible.
[19-20 points] |
| Higher-Order Thinking Skills (see Bloom’s Taxonomy below) | Project demonstrates knowledge and comprehension, but fails to show evidence of higher-order thinking skills.
[0-4 points] |
Project demonstrates knowledge, comprehension, and application, but fails to show evidence of higher-order thinking skills.
[5-6 points] |
Project demonstrates knowledge, comprehension, application, and analysis, but fails only occasionally shows evidence of higher-order thinking skills.
[7-8 points] |
Project demonstrates higher-order thinking skills throughout, with a focus on analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of material.
[9-10 points] |
| Quality and Organization | Project lacks organization, has missing elements and/or does not follow a logical developmental pattern.
[0-4 points] |
Project is partially organized but has a few missing elements and/or follows a semi-logical developmental pattern.
[5-6 points] |
Project shows an appropriate level of organization and has no missing elements; has a logical developmental pattern.
[7-8 points] |
Project shows an advanced level of organization and has no missing elements; has a superior developmental pattern.
[9-10 points] |
| Points Earned /60 | ||||
Note: The average IQ is 100 (and follows a bell curve distribution), about 60% of the world is lower class, about 85% of people identify as heterosexual, and the average GPA is 3.0 (and also follows a bell curve distribution)