Assignment One
1. Interview Assignment
We have examined different stages of life throughout our course. For this assignment, you'll gain a deeper understanding of these stages by examining the life of someone who is in an earlier stage of life AND someone who is in a later stage of life than you are.
PART ONE: Interview an individual who is currently in an earlier stage of life and an individual who is in a later stage of life than you are. Grandparents work very well for the later stage of life, if available.
Compose interview questions to address with both individuals. Use the questions below and at least three original questions that are related to lifespan development.
Who are the most important people in your life and why?
How do parents/guardians impact the ways that one developments? Any examples to share?
How can one's early circumstances influence later achievement?
How might one achieve happiness in life? Does the answer to this question change over time?
Which areas change the most as we mature? Consider physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes.
What are the best parts of life? What are life's biggest challenges?
What is the meaning of life?
Conduct your interviews. (If interviewing an individual under the age of 18, please be sure to obtain parental permission.)
PART TWO: Using at least 1,000 words, address the following:
How did your interviewees' answers differ from one another? How did they differ from your own responses to the interview questions?
Apply at least two theorists from our course to explain the differences that you noted. You can choose from Piaget, Vygotsky, Bronfenbrenner, Erikson, Bowlby, or any other theorist from our text that you obtain approval to use.
Apply at least four additional concepts from our text to the responses that you received.
Cite our text and at least one additional academic resource from google scholar to support your major points.
Close your essay by sharing an overall summary of the differences in development that were evident with your two interviewees. Consider physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development in your writing.
**Feel free to use quotes from the interviews in your essay. These should be formatted as quotations; as always, quotations cannot count toward the length requirement but they are permitted when you feel they add value.
Assignment 2
2. As you recall from the textbook, a cohort is a “group of people who share a similar experience, such as growing up around the same time and place.” Since this week is all about peers, for this activity we will consider some of the views of our respective cohorts. Please address the following:
1. In what year were you born?
2. What important historical and cultural events occurred during the year of your birth? (Be sure to write your response to this question in complete sentences—no bulleted lists.)
3. What important events do you remember as having affected you and your classmates during your school years (e.g., assassinations, space disasters, political upheavals, wars, natural disasters, important discoveries, clothing trends, music, movies, television shows)? Explain how they influenced your development. (For example, I grew up during the height of the Cold War and there were many movies about a dystopian future after a nuclear war. As a result, I was not optimistic that countries would ever unite and live in peace. There was also a lot of fear about what the future might bring.)
4. When you were ten years old (fifth grade), what attitude did most of the people you knew have toward the following topics? The reason for selecting age 10 relates to the importance of middle childhood in terms of self-concept, awareness of one's social/political heritage, and the rapid socialization that occurs during this time. Moreover, Erikson's stage of industry (I am what I learn) also provides a theoretical base for selecting an age between 7-12. If you have difficulty remembering information about these topics feel free to ask friends or family members who were around you during this time. Keep in mind that you are speaking on behalf of your cohort, not just your personal experience, so think about what the prevailing views were at that time.
a. Fathers’ role in child rearing
b. How you communicated with your friends (e.g., text messages, face-to-face conversations, phone conversation)
c. People of other ethnic groups
d. Senior citizens
e. Couples without children and single parents
f. Only children (children who have no brothers or sisters)
g. Children with disabilities
h. Gender roles (what duties and activities each sex were expected to perform)
I. Birth control
j. How people met people to date
k. Lesbian and gay couples
5. Repeat question 4 for your grandparents' cohort. You can either interview a grandparent for this question or someone from the same cohort as your grandparent(s). As you answer questions 4a-4k for your grandparent(s)'s cohort, be sure to note any differences between the experiences of that cohort and yours. (In other words compare and contrast the two cohorts.) **For our Interview Assignment (due in Week Fifteen) you also need to interview an individual who is in a later stage of life than you are; you can conduct these two interviews at the same time if that helps you.** Helpful Resources to Find Information About Historical/Cultural Events for Your Cohort: *Year by Year: 1900-present: http://www.infoplease.com/yearbyyear.html *Today in History: http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.shtml
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