Introduction:

The small group discussion is an assignment to be submitted for a grade.  This is the third of five small group discussions to be submitted during the semester.  Read the directions carefully and read the Grading Rubric, which can be viewed by clicking the three vertical dots in the upper right hand corner of the assignment, and then by clicking the words Show Rubric, then compose your response and submit your response by clicking Reply.   

Directions: 

The information in Chapter 14 Psychosocial Development in Emerging and Young Adulthood, focuses on the social main area of human development, which pertains to the relationships between an individual and their parents, siblings, other family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers, and, the chapter also focuses on the emotional main area of human development, which deals with the feelings and emotions that occur within an individual. 

Based upon what you read, think of a concept, or study, or research results that struck your attention as being interesting, or good, or meaningful, or important, or stood out to you, in either the social main area of human development, or the emotional main area of human development.  Reflect on it.  Meaning, think deeply about it.  Describe it, and differentiate whether the information pertained to the social main area of human development or the emotional main area of human development.   Then, consider what you would study next, if you could, and construct a little study, using one of the three classic developmental research designs.     

Classic developmental research designs:  

Cross-sectional research design

Longitudinal research design

Sequential research design

Tasks: 

1.   Identify a concept, study, or research result that stood out to you as being interesting, good, meaningful, or important from the information in Chapter 14. 
2.   Describe the concept, study, or research result.  
3.   Differentiate whether the information pertained mainly to the social main area of human development, which involves the relationships between individuals, or if the information pertained mainly to the emotional main area of human development, which involves the feelings and emotions within an individual, given that there may be overlap between the two main areas.  
4.   State what you would be interested in studying about the topic you identified.        
5.   Create a study to address the topic, using one of the three classic developmental research designs, which are the cross-sectional, the longitudinal, and the sequential research designs.  
6.   Reply to five classmates’ responses by asking a question, answering a question, offering a suggestion, giving praise, agreeing, politely disagreeing, providing encouragement, sharing a story, or offering a comment.  

How to Complete the Assignment: 

Read the six task items, and then compose a response to each of the six task items in the order in which they appear.  Be as specific as possible.  The responses should show that you have an understanding of the concepts being addressed. 

How the Assignment will be Scored: 

The assignment will be scored using the Grading Rubric for the assignment, which can be viewed by clicking the three vertical dots in the upper right hand corner of the assignment, and then by clicking the words Show Rubric.  The Grading Rubric is based on the Task items, which are aligned with the Learning Objectives of the chapter, which are aligned with the Course Objectives that are on the Syllabus, and which are aligned with the Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) for the course that are on the Syllabus.  If a response meets the criterion set forth in the Grading Rubric, then the response will earn 1 point.  If a response does not meet the criterion set forth in the Grading Rubric, then the response will not earn 1 point.  Each assignment is scored independently from previous assignments and each assignment is scored independently from future assignments.  

Where to Access the Score:  

The score for the assignment will be visible in the Grades area.  To view how the score was derived, you can view the points earned on the Grading Rubric by clicking the word Show Rubric in upper right hand of the page in the Grades area for this specific assignment.  If there is individual feedback on the assignment, then there will be individual feedback in the Assignment Comments area, which is right hand side of the page. 

Student Success Tip: 

Two Samples of Good Work are provided for students to use as a guide for how to gear their responses.  One sample is in a paragraph format and the other sample is in a numbered format.  Either format is acceptable to use when submitting your response.    

Samples of Good Work:

Sample 1

The work of Costa and McCrae seemed interesting to me.  Costa and McCrae studied personality traits and used factor analysis to create a theory called the Big Five Theory of Personality.  The theory pertains mainly to the emotional main area of human development.  Of particular interest would be to see if the results of studies about personality traits changing could be replicated.  A longitudinal study could be conducted to address this, with 2000 individuals who are age 29, who are introverts, and evaluate them over time, until age 39, to see if they become extroverts, or not, assessing them on the Extraversion scale of the Five Factor Model.       

Sample 2

1.   The concept of friendship in emerging adulthood stood out to me as being important.    
2.   Friendship involves having a support network for one’s self, and giving emotional support to another person, and is important for individuals in emerging and young adulthood.   
3.   Friendship pertains mainly to the social main area of human development.    
4.   The textbook stated information about friendships being unstable during this age range, because people move away, and it would be interesting to see if emerging and young adults are able to maintain friendships, and what the quality of their friendships are like.    
5.   A sequential study could be conducted to assess the quality and duration of friendships in emerging and young adulthood, by studying a group of 3000 18 year olds who graduate from high school and move out of state to attend college, and 3000 18 year olds who attend college within driving distance from their home, with both groups being measured over time, until age 39, to see who feel close to their friends and if they still keep in contact with their friends.  

Alignment of Assignment to the Course:  

This small group discussion ties into Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) 1:

Student Learning Outcomes 1.  Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical constructs among the 4 main areas of human development (Physical, Cognitive, Social, and Emotional) throughout the lifespan.

Student Learning Outcomes 2.  Students will be able to differentiate among classic developmental research designs.

This small group discussion ties into Course Objectives 2 and 6.

Course Objective 2. Differentiate among the various methods utilized to conduct developmental research.  

Course Objective 6. Explain and discuss the 8 stages of psychosocial development proposed by Erik Erikson.

This small group discussion ties into Learning Objectives 1, 2, 3, and 4 for Chapter 14: 

Learning Objective 1. Discuss the concept of emerging adulthood. 

Learning Objective 2. Discuss parental relationships in emerging and young adulthood.  

Learning Objective 3. Discuss theories of personality development in emerging and young adulthood.  

Learning Objective 4. Discuss social relationships in emerging and young adulthood.  

Rationale for the Assignment:

The purpose of the small group discussion is to apply the course material to the real world and to your own life by giving examples that are from evidence-based research and that are meaningful to you, and to show an understanding and mastery of the material, and to promote interaction with engagement with other students in the class.  This is due by Sunday night at 11:59 p.m.  Please see the Grading Rubric for the Small Group Discussion, by clicking the three vertical dots in the upper right hand corner of the assignment, and then by clicking the words Show Rubric.