Introduction:

The small group discussion is an assignment to be submitted for a grade.  This is the fourth 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: 

Imagine that you decide to join a club on campus and you make a new friend.  Your new friend goes on and on about how he or she does not want to get old, especially not wanting to be a middle aged person.  What would your new friend say?  What would you say?  Think of the physical and cognitive aspects of development in middle adulthood, which is the age range of 40 to 65, and then with the information from Chapter 15 in mind, complete the following tasks. 

Tasks: 

1.   Create a fictitious friend that you made from a club you joined on campus. 
2.   Discuss one hormonal change in middle adulthood, which is the age range of 40-65.
3.   Discuss one physical change in middle adulthood, which is the age range of 40-65, with the fictitious friend.
4.   Discuss one cognitive component in middle adulthood, which is the age range of 40-65, such as thinking, or memory, or intelligence, with the fictitious friend.  
5.   Discuss one strength of middle adulthood, which is the age range of 40-65, with the fictitious friend. 
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

While participating in the Bird Watching Club on campus, Millie, age 38, my new friend, had negative views about middle age, but she was told by me that it is not that bad.  For example, for women, there are hormonal changes that are normal and women have menopause, where the ovaries stop producing estrogen.  Men and women do have physical changes, such as getting gray hair and there is mild hearing loss.  Another change in middle adulthood is that crystallized intelligence improves.  Individuals in middle adulthood are generally healthy and show creativity.  It is not a period of the life span to dread.   

Sample 2

1.   After joining the Book Club on campus, and becoming good friends with Suzie, who was age 39, she disclosed to me that she was afraid of turning 40 and becoming a middle aged adult. 
2.   Suzie was worried about having to deal with the hormonal changes that are normal for women, such as a loss of estrogen and progesterone.
3.   She was not looking forward to having her hair “lose pigmentation”, as her hair stylist told her, and “turn gray”, because she worked in a boutique in Beverly Hills and would have to start dying her hair, because she was afraid she would look bad and it might affect her sales.  My comment to her was to have more confidence in her appearance and that if someone did not like the way she looked, then they did not have to look at her and that there is more to a person than the color of their hair.  
   4.  She was told that cognitively, in middle adulthood, she will have gained expertise in her field, and due to crystalized intelligence there would be an encapsulation of the knowledge she had acquired over the course of her career, and upon hearing this from me, she was relieved.  

1. She was told that one of the strengths of middle adulthood is creativity, and she might find that she would invent a new method for dealing with a long-standing problem in her field.  

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.

This small group discussion topic ties into Course Objectives 3, 7, and 8.

Course Objective 3.  Discuss key features of physical development across the lifespan, such as prenatal factors, heritability, puberty, hormonal changes, physical health, and biological aspects of mental health. 

Course Objective 7.  Discuss the components of and changes that occur in human memory across the lifespan including the declines in memory common during late adulthood.

Course Objective 8.  Discuss the various theories in intelligence and changes in intellectual abilities that occur across the lifespan. 

This small group discussion ties into Learning Objectives 1, 2, and 3 for Chapter 15: 

Learning Objective 1.  Discuss hormonal changes in middle adulthood.

Learning Objective 2.  Discuss physical health in middle adulthood.

Learning Objective 3.  Discuss theories of intelligence and changing intellectual abilities in middle 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.