EDU 305 Week 1 Individual Assignment Key Theories of Development

Complete the Key Child Developmental Theories activity located on your student website.

Complete the University of Phoenix Material: Key Theories of Child Development Worksheet using the theories identified in the activity.

Submit the activity and worksheet to your facilitator.

EDU 305 Week 1 Individual Assignment Prenatal and Newborn Development Brochure

Resource: Brochure Builder located on your student website

Imagine your school is reaching out to new parents or parents-to-be in your community whose children may eventually go to your school. The outreach program is attempting to educate parents on prenatal and newborn development in the hopes that parents will better prepare their children for kindergarten.

Create a visual presentation describing prenatal and newborn development to be handed out or presented through the outreach program. Your presentation can be in the form of a brochure, poster, diagram, mind map, or any other visual that is appropriate for the subject. Include the following:

• A brief description of the key milestones in prenatal and newborn development
• Tips to support development through the first year

A paragraph about how parents’ understanding of prenatal and newborn development can help their children succeed in school

EDU 305 Week 2 Individual Assignment Culture and Development Paper

Watch the following videos located on your student website:

• Custodial Grandparents
• Home Environment and Mental Development

Conduct a search on current research into the cultural influences on development.

Locate at least two articles related to cultural influences on the development of infants and toddlers.

Write a 350- to 700-word paper answering the following questions:

• What factors make up a person’s culture?
• How does culture influence infant and toddler development? 
• Is the influence of a person’s culture less than, more than, or as important as the biological influences? In other words, is nature or nurture stronger, or are they both equally influential? Explain the reasoning behind your opinion.

Create a list of 5 to 7 best practices for enhancing learning when working with infants and toddlers from a variety of cultures

EDU 305 Week 3 Assignment Preschool Program Design

Imagine you are a team of experts hired by a philanthropist in your area who is seeking to open a one-of-a-kind preschool. You are to design the preschool program with few budgetary constraints.

Design an ideal preschool program that supports development in the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional areas. Include the following:

• The age range of the children to be served
• A description of at least two learning activities you intend to use for each of the developmental areas and the learning theories behind these activities
• How you will include diverse populations
• How you will use technology to individualize and support learning
• A description or diagram of how the classroom would be organized so that children may develop in each area

Present your final program design in the format best suited to your team and design. This could be a Microsoft^®Word document, a Microsoft^® PowerPoint^® presentation, or any other presentation format of your choosing. 

EDU 305 Week 3 Individual Assignment Classroom Observation Summary

Observe children ages 2 to 6 at a selected site for at least 1 hour, preferably in a school classroom. If a classroom is unavailable, observe children of these ages in any learning environment, for instance the YMCA, a library with educational programming, a local church, or a daycare facility that offers preschool.

Write a 750- to 1,050-word summary of your experience, reflecting on the principles and concepts of theory. Include the following:

• Site description, including the number of children observed
• The developmental stages of children present
• The typical and atypical cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development of children observed
• Reflections on your experience
• A discussion about nature versus nurture and your feelings on the issue
• A discussion of the cultural aspects in the environment or a recommendation for incorporating diversity
• How theory relates to the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development you observed

Implications for classroom application (What could you take away that might be useful for you to use in a classroom?)

EDU 305 Week 4 Individual Assignment Elementary School Design

Update your Week Three Learning Team assignment by designing an elementary learning program using the bullets in your Week Three Learning Team assignment.

Add the accommodations you would make for multiple intelligences

EDU 305 Week 5 Assignment Medial Influence

Conduct a study of media messages that target early adolescents. Observe stores, window displays, and notice billboards; review popular magazines in supermarkets, bookstores, and drugstores; analyze primetime television programs and commercials, major motion pictures that are PG-13 rated, and listen to music on popular radio stations. You may wish to explore several websites that relate to media including www.mediafamily.org.

Identify a particular message from the data you collect and base your presentation on that theme. The theme may be of any nature, such as beauty as a cultural value, fitness or health, aggression, sexuality, or commitment. It might be positive or negative.

Present your findings. You may use a Microsoft^® PowerPoint^® presentation, a poster or collage, a website or wiki, a multimedia presentation tool, or any other appropriate means to present your findings. Answer the following in your presentation:

• What influence do you think these media messages have on adolescent development?
• What developmental theories explain the influence of these messages?
• What are the potential ethical issues in media targeted for adolescents? How would you deal with these in the classroom?

As a teacher, how would you address negative media influences or incorporate positive media and its influences into the classroom?

EDU 305 Week 5 Individual Assignment Classroom Observation and Teacher Interview Paper

Resource: University of Phoenix Material: Sample Interview Questions

Select a site for observing and interviewing an elementary or middle school teacher in a grade level of your choice. A school setting would be ideal for this assignment. If, however, a school classroom is unavailable, you may choose any educational setting for children.

Obtain facilitator approval by Week Three.

Observe the teacher for at least 1 hour.

Interview the teacher based on your sample interview questions. You may expand on the sample questions.

Write a 750- to 1050-word paper on the interview. Include the following:

• Site information: Teacher’s name, grade level, location description, and type of classroom
• Summary of teacher’s response to the interview questions
• An explanation of the importance of using developmental theory in the classroom
• A reflection of your interview experience

Post, along with your paper, a summary or graphic representation of an item from your observation and interview that you might use to support development in one of the domains. This could be a lesson plan, a classroom management idea, a poster, a bulletin board idea, or any other item that you might incorporate. If you did not find an artifact you could use, suggest one the teacher could have used to support development in the classroom and answer the bulleted questions above. Answer the following questions about your item:

• How did the teacher incorporate this into the classroom?
• How might you incorporate this into your classroom?
• What theory is this item based on?
• How does this support development?

Record your observation on your Field Experience Record.

EDU 305 Week 5 Individual Assignment Middle School Design

Expand on the school design you have worked on in the past 2 weeks to include adolescents.