The Book Report is due in Module/Week 5. You are encouraged to select a book and begin reading it early in the course. The book you choose must be written about children by a professional in the field of child development (examples of professionals are doctors, educators, pediatric nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers) and must be between 250–300 pages. Write a well-focused Book Report discussing the child development issues/ideas addressed in your chosen book. Your paper must include 4–5 pages of text as well as a title page and a references page. The title page, the body of the paper, and the references page must all be formatted according to current APA style as outlined in the APA Manual. In your report, include the number of pages in your chosen book. The Grading Rubric for this assignment provides the specific requirements and expectations for the assignment. Review it before submitting your paper.

Book Report Grading Rubric

Student: _______________________________      

Assignments: Critical Reasoning Essays: Select 1 of the following 5 topics and prepare a multi-paragraph essay (at least four paragraphs). Include results from class materials, readings and research on the topic. Provide a hard copy the completed essay to me; emailed submissions are preferred. The essay must be submitted by the eleventh week of the term (last regular class meeting).

Topics to choose from:

1.) Neural Pathway

2.) Learning Process

3.) Operant Conditioning and Modifying a Behavior
4.) Stages of Development: Understanding Yourself

5.) Psychological Disorders

Critical Reasoning Essay Prompts

Choose any one from the following essay prompts. Essays should be submitted during the term after the appropriate material has been covered in class lectures. No papers will be accepted after the eleventh week of the term. Your essay can be submitted earlier than the suggested deadline.Your essay is worth 100 points. Department policy does not accept late assignments; therefore, if the assignment is not turned in on time, you will receive “0” points for that assignment.

1) Neural Pathways
Choose any neural pathway you feel passionate about like the visual pathway, auditory pathway, olfactory pathway, etc., and describe how the pathway travels from the stimuli through the nervous system. Then, explain how the environment (experiences) may have an effect on how stimuli may be perceived. Example: If you were to choose the visual pathway and you were raised around snakes as pets, first describe the visual pathway from stimuli to occipital lobe, and how would a picture of a snake (the stimulus) travel from the occipital lobe to other parts of the brain like the limbic system (specific parts of the limbic system) to the cortex and how might your autonomic nervous system react.

2) Learning Process
Describe how learning is accomplished from stimuli to processing. Here you don’t have to be specific with the neural pathways if you choose not to, but you do have to identify the brain components responsible for learning. What I am looking for is that you understand the different components, modalities, and how to optimize your time to learn material presented during your academic career.

3) Operant Conditioning and Modifying a Behavior
Drawing on personal experience, choose a person whose behavior you want to change. You may select one of your own behaviors for this question. How could you use operant conditioning to change the less desirable behavior into the desired behavior?
In a multi-paragraph essay describe your plans to condition the new behavior. Be sure to mention what type of reinforcer and reinforcement schedule you would use and explain why you made those particular choices. Include information from class materials, readings and research on operant conditioning to support your discussion.

4) Stages of Development: Understanding Yourself
Psychologists, such as Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson, theorize that humans go through stages in their development throughout life, growing from infancy to old age. Piaget outlined stages ofthinking, referred to as cognitive development; Erikson described stages of personality, referred to as psychosocial development. How can you use this information to better understand your own life? What stages of cognitive and psychosocial development have you gone through since you were an infant? Which stages will you encounter during adulthood and old age?

In a multi-paragraph essay describe all the different stages of cognitive and psychosocial development throughout your life span. Be sure to provide examples to illustrate the thoughts, emotions and behavior typical of each stage. Include details from class materials, readings and research on human development to support your discussion.

5) Psychological Disorder
Choose any psychological disorder and write how it can be developed from the environment (experiences or biological) or genetics. If it is genetics, what may trigger the gene to synthesize? Then, choose a current media, where someone may be suffering from this disorder and give the main exhibited behaviors that may have led to the diagnoses.

Again, be sure to provide evidence from the person’s or character’s thoughts, emotions and behavior. Include details from class materials, readings and research on personality to support your discussion.

Essay Format

Assignment 1: Violence on Children’s TV

The National Television Violence Study found that in 1996-1997, 61% of television programs contained violence, and, of those selected, 75% showed no remorse, criticism of, or penalty for the violence. Forty percent of violent acts were committed by attractive characters.

For this assignment, you need to watch an hour of children’s television, preferably cartoons, and analyze the level of violence in the chosen children’s show.

• Rate the aggressive acts using the following scale:
• Mild: Verbal aggression with no physical contact
• Medium: Physical contact with no blood, such as pushing, shoving, and hitting
• Extreme: Use of force to cause bodily injury, such as guns, knives, and other weapons, where blood is produced

• Determine if any of the following occurs after the violent acts:
• remorse for the violence
• criticism of the violence
• any consequences of the violence

• Analyze how the chosen show might influence the growing child, based on your readings. What messages is this show giving to the child?

Council on Communications and Media. (2009). Media violence. Pediatrics, 124(5), 1495-1503. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/5/1495.full

By Saturday, September 12, 2015, write your initial response to each part in 3–4 paragraphs. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

Assignment 1: Discussion—Midlife—Making the Most of the “Second Half”

Have you heard the saying, “Life begins at forty?” Unfortunately the cultural messages we receive about midlife are often negative (an emphasis on the development of wrinkles and gray hair, for example) rather than positive (a time of advancement in one’s career, freedom from the responsibilities of caring for young children). Midlife is often a time of transition. People may change careers or end long-term marriages as they assess where they are in life and how they would like to spend the remainder of their lives. Because these transitions are sometimes painful, the concept of the “midlife crisis” has been created and has become popular in American culture. However, there has also been some debate questioning whether the midlife crisis is a universal experience and, in fact, whether it even exists. In this assignment, you will review research on the concept of the midlife crisis and draw your own conclusions about its existence and prevalence in American culture. You will also discuss some ways that we can create a more positive image of midlife.

Use your module readings, the Argosy University online library resources and the Internet to research the concept of midlife crisis.

Select one research paper for review and analysis. Use the module readings and the selected research paper to respond to the following:

• What is the evidence for the existence of the midlife crisis?
• Why has the concept become so pervasive in American culture?
• Discuss at least two ways that we can create a more positive image of midlife in our culture.

Support your arguments with research, citing sources.

Write your initial response in 150–200 words. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. By Friday, September 5, 2014, post your response to the appropriate Discussion Area. Through Wednesday, September 10, 2014, review and comment on at least two peers’ responses. Ask a question, remark on an analysis presented, or suggest an alternative view. Be sure to formulate a thoughtful and substantive response.