PART A
Throughout this course we examined development through the lens of the life-span. For this week we took a closer look at older adults. The perceptions about growing older into older adulthood often do not match the realities of being an older adult. For this assignment, explain some of the myths regarding older adults and some of the realities they often face. Put special emphasis on the social-economic and the physical factors that you have found in your readings and research on this topic. Based on your experiences how would you interpret these myths and realities of older adults? Make sure to justify your answers by citing relevant sources.
Post your response to the Discussion Area by the due date assigned. Respond to at least two posts by the end of the week.
Use an APA style reference list with in-text citations in your initial response.
Use an APA style reference list with in-text citations in at least one of your two responses to classmates.
PART B
Final Paper
You will need to find 4 articles located in scholarly journals. Scholarly journal articles are also referred as primary source peer reviewed articles. A scholarly journal article can be found in the South University Online Library. To find more information regarding utilizing the South University Library and accessing scholarly journal articles click on Library Guide. What cannot be used for this assignment are web pages, magazines, newspapers, text books, and other books. Finally, current research for our purposes is an article that was published within the last 5 to 6 years.
Remember this is a course on human development so when looking for articles make sure they are related to the subject matter covered in the course. To help in your search here are some of the major areas we covered in this course (these are meant as a guide, not specific topics to find).
- Major developmental theories across the lifespan
- Nature of geographic, gender, social, cognitive, emotional, and developmental factors during each period of development
- Developmental factors that impact one another.
- Historical and current trends in development
- Current trends which may differentially impact the future development of populations in the United States
- Social, and diversity issues related to developmental psychology
With the major areas above in mind, focus on at least two of the following age groups:
- Childhood
- Adolescence
- Adulthood
- Older Adults
First, give an overview of each article, including:
- Write a 2-paragraph summary for each article.
- Write a 1-2 paragraph analysis and evaluation for each article found.
- Make sure to integrate course material in that analysis
Then, write a summary (1-2 pages) integrating what was leaned from the articles reviewed on the chosen age groups as seen from the life-span perspective. Cover the following in that summary:
- What similarities did you find in the types of research and what was being studied? What differences did you find?
- Based on your course readings, what developmental theories did you find that were applicable?
- Explain how the life-span perspective may provide a way of better understanding the research reviewed.
