Lifespan Development 2222
The Lifespan Assignment: 35 points
Summer, 2023
Due:Thurs., July 27that 11:59pm in the appropriate Assignment folder
Description:
Interview one older adult (at least 65 years old). Interviews don’t take long—and can be done via phone. This can be a grandparent, parent, neighbor or a nursing home resident you have never met!
You should first create a list of questions to investigate:
- Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man (which will include information across your interviewee’s entire lifespan thus far—and possibly yet to come), and
2) TWOtheories/concepts/cluster of termsfrom your adulthood learning
*You may need to make predictions for future development based on your learning of that individual’s life thus far AND what you would expect based on your developmental learning (this will depend on the age of your interviewee) for Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man.
The number of questions in your interview will vary according to how much content you gain with each. Hint: It is much easier to ask too much information than to have to add to your interview at a later date. You do not need to turn in your interview questions—the content gained from them will be in your paper. Make sure that you understand what you will be writing about before you conduct your interview. J
*Alternative age option: If you would like to interview a child, adolescent, or adult (early or middle), please let me know! You would be following the same overall directions but would be making predictions for Erikson’s later stages.
The paper:
*Follow this order/organization:
- Briefly introduce your interviewee. Do not use your interviewee’s real name—you may refer to him/her as Alex. (Real name and a phone number must be included at the end of your paper for potential follow-up on the experience for the older adult.) This is a great practice with confidentiality! JDescribe what the interview experience with an older adult was like. Was it what you expected? Why or why not? (3 points)
- Apply the older adult’s life to Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man. This theory should be fully described and theory content should be obtained from your textbook (and Erikson handout/discussion from class—remember that there is a handout in your Lesson 3 materials that explains all 8 stages ?) and NOT the internet. Every stage should be explained and applied to the older adult’s life. If the last stage hasn’t been experienced fully yet by the older adult, predictions should be made based on information gained on previous stages and developmental learning. (at least several sentences per stage) (24 points)
- Explain TWOtheories/concepts/cluster of terms(of your choice from the textbook) in adulthood AND explain how these concepts apply to your interviewee. For instance, you could define episodic memory and then explain an example of your older adult’s episodic memory and how it may have declined with age as you would expect—or maybe how your interviewee can give details about a past event that would lead you to believe little decline has occurred. BE SURE that you are explaining each concept in full detail and not summarizing it. (one large paragraph each) (8 points)
To make it easier for the writing stage, FIRST go through your book (it is written chronologically which will help) before you interview and write down the information that will help you in your interview. Write down Erikson’s eight stages (your handout has all 8 stages in one file within your Lesson 3 materials) and the other theories/concepts/terms of your choice within adulthood. Then, think of questions that you could ask in your interview to be able to fully describe each of your theories.
*Basic writing skills and use of correct grammar will also be taken into consideration when grading this assignment. If the level of writing is not at college level, your assignment will not be graded. If you have any questions on this, please ask. J
