Assignment #2: Tracking Cognitive Development
Developmental Psychology – Fall 2010
25 points – Due 10/19
In this second assignment for our class, you are going to be reexamining the changes of your individual that you introduced into the world in the last assignment. In this section, your job is to detail their cognitive changes in their life from infancy to old age (note: if your person died at the age of 1, 5, or any other age before their 50’s or beyond in the last paper, don’t do this again) . In this first section, you’ll be reintroducing your character. Do this by listing and their name and where they were born, and describing developmental problems that they encountered (use your information from the last paper, but you can also choose to remove problems that are too difficult to use) and environmental factors that play a role in their cognitive development. This description should be in roughly 2-3 paragraphs.
After the written introduction, you’ll create a new timeline. In this one, you will track their cognitive development in a number of different ways. The specifics are listed below.
Please note again that you need to identify the times when your person’s development does not fit with the rest of the population. Do this by identifying their development, mentioning when this development typically happens, and describing what caused this anomaly.
OVERVIEW OF THE WRITTEN INTRODUCTION PONTS
I.
Name your individual and details – 1 point
II.
Description of upbringing and environment that impact cognitive skills – 2 points
OVERVIEW OF THE TIMELINE
I.
Create a timeline for your person starting at birth and proceeding to his/her death. – 1 point
II.
Chart your person’s childhood stages of cognitive development with respect to the work done by Piaget. To do this, you’ll need to: a.
Label the different stages of development that your child is in – 2 points b.
Identify Piaget-specific cognitive concepts and the specific ages for when they learn the concepts – 2 points
III.
Chart your person’s stages of cognitive growth in attention skills – 2 points, memory skills – 2
points, and thinking skills – 1 points
IV.
Chart your person’s growth in intelligence skills. This means detailing their performance with respect to their peers, and the types of intelligence growth that they encounter – 4 points
V.
Chart your person’s growth in language skills. In particular, describe their growth and any exceptional behaviors that they might display with respect to this cognitive skill – 3 points
FINAL POINTS
You will receive an additional 5 points for writing a summary that is grammatically correct, creating a timeline that is easy to understand and follow, and generating a person that is both unique and interesting, and one that displays cognitive skills that match up with their environment (THROUGHOUT THEIR LIFE). In other words, use what we have learned and spend some time on this.

Assignments need to be handed in during the beginning of class or emailed to me before class on the
19 th of October. Late work will not be accepted for this assignment. However, turning the paper in early is always encouraged.
Please write several drafts, spell check, proofread and revise both your timeline and introduction before handing in your assignment. You will not receive full credit if your assignment contains grammatical, spelling, or stylistic mistakes.
A Note on Plagiarism:
USE YOUR OWN WORDS! Plagiarism in this assignment will not be tolerated. Anyone caught plagiarizing on this paper will receive a 0 on the paper and an entire grade reduction on their final grade. Plagiarism can exist in many forms, but all versions of plagiarism involve using the intellectual materials of another without making an acknowledgement of its source. Examples of plagiarism include:
1) Copying statements and writings of another without acknowledging their contribution
(quotes, reference, etc.).
2) Using the views and statements of others in your papers in a manner that makes them seem as if they were your own original views and statements.
3) Constant paraphrasing and copying of statements throughout your paper (this can be considered plagiarism even if you cite your sources if you are doing this too frequently).