Child Psychology Spring 2016 Applied Paper
When you are using the textbook (as you should in all papers) please use this modification of APA style. You can simply use the page numbers in your paper as citations. For example, if I was writing something about childrens abilities to use a certain toy, I might write: In order to play with the golf set, children should be able to stand without assistance. A typical two year old has this skill (p. 107), therefore, this toy is appropriate for a two year old

All papers should have additional sources besides the textbook and notes. Please use at least ONE peer reviewed CHILD PSYCHOLOGY article. You may use books/notes and other resources as needed. Be selective with internet sources Wikipedia is NOT a very good reference! Use websites associated with universities, medical centers, organizations, etc. ALL PAPERS SHOULD HAVE A REFERENCE PAGE!
The article you select must be a research article, from 2000 or later. A research article will have a methods section (including participants), procedure, results and discussion. As part of the paper you should describe the research the authors did. I need to see that you read the article and not the abstract. About 2-3 paragraphs should be sufficient. THEN you need to explicitly connect the research paper into your paper- there must be a reason why you selected that particular paper
Make sure you EXPLAIN in your own words any developmental principles you talk about- pretend you are writing the paper for someone who doesnt know developmental psychology! I want to make sure you understand what you are writing about and are not simply selecting phrases from the textbook. Every applied statement/idea must be EXPLICTILY backed up by a developmental psychology principle. For all papers, most of the points will come from this aspect- your description of developmental psych and how you explicitly applied it to the topic. It is possible to hand in a 5 page paper and receive no credit if you do not explicitly discuss child psychology.
Formatting:
o The paper must be typed
o 1 inch margins
o 12 point or 11 point font, Times New Roman or Arial. If you use other fonts, this
may result in larger font/spacing between lines and your paper may end up being
too short o Stapled
o Use paragraphs- indent, etc!
o Please make sure that you dont have extra spaces between paragraphs (word 07
has this as default, you will need to change it). THE SPACING BETWEEN

PARAGRAPHS SHOULD LOOK THE SAME AS THE SPACING WITHIN A
Points will be deducted if formatting is not followed.
Papers are due at the beginning of class SHARP. If you hand in the paper after I have collected them at the beginning of class, it will be counted as late. 10% of points will be deducted for each day the paper is late
Papers should be 5-6 pages, not including the reference page or cover sheet/title page
Please feel free to submit a rough draft to me for some feedback. You may also want to
take advantage of the Writing Centers services; they can help with formatting and style.Topic 2: An ideal school
There is a growing feeling in the U.S. that education is broken. One way that people are trying to fix education is by developing charter schools. As you may know, charter schools are publicly funded, independently operated schools that are allowed to operate with more autonomy than traditional public schools in exchange for increased accountability. In 1991, Minnesota became the first state to pass a charter school law. Today, 41 states and the District of Columbia have similar laws.
Many different aspects go into designing a charter school. For this paper, please design your ideal school or classroom for learning, focusing on middle childhood, approximately 4 6 grade (about 9 12 years). It is up to you if you discuss more than one grade or not. You need to specify which grade you are talking and connect to what typically happens developmentally at that age.
You must consider at least THREE different aspects of development- one from the biosocial domain, one from the cognitive and one from the psychosocial domain. Please be specific. Please make sure you explain the developmental principle or concept and refer to the page number of the textbook.
Please make sure you explain WHY you have developed your specific positions, and use the
peer reviewed article, textbook and additional sources to support your ideas.

Textbook: The Developing Person through Childhood, 9th edition Kathleen Berger, Worth Publishing