Читать книгу Lifespan Development - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 98

1 Steven enters the school psychologist’s office with a frown, grumbling to himself. His teacher, Ms. Marta, has suggested that he visit the school psychologist for help understanding and treating his academic problems. Steven is a bright fifth grader, but he has great difficulties reading and his mathematics skills lag far behind his peers. Ms. Marta contacts Steven’s mother, reassuring her that the school has excellent resources for diagnosing children’s learning problems and special education professionals who can intervene and help children overcome learning difficulties.The school psychologist interviews Steven’s mother in order to compile a history of Steven’s development. Through this interview, he learns that Steven suffered a great deal of trauma early in life; as an infant, he was physically abused by his biological mother, then taken away and placed in foster care. At age 3, he was adopted into a middle-class, suburban family with two older, nonadopted children.As we have seen, each developmental theory has a unique emphasis. How might each theory address Steven’s academic difficulties?What factors would psychoanalytic theories point to in order to explain Steven’s functioning?How would cognitively oriented theories, such as Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory and information processing theory, account for and intervene with Steven’s difficulties?Identify contextual factors that may play a role in Steven’s academic problems; from Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory, what factors may be addressed?

2 Suppose you wanted to conduct research on academic achievement during elementary and middle school.Identify a research question appropriate for a correlational research study.How would you address that question with a cross-sectional research study? Longitudinal? Sequential?What are the advantages and disadvantages of each type of study?