Developmental Theories Discussion Paper

PURPOSE
The purpose of this discussionis for you to introduce yourself to the class, and to critically reflect uponyour experiences, values, and interests as they relate to stages in thelifespan.
You willpost an Initial Post by Thursday of the week, and two Replies by Friday.
INITIAL POST
In your Initial Post, addresseach of the following sets of questions, in a paragraph for each. In yourresponse,apply specific developmental conceptsyou learned from the readings and other materials whendescribing your life experiences and thinking on the issues.
Is human development something thathappens slowly and gradually, or does it involve sudden and abruptchanges?Does the answer to this question depend upon thespecific person, circumstances, or aspects of development underconsideration?
Which the mostsense to you and why?Explain by describing how some of your specificobservations about development or your own specific life experiencessupport the theory.
Before responding to thesequestions, conduct an Internet search to find an authoritative source on theissue. An authoritative source is one that goes beyond mere opinion andpresents some to the issue.
Discussspecificideas/information from this source in your post, and include the URL (webaddress) to the article at the end of your post.
REPLIES
Read your classmates’ posts,and select two Initial Posts to respond to. Select posts that presentideas and experiences that are different from your own, since this provides thegreatest opportunity for you to develop your own thinking. In yourreplies, include the following:
aquote of the specificstatementyou are responding to
a paraphrasing of the statement tocommunicate to your classmate how you interpreted it
an explanation of how your thinking onthe issue is different from your classmates thinking
an question that asks your classmate toelaborate upon some aspect of their thinking
Each replyshould be at least 200 words in length. When asking yourquestion, consider what aspect of thinking your question istargeting.Your question could be about any of the following standards:
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Clarity: You found some , and would like yourclassmate to rephrase it.
Accuracy: You are unsure if something stated is true, and would liketo see some supporting evidence.
Precision: You found a statement to be too general and vague, and wouldsome more specifics.
Logic: You don’t understand how some statements fit together.They seem to be contradictory, and you would like that explained.
Depth: You found the response to be too simple. You think yourclassmate left out some important facts or information that needs to beconsidered.
Breadth: You think the response is “narrow-minded” in the sensethat other people might see it differently. You would like your classmateto think about it from another point of view.
Fairness: You found some particular statements to be judgmental.Maybe this wasn’t intended, but it came across that way to you. You areasking your classmate to reflect upon whether they have a bias or negativeattitude about the issue.
Relevance: You found some information shared not to be relevant to theissue or question, or you think some relevant information is being left out ofthe response.
Significance: You think your classmate is making “too big of a deal”of something or is minimizing something. You think something is moreimportant or less important than how they are presenting it.
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When asking yourquestion,identify the specific standard or standardsthat you are targeting. Put it in a bold font,so it stands out in your post.This makes your critical thinking“explicit” (that is, out in the open), which is a good way to developthinking. Critical thinking, in essence, is thinking aboutthinking. We think about thinking through analysis (breaking itdown)and evaluation (making judgments about how it could be improved).