EDUC 302: Human Growth & Development

Welcome to the EDUC 302: Human Growth & Development Infoguide

These pages contain resources for Mason Education students to seek multiple sources to use for your course assignments

• Select a Topic - Find and narrow your topic
• Creating Searches - Identify and brainstorm keywords, create searches, types of sources
• Find Articles - Key databases and journals for human growth and development
• Find Books - Mason educational law electronic and print books
• Create an Annotated Bibliography - Describes what an annotated bibliography is and how to create one
• Find Online Tutorials -   tutorials on beginning your research, finding & evaluating resources, using Zotero to create citations
• Write & Cite - Information on citing sources using APA format, how to find DOI's, and Zotero
• Get Help - links to information of citing references using APA format and Zotero

Article Share 
Due: See syllabus for specifics (https://cehd.gmu.edu/courses/EDUC-302)
What:  StStudents will select a journal article (not a news article) from a variety of topics provided by the instructor that is related to human growth and development. This activity will take place during predetermined class sessions (see class schedule). Article Share groups will be determined on the first day of class. There will be approximately four students to a group. Each group member will be responsible for leading one article share discussion and groupmates will be responsible for engaging in a dialog with the presenter. 

Brief Research Report (Research and Practice in Human Growth and Development)
Due: See syllabus for specifics
What:  This assignment allows students to pursue a topic of their choice and conduct some basic research. The topic can be anything they are interested in that relates to the content of the course.
Requirements:

• Using the research skills demonstrated by the library session with Anne Melville (adrisco2@gmu.edu) and further discussion with the instructor,
• students are to find at least three scholarly, (peer-reviewed) journal articles (including at least 1 empirical-research article) that cover your topic of interest that have been published in the past decade.
• They can and should incorporate older references, non-peer-reviewed sources, or additional peer -reviewed sources.
• The paper should include a literature review, synthesis, and reflection guided by the following questions:
  • How is the topic situated in the field of lifespan development?
    • What developmental period is emphasized?
    • What theoretical perspectives inform the research (Vygotsky, Piaget, Freud, Erikson, etc.) ? 
    • What developmental domains (social and emotional, cognitive, and /or physical) are emphasized?
  • How is the information relevant for furthering the body of knowledge informing lifespan development?
  • How is this information helpful for practitioners?
  • How is this information relevant for the general population?
• Students will cite current research from the course textbook, class discussions, and other course materials, which may be supplemented with other relevant sources to support their conclusions and assertions. Students will use in-text citations and include a reference list.
• The paper will be five to six double-spaced pages plus title and reference pages.