HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
Related Courses and Supporting Documents
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FSHS 110- Introduction to Human Development
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FSHS 506- Middle Childhood and Adolescence: The material learned in this class really drove me to want to work with adolescents in my future career. We worked on three different case studies where we had to act as an attorney for a 15- 17 year old child and describe why this kid should not be tried as an adult. Another paper we worked on was describing all the things that play a role in the process of adolescent individuation, and I have attached that paper here.
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FSHS 550- The Family
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FSHS 552- Families and Diversity
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FSHS 670- Working with Parents
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GERON 315- Introduction to Gerontology: I took this class because though I am interested in working with adolescents, it is important to be knowledgeable in people of all ages when you're in a helping profession. I wrote a mini research paper on the place and value of tourism in retirement, and how traveling affects older adults that can be read here.
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SOCIO 211- Introduction to Sociology
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ECED 310- Early Childhood
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PSYCH 110- General Psychology
An understanding of the developmental changes (both typical and atypical) of individuals in families throughout the lifespan. Based on knowledge of physical, emotional, cognitive, social, moral, and personality aspects
This content area is very important because everyone grows up, and everyone develops. Everyone starts out as an infant and grows to become an elderly adult. Knowing this, having knowledge of our growth and development across our lifespan is very important and something I have learned about quite extensively throughout my time at KState.
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Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development is a theory that I have learned is very important regarding our development. During each stage, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality development. These include trust vs. mistrust (infancy), autonomy vs. shame (early childhood), initiative vs. guilt (ages 3-5), industry vs. inferiority (school age), identity vs. role confusion (adolescence), intimacy vs. isolation (young adult), generativity vs. stagnation (adulthood), integrity vs. despair (maturity). It is a part of our growth both physically and mentally.
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There are many different theories to explain growth and development such as attachment, ecological model, and social learning theory. All of these theories describe the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, or emotional change that occurs.
Reflection
I did not know what I was getting myself into when I became an FSHS Major. I understood I would be learning about the family and people of all ages, but not to the extent that I have for the last 4 years. Human growth and development is so important because we all go through development, and we all need to know what is healthy and what is not.
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I am most interested in adolescent development. Between the ages of 11 and 18 so much is happening inside and outside the body, and many time kids don't really know what is happening, and how to control it. I think it would be really fun to be a sexual education teacher, because there is so much you could do with the kids to help them grasp that information. I want them to be educated with what is happening inside their bodies, along with the feelings they are starting to feel. My course work has led me to be knowledgeable in this content area. I have learned about everything from child birth, to elder care and everything in between and I can't wait to use this knowledge in my future career.