News Article on Child Development Sample Paper
DETAILS
Assignment 2: News article on child development
The purpose of this assignment is to teach you to apply some of the concepts and information in your textbook to situations outside the classroom. Your task is to collect a recent news article relevant to child development and write an explanation or interpretation of the clipping using your textbook and notes as references.
Articles dated during a previous offering of the course will not be accepted. For example, if you are taking this course in the winter term, articles dated before December of the previous year will not be accepted. News Article on Child Development Sample Paper
THIS ASSIGNMENT IS FOR THE CHILD AND DEVELOPMENTAL COURSE.
ORDER A PLAGIARISM -FREE PAPER NOW
News Article on Child Development
Weight
Worth 10% of your final grade.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to apply some of the concepts and information in your textbook to information you read outside the classroom. Your task is to select a recent news article relevant to child development, summarize it, and write an explanation or interpretation of the clipping.
How to Proceed
Choose an article that gives enough information for you to discuss the issues, and one that is current. Articles dated during a previous offering of the course will not be accepted. For example, if you are taking this course in the winter term, articles dated before December of the previous year will not be accepted. Magazine, newspaper, or internet articles may be used. Include a hard copy of the article (use a scan or have a web link if your article is online) with your assignment when you submit it to the drop box in D2L.
Use your textbook and notes as references for your explanations.
1. Include the following ?where, what, when, who, and why? information. Answer the following questions about your article: News Article on Child Development Sample Paper
Where and when was the article published?
What is the topic?
Who is the intended reader of the article?
Why was the article written?
2. Summarize the article briefly. Include the key points.
3. Discuss how the article relates to the psychological concepts, theories, and research findings covered in the course. In your discussion, include information on:
What research is the article based on (if any).
How does the writer assess the information he or she presents? E.g., does the writer or author interview an expert, acknowledge or discuss other research findings or opinions, or, do they assume there is only one point of view?
The age group involved.
4. What are the developmental issues? Choose 4 to 6 developmental issues. Discuss how the article relates to the psychological concepts, theories, and research findings. Most of your marks will be given for this question.
News Article on Child Development
Published on 2 April 2018 on the BBC News website, the article titled ?Child Poverty: Pale and Hungry Pupils Fill Pockets with School Food,? offers interesting findings into the growing problem of childhood poverty in the United Kingdom. Written by Hannah Richardson, the article was primarily intended for policymakers, educators, parents, government authorities and other relevant institutions involved in child development programmes. News Article on Child Development Sample Paper
In terms of the key objective, the news article was written to bring to light some of the core issues facing economically and socially disadvantaged children in England and Wales (Richardson, 2018). According to the author, school-going children who grow up in poverty experience a myriad of challenges that can affect a child?s educational attainment. The article reinforces the idea that children from low socio-economic households are more likely to likely to lack the requisite social and emotional support to boost their educational outcomes than their non-poor counterparts. As such, protracted exposure to poverty is said to be detrimental on the child?s academic performance. This is because children from low-income households tend to suffer from lack of good nutrition, lack of interest in school, stress from living in violent neighborhoods, limited parental support to gain access to relevant reading materials to facilitate the students? educational success (Richardson, 2018). Therefore, the article sought to bring out the distinct issues faced by school going children from poor families as a result of their economic situation, such as lack of necessary resources and stress linked with their predicament. News Article on Child Development Sample Paper
Article Summary
The news article offers vital information on the core challenges faced by children from poor economic backgrounds in England and Wales. According to the author, the existence of socio-economic disparities reduces the capacity of disadvantaged school-going children to become academically and socially prepared, something that significantly affect their academic achievement. A number of factors such as the lack of adequate food and good nutrition, reduced parental support as well as lack of proper clothing have been cited in the article to contribute to discrepancy in student?s academic concentration, and ultimately, educational outcomes. Based on these findings, the article called for continued support for disadvantaged students as the starting point for reversing the negative effects of poverty on all levels of school success in England and Wales.
There are a number of ways in which the article related to psychological concepts, theories and research finding covered in the course. The article is based on longitudinal studies on some of the key factors producing and maintaining poor academic achievement among school-going children. First, the article adamantly points out the lasting implications of childhood poverty on cognitive skills including reasoning, thinking, problem-solving, verbal and memory. A growing body of literature suggests that socio-economic hardships in childhood may trigger negative effects on cognitive skills, thus affecting the person?s cognitive performance even in old age. Other researchers have mentioned that, children from poverty-stricken households scored lower on social and clinical factors including education, employment, body mass index, and are more likely to experience anxiety and depression, cardiovascular diseases and reduced physical activity (Ferguson & Mueller, 2007). Therefore, the findings of the article are integral in stimulating the need for adopting strategies aimed at promoting and protecting the cognitive health of children from poor socio-economic backgrounds. News Article on Child Development Sample Paper
Using the interviewing method, the author of the article sought to gain a personal account of how school-going children from poor-households are affected by their predicament. Right from seeking the opinions and expertise of school heads, counselors, educational officers, spokesman, and other key personalities, the author gained varied explanations on the effects of poverty on social life and educational attainments of disadvantaged students in England and Wales. The author also appears to quote the findings of other research findings as the basis for creating a strong narrative about the subject matter. This is evident in the manner relevant information and data is brought together to highlight the involvement of the department of education in strengthening interventions to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers. Whilst the article does not include a specific age group, emphasizes that malnourishment is widely common among pupils aged between 5 and 7 years old.
A number of developmental issues are highlighted in the news article. First, childhood poverty as examined in the news article was associated with reduced psycho-social development among children. Under-privileged children are said to experience increased behavioral problems such as bad relations with others, vulnerability, isolation, stress and discomfort that can affect their social and academic engagements within and outside school environments (Ferguson & Mueller, 2007). Secondly, cases of under-achievement among disadvantaged children as another developmental issue can be attributed to lack of proper nutrition, material lack, hunger, exhaustion, low self-confidence, isolation and frustration. As a result, the child?s developmental status could be greatly affected by the multiple, interlocking disadvantages that often leave them unable and powerless to get ahead in terms of showing greater commitment to their educational responsibilities (Engle & Black, 2008). Thirdly, socio-economic challenges in childhood were also associated with a decline in cognitive skills over time. Longitudinal studies in the United States revealed that children from poor families lack the necessary educationally enhancing materials such as books and other cognitive enhancing activities than their counterparts from families with better access to financial resources. Combined, the lack of a responsive stimulating environment for disadvantaged children could be said to contribute to a more difficult situation that exacerbates the mentioned developmental issues, thus exposing affected school-going children to cases of low educational attainment and reduced academic success (Dickerson & Popli, 2016). News Article on Child Development Sample Paper
ORDER NOW
References
Dickerson, A., & Popli, G. K. (2016). Persistent poverty and children?s cognitive development:
evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 179(2), 535?558.
Engle, P. L., & Black, M. M. (2008). The Effect of Poverty on Child Development and
Educational Outcomes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1136, 243?256.
Ferguson, H.H. & Mueller, M.P. (2007).The impact of poverty on educational outcomes for
children. Pediatrics Child Health, 12(8), 701-706.
Richardson, H. (2018). Child poverty: Pale and hungry pupils ?fill pockets with school food.?
Available at https://www.bbc.com/news/education-43611527 (Accessed on 9/30/2018). News Article on Child Development Sample Paper
