Language Development & Child Development

These twins do not realize that they have already been born, yet exhibit familiar expressions of affection for each other.  From an interesting blog,  a peaceful warrior:

http://apeaceful-warrior.blogspot.ca/2014/02/they-do-not-realize-they-have-already.html

Language- Does language develope from a strictly cognitive process or do we need more emotional, physical and relational influences?

Experiment:  Invent and define five new words.  These invented words must be verbs and must be simple actions that one can do in everyday life.  Example: snorfie might mean to hold your nose closed for three seconds.  Next, recruit six people.  Randomly divide them into two groups of three, and place each group in a different room.  The three people assigned to Group A must spend
five minutes memorizing the new words and their definitions.  The three people in Group B must learn the five new words by acting them out repeatedly for five minutes, for example, pinching their noses closed for three seconds and saying "snorfie".

Data collection:  At the end of the five minutes, hand each person a blank sheet of paper and a writing utensil and ask them to write the words and definitions.  Count the number of correct answers from Group A and average their scores.  Do the same for Group B's scores.  Does one group's results suggest that their learning method was more successful than the others?

Language Acquisition - Does every child progress at the same rate?
What factors might prevent a child from acquiring language at a normal progression?

 Too Late for Words:  The Case of Genie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmdycJQi4QA

Be ready to answer the following questions:
Why was Genie unable to speak coherently or understand language when she was found?
Describe Genie's ability to learn to use language properly.  How much progress in language did Genie make? 

What conclusions can you draw from this case and your study of the chapter regarding a window of opportunity to learn language?  Are the results conclusive?

Evaluate the importance of language and human interaction.  From the word experiment and the case of Genie, can we learn a language strictly through cognition?  What other factors might be necessary?
Is there more to language that just a transaction or words?

Mug - Up Fridays!

Loved the questions and conversation!
All questions easily earned 5/5 and the conversation generated once again affirmed how much I love to be a teacher, and the depth of knowledge/insight that I gain from you!
Remember that Mug-Up Friday is a simple question or for 5 bonus marks,  a quick sum -up of an article with a question.  Anything related to psychology will work and I really appreciate the diversity of topics on Friday.  

Infancy & Childhood- Nature vs. Nurture.

We are beginning to consider the life span of human beings:
 infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. 

Life is fragile and precious. 
In many ways, we are like barnacles clinging to rocks amidst a pounding ocean.  We are born strong enough to cling and thrive or sometimes the rock becomes a treacherous calamity instead of providing stability and security.  

How much is based on our genetics and how much is due to our environment?

In order to understand the capacities and challenges of a human life span, we must first begin with the nature/nurture debate. 

Please watch the award winning documentary, "The Dark Matter of Love"

http://vimeo.com/82980732

Answer the following questions:

1.  Where did you originally situate yourself on the line of nature vs. nurture?  Why?

2.  After watching the documentary "The Dark Matter of Love", had your opinion changed?

      Why?

3.  Should adoption from another culture or country happen?  Why or why not?

4.  Can we undo the wrongs done to children at a very early age? 

Monday , March 25

Today .....
Rubric - Read & Pay Attention

This project is worth your time- 48 marks & due on Thursday please! 

So use your time wisely today as we will be moving on !

Welcome Back!

Hope your break was perfect in whatever way it was meant to be!

We have a long but happy haul to the end of semester.  Be ready! 

So far we have covered:

1. History and Schools of Psychological Thought

2. Research Methods  
   

Looking ahead:  

5. Developmental Psychology
6. Psychological Disorders
7. Social and Cultural Dimensions of Behavior   

Wednesday, March 4

Awakenings  - with Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams- true or not?

See:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNum0dTYalk

Oliver Sacks has written a few interesting books on his work:

Anthropologist From Mars
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat
Awakenings

and more........

We will finish the discussion questions on the ethics and impacts on patients in the movie.  Please have  your response to me before spring break.  (:

Research Experiment Project - in groups of 2-3.  Please have proposal to me before spring break.  Assignment will not be due until after spring break in case you want to use your break to conduct a ground-breaking, original and innovative experiment! 

....for ideas,  please look at the websites below.....