How does life experiences impact development?
The Impact of Life Experiences on Development
Complete a 7- to 9-page (not including title page and references) paper with the following criteria:
Choose four events from your life which you believe had a significant impact on your development. There must be at least one event from childhood, one from adolescence, and one from adulthood; the fourth event may be in any one of those three stages. The events should be specific and have occurred at a single point in time – do NOT use broad stages or longer periods of time. If you are unsure whether your identified events meet criteria, please reach out to your faculty and ask!
For
each of the four life events selected, do the following:
· Describe the life event as age-graded, history-graded, or non-normative.
· Explain how the event was significant to your development and why, including how it impacted or changed you cognitively, psychologically, and/or socially.
· Explain how the event and its associated changes influenced your identity development through your lifespan.
· Support your statements with developmental theory and integration of knowledge you gained throughout the course.
This should include citations for the course textbook (Broderick & Blewitt, 2025) and at least one additional peer-reviewed article published within the past 5 years for each event.
Remember this is
not a narrative of your life, but rather
an analysis of developmental influences using yourself as the case study. Your introduction should include an overview of the significance of life experiences on development; your conclusions should include a brief recap of key points in your paper, and any new perspectives gained from your analyses.
The Final Project will be evaluated according to the
Final Project Rubric located in the
Course Information area. Be sure that the Final Project is written using APA format and the
final project
template (found in Week 1 of the course).
The Final Project is due Day 7 of Week 9. Please refer to the Final Project area in Week 9 for submission details.
