Humanities Homework Help

Each student will create a product that is an exploration of some topic in adolescent or young adult development. Projects will be based on readings of original research articles. The main purpose of the project is to encourage students to explore the topics they find the most interesting in greater detail than can be accomplished in class discussions. Another purpose of the project is to illustrate the huge amount of research that has been done on adolescents and young adults.

What do I do first?

During the first few days of the semester, you will indicate which topics are most appealing to you. Understand that it is not necessary to have any formal background in adolescent or early adult development to choose a topic. Every one of us has had experiences as adolescents and young adults— there must be something that interests you!

What are the possible topics?

Media
Social media / the internet
Bullying
Gender or Sexuality or Sex education Popularity / crowds

Relationships with families

Peer pressure / influence Cross-cultural comparisons of any topic Extracurricular activities
Destructive behaviors

What do I do after I have my topic? you will narrow down your topic to something specific. For example, if your topic is “media,” you might choose something like: magazines, television, movies, video games, positive impact of the media, negative impact of the media, or protecting adolescents from negative influences of the media.

After you have been assigned to a topic, you will begin to plan your project

Each person will choose 2 research articles related to his or her subtopic. Appropriate articles are published in peer-reviewed journals (for example, Adolescence; The Journal of College Student Development; Developmental Psychology). It is fine to use additional sources for your project (e.g., videos, newspaper articles, websites, etc.) as long as you also have at least 2 peer-reviewed journal articles. Please ask for assistance if you are not sure if you have appropriate sources.

The Product

Each person will create a product to share with classmates. You can choose any type of product that you like. You might make a video, create a pamphlet, design a set of slides, or make something else. The choice is yours.

Regardless of your topic or product, the following elements must be included:

1. A brief summary of each article (e.g, Who were the participants? How was the study conducted? What was the main goal? What were the primary findings?).
2. Links between the topic and other class topics. How do the findings relate to something we talked or read about in class? Anyone who presents early in the semester might need to browse later text book chapters to find links to class.
3. Future directions. What might researchers do as a next step? How might the research be improved?
4. Real-world implications. “Who cares?” What do the results mean for real people? This might include adolescents, young adults, or the people who interact with them.
5. A class discussion. You will pose questions about your topic to the class and allow classmates to respond and share opinions. This will be on Moodle as well. Ask at least 3 questions that classmates answer. The best questions are ones that are open ended and thought-provoking. For example…”Why do you think that so many bullying prevention programs in school fail?” is a better question than “Did you have a bullying program at your school?” Questions could be within your product (for example on the last slide) or posted as a response.