This Human Growth and Development course was taught by Dr. Mary Tackett. The course ran every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00pm – 3:15pm. This course is typically taken as a foundations level course; however, I had a different course transfer in for that credit. I took this education course as a requirement for my teaching endorsement.
Our course textbook was called Child Development by Feldman. The book went through the stages of childhood beginning with prenatal development and ending with adolescence. The chapters were grouped in threes: physical, cognitive, and social and personality development. Throughout the semester, we read one chapter before each class, then in class, we discussed what we had read. We wrote five reflection papers based on different topics we read about, and we worked on a research project paper, completing different parts of it throughout the semester.
(Juvenile Delinquents: Resocialization and Horses, Kyra Valovick, 4. 28.2020)
At the beginning of the semester, we all picked a topic of interest to us to research as the semester went on. It could have been any topic at all, as long as it was related to child development. I chose the question “How do Horses Impact the Resocialization of Juvenile Delinquents?” Once we picked our topic, we had to complete peer reviewed research, then compile it into a PowerPoint presentation and a ten page paper. I enjoyed researching this topic, and I learned quite a bit that I had not known.
After completing the paper, I felt I had substantially expanded my knowledge; however, I know there is quite a bit more that I can learn. Throughout the remainder of my semesters at Longwood University, I hope to further expand my knowledge in child development and different issues surrounding it. After graduating from Longwood, it is my goal to teach high school students, and it is my dream to start a program to help at-risk youths.