The Child

Question

Read chapter 7 in your textbook called cognition

3) Watch and listen to the narrated PowerPoint for chapter 7 that can be located on the toolbar in the link called PowerPoints with narration. Don't forget to right click on the PowerPoint and press save link as to download into your computer. You need Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your computer for it to work. If you have any technical questions please call Blackboard.

4) Students also have a weekly discussion comment to do. Click into discussions link on the toolbar and then click into week 9 and follow the specific instructions (for a modeled example of a discussion comment there see syllabus).  You will not be able to read any other students' comments until you post your discussion comments.

Make sure that you give a title in the subject section such as the topic of the assigned question.

A summary of the discussion assignments (see syllabus under discussion section for a more comprehensive explanation)

1a) Choose any topic discussed in the assigned chapter and state the exact topic (see syllabus for example under discussions section)

b) Begin with a short description of the topic prior to applying the info. Make sure you read the textbook info on the topic so that it will be clear to me that you understood and digested the information (do not use other sources on the topic)

c) Provide your own examples of application of the topic. Note that the application needs to be different from the textbook. I want to see your ability to apply the info. (#1b and 1c together need to be at least 200 words or more)

2) This part here in which you need to reply to another student's discussion post can be done when students' posts become available this week OR you can wait until next week (week 10) to go back to this week (week 9).  Respectfully comment on another student’s post by providing additional application examples (different from the textbook) by clicking on a student’s comment and then pressing reply to that student’s post. (#2 needs to be at least 150 words or more)

Discussion comment example on the reading for chapter 1.  Notice that the topic and application are labeled and separated by paragraphs.  Notice that everything is in my own words and not copied from the textbook or another source. I begin with a short description of the topic prior to applying the info. Note that the application needs to be different from the textbook because I want to see your ability to apply the info.

Topic: Correlation 

Correlation has to do with relationships between variables.  Just because two or more variables are correlated it does not mean that one causes the other.  Correlational research consists of looking at the strength of the relationship (0 to 1.0) and the direction of the relationship (positive and negative). 

Application: An example of a positive correlation is height and weight.  Generally speaking, as people’s height increases their weight also increases which depicts a positive relationship because they are going in the same direction.  An example of a negative relationship is absences in a class or on-line course is negatively correlated with the grades of the student, which means as more absences take place, the grades tend to go lower, which are opposite directions. Regarding the strength of the relationship, height and weight in some studies of groups of individuals have shown to be about +.80 correlation, which is considered a strong relationship based on the number being close to 1.0.  Absences and grades are negatively correlated which might end up being at around -.50 which makes it a moderate negative correlation.  Of course, there are other factors that influence grades and absences is only one of them.  How much familiarity a person has with the material, natural intelligence, amount of time studying for the exam, etc. are not considered when one looks only at absences and grades on an exam or the course.  It is important to remember that just because two variables are correlated it does not mean that one causes the other because there even could be a third variable causing both of them.  For example, violent video games are positively correlated with violent acts of aggression.  In a correlational study, we could not say that one causes the other.  We would have to conduct an experiment to determine causes and effect.  It may be that people with a biological predisposition for aggression like to play violent video games and also act out violent acts or it could be that violent acts cause people to play violent video games.  The point is this question of cause and effect cannot be answered in a correlational research design but only in an experimental design.