Group items tagged

Title: A review of successful aging models: Proposing proactive coping as an important additional strategy Author: Carolijn Ouwehand, Denise T.D. de Ridder, Jozien M. Bensing Date Published: Aug. 3, 2006 Why relevant and summary: This is a really great look into aging successfully and what that process entails. It delves into selective optimization with compensation. The authors argue that proactive coping - attempting to prevent potential stressors that are the cause of this decrease in resources - may be a valuable strategy for successful aging. The authors also present this theory as a method of postponing disengagement from daily activities. How this influenced my thinking: I have not given much thought to aging, although I know it is happening and will continue to happen. I've always just kind of viewed the elderly with a distant form of respect coupled with a bit of sorrow. Let's face it, who wants to get old? Yet, this will happen to all of us unless (god forbid) some unforseen tragedy strikes first. Reading about ways to gracefully and successfully age and avoid or postpone disengagement, will go a long way as people enter older adulthood. When I reach older adulthood, I hope to be as active as that 106 year old man who started running marathons in his 80s!

Title: Teen Pregnancy Statistics Author: No Author Date Published: 2013 Why relevant and summary: These statistics are very astonishing. It gives statistics of teenage pregnancies, sexual intercourse, marriage. How it affected my thinking: These statistics blew me away. I honestly though there were not that many teenagers having sex at an early age, I thought many teenagers had their first intercourse when they were at least 17 years old, but according to the statistics there are teenagers whom are having intercourse at the young age of 12 and 3. Credibility: seems credible since its from a teen website.

Title: Friendship and Friendship Quality in Middle Childhood Author: Jeffrey G. Parker and Steven R. Asher Date Published: 1993 Why Relevant and Summary: Examines in depth the variances, fluctuation, and observed tendencies of friendship formation and maintenance during middle childhood. Examines psychological elements to the presence of friendship during middle childhood and the effect it has on the individual's overall well-being. How This Influenced My Thinking: Called me to evaluate my own experience with friendship when I was going through middle childhood. Was relatable and answered a few questions or examined a few ideas I had held onto about the topic. Credibility of Source: Published by the American Psychological Association

Title: The Three Trimesters of Pregnancy Author: Robin Ellise Weiss Date Published: n.d. Why Relevant and Summary: It discussed what occurred in each of the trimesters and how the baby develops in each stage. How This Influenced My Thinking: This helped influence my thinking because I'll be more aware of what goes on in each stage so when I have children I'll know how my baby should be developing. Credibility of Source: Seems credible

Title: Pros and Cons of Breastfeeding Author: Melissa Kotlen Nagin Date Published: January 31, 2008 Why Relevant and Summary: It's relevant because it talked about the benefits to breastfeeding for both the mother and the baby. It also discussed the cons to breastfeeding such as the amount of energy it takes. How This Influenced My Thinking: This influenced my thinking because it made me realize that I definitely want to breastfeed my baby when the time comes. Credibility of Source: seems credible

Title: Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus Author: Keith Devlin Date Published: July 4, 2009 Why Relevant and Summary: This article exposes the facts behind the BMI and its accuracy, or lack of, in determining body fatness. How This Influenced My Thinking: This article showed when, how, and why the BMI method was established, and its shortcomings for accurately assesing body fatness. Credibility of Source: 6- Published by a credible source, but references not cited at end of text.

Title: Experts Weigh in on Childhood Obesity Author:Rebecca Sharim Storace, M.D. Date Published: March 13, 2013 Summary/Why Relevant: This article discusses how important obesity in children are and what we as parents can do when our own children are obese. How can we help them to overcome obesity? How it influenced my thinking: This helps me to realize how truly important it is to emphasize that this a lifestyle change, not a diet. We want our children to understand the importance of health and exercise and that short amount of efforts will not reap long term gains. Credibility: Very. The authors provide citations for the research study as well as other resources.

Title: The Tribal Mind: Moral Reasoning and Public Discourse Author: Arnold Kling Date Published: April 26, 2012 Why Relevant and Summary: As soon as I saw this article I thought it was great. In a very interesting way it explain what moral reasoning is and how it is developed, influenced upon and used in today's complicated world. It taps on issues that we are faced with daily, especially coming after a presidential election where the "morals" of each side where being discussed and with a fierce public discourse. This essay also discusses some great books written about the topic and the author does a great job at explaining how our own personal moral values and beliefs are used to justify our behavior and manipulate others; and also how these moral decisions are very often based on instinct and rapid judgment rather than rational thought. The author maintains the position that even though we have come along as a society we still behave sometimes in tribal manner, and that goes not only for how we conduct business or personal relationships but also how this great country of ours is run. How This Influenced My Thinking: As a young person, and as a mother of two young boys, I took in all the information that I got from this article; I think I am going to read it again and also read the books that were used to support some of the thinking behind it. I believe that when someone truly understand where someone else is coming from it will be easier to comprehend their thinking and the commitment that they have to their moral compass. Also interesting to find out was how often rushed moral judgment occurs in our society, and how that directly impact all of us. It was a great article with a great deal of food for thought. Credibility of Source: It was published on "The American" an online magazine of the American Enterprise Institute and its author is a member of the Financial Markets Working Group at the Mercatus Center of George Mason University

Title: Beginnings, Growth and Development Author: Dr. Mark Hill Date Published: 2010 Why Relevant and Summary: Many factors contribute to prenatal development: nutrition, health, environment, drug use, illness. Abnormalities are at greater risk of occurring during critical periods of development. This period is highest during the embryonic stage. By gathering research on what affects prenatal development, we can pinpoint when pregnant women are most at risk and the factors, thereby preventing congenital problems. How This Influenced My Thinking: It's very surprising how a span of 6 weeks can have such a life changing impact on a person before they're even born. It's crucial that women who are pregnant or may become pregnant be informed and get the proper care needed before and during a pregnancy. Credibility of Source: The publication comes form The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. This seems to have been created by one of the professors.

Title: Bonding Before Birth Author: Not Available Date Published: Not listed, Website Copyright 2006 Why Relevant and Summary: It is relevant to the developing fetus and discusses the learning the can be relevant to the response the child has to the out side world after birth. How This Influenced My Thinking: It influenced my thoughts only when speaking about how the mothers thoughts can affect the unborn baby after about 6 months because the mothers hormones cross the blood supply to the baby allowing the baby to be affected by these hormones. Credibility of Source: Not very credible

Title: What Babies Learn in the Womb Author: Laura McCarthy Date Published: n.d. Why Relevant and Summary: Discusses what the fetus learns about its environment in utero and how it will help them when they are born into the real world How This Influenced My Thinking: This taught me about how much babies learn without being directly exposed to the external environment, as well as how rapidly they learn. Credibility of Source: Credible, from parenting website

Title:What babies learn in the womb Author:Laura Flynn Mccarthy Date Published:nd Why Relevant and Summary:This article is relevant because it discusses how newborns prefer mom's voice over someone elses, proving that infants can distinguish between voices. This article discusses a study done on one day old newborns. They are given pacifiers and depending on the sucking pattern, they start the recording of mom's voice or another person's voice. After twenty minutes, they learned to use the sucking pattern that started the recording of mom's voice. How This Influenced My Thinking:Babies are born learning. Clearly they understand more than people realize. It is up to us to stimulate and progress their learning. Credibility of Source:This comes from parenting.com so I seems credible, however, their are no citations or references.

Title: The Alarming Reason Why More Girls are Starting Puberty Early Author: Dr. Joseph Mercola Date Published: August 26, 2010 Why Relevant and Summary: This article was relevant because it explains a great deal of information that be or may not be factors in why girls are going through puberty at much younger ages than they once were just 20 years ago. In this article, Dr. Mercola explains some of the largest factors or early onset of puberty and explains why those things may cause early childhood puberty. How This Influenced My Thinking: This didn't so much influence my thinking as it confirmed my belief that chemicals in the food our children eat may very well play a major role in when they begin puberty. Credibility of Source: I find this article to be highly credible, Dr. Mercola seems to have done extensive research on the topic as well as included the input of other knowledgeable professionals.

Title: Nature vs Nurture: Outcome Depends on Where You Live Author: Nick Collins Date Published: 12 June 2012 Why Relevant and Summary: This study is actually quite relevant, but I ranked it '6' simply due to the fact that it is based solely on research done in the UK. This article outlines a recent study that compared 6759 pairs of identical and non-identical twins across the UK, in the hopes of determining whether their genes or their environment was more important. The outcome: it depends where you live. Some areas were dubbed 'environemental hotspots' for certain traits, where in other areas the same traits were purely caused by genetics. Be sure to see the video maps at the bottom of the article. How This Influenced My Thinking: I think the nature vs nurture debate is rather subjective. Much of it is based in opinion, but this particular study shows that many things can impact our phenotype. I'm of the opinion that both genetics and environment contribute. For example, I met my biological father for the first time when I was 28 years old. We were surprised to discover that although we were literally strangers, we look very much alike, both have an affinity for foreign languages, both enjoy traveling and adventure, and we enjoy similar types of food. Additionally, I found out that my grandfather was an oral surgeon in Holland during WWII. This was particularly interesting because I've always had a mild fascination with dentistry and oral hygiene! Credibility of Source: The Telegraph is a reputable UK news source.

Title: Brain Keys Language Development Author: Beth Fleming Date Published: 2002 Why Relevant and Summary: This is relevant because it doesn't just breakdown step by step the stages of language development. But it gives examples as to what you can do. It gives research information. It tells you what you can do and what happens if you don't consistently talk to children. It encourages not only ways to help develop language, but to communicate. How This Influenced My Thinking: It influenced my thinking because of my own children. I talk to my children all the time NOW, but had I talked to them more and more when they were smaller, their development would be at different stage now. I agree that the research is consistent with results. Should I have another child, this impacts how I might do things differently. Credibility of Source: Beth Fleming is a Family Life Specialist

Title: Urie Bronfenbrenner and Child Development Author: Angela Oswalt Date Published: Jan. 17, 2008 Why Relevant and Summary: This page is relevant because it speaks of Urie Bronfenbrenner's model of development. The main focus is on child and adolescent development. It compares Urie's model to other theoris of development. This is a great starting point if you want to learn about Freud, Erikson, Piaget, Kohlberg and Urie Bronfenbrenner. How This Influenced My Thinking: From this model I understood that how a child develops is influenced from the systems in the child's life. However, when taking microsystem into consideration and the important people in the child's life, the way the child acts towards the microsystem (people) also influences how those people will act towards the child. Credibility of Source: No citations or references. Came from a mental help site.

Title: Urie Brofenbrenner and Child Development Author: Angela Oswalt Date Published: updated 2008 Why Relevant and Summary: It covers the systems and what they are, and gives clear examples. How This Influenced My Thinking: This entry helped me understand the systems a bit better. Credibility of Source: its a 17 page document covring many ideas and theories, it has many links connected to it.

Title: Urie Bronfenbrenner and Child Development Author: Angela Oswalt Date Published: January 17, 2008 Why Relevant and Summary: It was relevant to the writing assignment because the article discussed in detail what happens in each of the levels in Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory. How This Influenced My Thinking: This article helped me better understand what happens in each level because Oswalt gave examples of things that occur in every level. Credibility of Source: Very credible

Title: Girls and Puberty Author: Jonathan L Gelfand, MD Date Published: February 2, 2012 Why Relevant and Summary: Different emotional and physical effects that puberty has on girls. How This Influenced My Thinking: I can relate to the article. Credibility of Source: Seems credible because it has medical reference

Title: Girls and Puberty Author: nd Why relevant and summary: Good in detail as to what to expect when a girl hits puberty How this influenced my thinking: It confirmed what i already knew Credibility: Web MD

Title: Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory Author: Dede Paquette and John Ryan Date Published: 2001 Why Relevant and Summary: Explains Bronfenbrenner's theory and connects it to modern child development and compares this to child development when the economy was more industrial, less technological. It also explains Bronfenbrenner's concerns with our technological world. The 5th page looks at the human body as a part of a person's microsystem, which was fascinating, especially since the textbook doesn't seem to consider this. How This Influenced My Thinking: Introduced the idea of the human body as being part of the microsystem - new to me! Also, I learned that this model can play a big role in influencing public policies, which is refreshing because as a student, it's easy to get caught up in this thinking that the classroom stuff isn't relevant or doesn't easily apply to the real world… but it can! Credibility of Source: Pretty good - the work cites a lot of educational resources, and I read the company profile, which seems to be run by qualified people.

Title: Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory Author: Dede Paquette and John Ryan Date Published: July 12, 2001 Why Relevant and Summary: It gives an in depth overview of Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory while analyzing and providing examples of the many components to the healthy development of a child. How This Influenced My Thinking: It hasn't particularly influenced my thinking but has given a better understanding of how the theory applies. Credibility of Source: Good- (.edu website)

Title: Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory Author: Dede Paquette - John Ryan Date published: 7/12/01 Why relevant and summary: This site is relevant because it explains what Bronfenbrenner's theory is and what it encompasses. As well as stating what the theory is, the site also goes over in detail, all the different systems associated with Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory. There is also an illustration with various terms that provides links to sites that explain the implications of each theory. How it influenced my thinking: This site influenced my thinking in a positive way because it broke down what each system was, what it entailed, and gave examples of what was being discussed. Credibility of source: The source is very credible and is riddled with citations and works cited pages. The link to it also ends in usd.edu which means it is probably a site made by colleges for colleges.

Title: VS Ramachandran: 3 clues to understanding your brain Author: Vilayanur Ramachandran - neurologist Date Published: March 2007 Why Relevant and Summary: The debate of nature vs. nurture is considered when neurologist Ramachandran share his findings from rehabilitating those with brain injuries or brain wiring issues such as phantom limbs. This video argues that stroke paralysis, and phantom pains could be "learned" behaviors and not innately biological. How This Influenced My Thinking: In writing my paper I discuss traumatic brain injury in the developing children and how it influences processes. This video delves deeper into neurological development and behaviors which may be more of a product of environment than biology alone. Credibility of Source: Extremely credible - Lecture given by practicing neurologist.

Title:Prenatal development Author: Many Date Published:ND Why Relevant and Summary: This website was tremendously helpful when i was writing my paper on prenatal development. Not only does it take you through each stage of development and tell you what is happening, but it also discusses prenatal care. Pictures and diagrams are drawn to help you better understand what the site is discussing. It also describes some congenital and maternal derived abnormalities as well. How This Influenced My Thinking: This influenced my thinking by helping me understand what exactly goes on during each stage of pregnancy. I also never knew that abnormalities could be congenital or maternally derived so that was also interesting. Credibility of Source: The source has many citations and is from the encyclopedia of children's health so i assume its pretty credible

Title: Methods of Childbirth  Author:  Date Published:  Why Relevant and Summary:  Credibility of Source: 

Title:Childbirth in Other Cultures Author:Jennifer Vanderlaan & Birthing Naturally Date Published: 2000-2011 Why Relevant and Summary: Its relevant because it talks about what other cultures believe when it comes to childbirth How This Influenced My Thinking: It didn't influence my thinking Credibility of Source: It seems credible