“Robert, a nine year-old boy, recently moved with his family to a new academically rigorous school where his mother and father both teach. He also has a younger sister who attends the school who is age six. During the first few weeks of the school year, Robert’s classroom teacher said he was quiet and was not making an effort to seek friendships. He rarely contributed to classroom conversations and only spoke when asked to respond to questions. An early term classroom report from his teacher noted that he was struggling with his writing and reading. His teacher was asking for more support from the learning resources unit to help him along with his writing. Robert was also having difficulty with mathematics—he was able to classify objects into coherent categories using physical objects, but when it came to abstract reasoning, his confidence and skills were diminished. During PE, it was noted that he had very good hand-eye coordination and significant running pace on the field. He has additionally participated to a high standard, particularly in non-competitive sports. He has started co-curricular activities this term, including squash and drama. Next term, he has been encouraged to start a musical instrument and join in a team sport.”
Your report should include:
an introduction where you briefly introduce the case study—you should also state what you intend to cover (including the development issues and learning theories that your report will focus on) and support these intentions with evidence in your body paragraphs
a body where you:
Identify and outline key development issues in the case study that are impacting on Robert’s learning
connect these development issues with relevant learning theories
explain how the learning theories you have identified could then be applied to classroom pedagogy and practice to address any barriers to Robert’s learning
cite academic literature to support your discussion
a conclusion where you summarize the key points of your response— your conclusion should provide the reader with an overview of the main ideas you discussed and highlights the progression of your thought process
a reference list in APA style.
Note: As a report, each key development issue should be formatted with a heading.
It is not necessary to discuss all areas of development (intellectual, physical, linguistic, emotional, moral, social and psychological). Rather, you need to select and apply the most appropriate areas of development that relate to the case study, with support from theory. Responses that simply describe the areas of development will not meet the assignment criteria.
While you will undoubtedly have personal views on this issue, this task requires you to define and explain from an informed perspective. With that in mind, you should refer to the ideas of others to help construct, support and validate your explanation, and illustrate your discussion through reference to this academic literature.
Your report must be written in third person and should approach the case study from the point of view of a teacher, not a psychologist. This means that the focus should be on how the learning and development theories you identify and outline can inform classroom practice. You do not need to cover a set number of learning or development theories. Instead, analyze the case study to identify key contributing developmental factors in order to inform pedagogy and classroom practice that addresses barriers to learning for Robert.