Week 1 — Reading the Running Case: Periods, Domains, and Settings

Assignment 1 of the term — read the running case the way the field reads any child, and explain the field to someone new to it.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into a clear, evidence-based reading. You remain the author. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Child Observation Workshop practice the same ideas from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together on one child's records.

The task

Your shared data is the course's running case (illustrative): an unnamed child written for this course and seen in 8 observation records, R1 to R8, each identifying the child by age and setting only. No real child, family, or program is described.

• R1, newborn, hospital birthing room
• R2, 9 months, family home
• R3, 14 months, childcare center at morning drop-off
• R4, 2½ years, the same childcare center's block area
• R5, 4 years, preschool classroom
• R6, 7 years, after-school program
• R7, 11 years, after-school club
• R8, 15 years, youth program

Read by the concept each record carries, R1 shows the physical domain; R2 the physical and cognitive domains; R3 all three; R4 the social-emotional domain; R5 and R6 the cognitive domain; R7 the social-emotional domain; and R8 all three. The periods are prenatal, infancy and toddlerhood (birth to about 2), early childhood (about 2 to 6), middle childhood (about 6 to 11), and adolescence (about 11 to 18).

Work these four problems, showing your arithmetic and citing your evidence:

1. The running case holds 8 records, and 3 of them fall in infancy and toddlerhood. How many of its records fall after toddlerhood?
2. Read by the concept each record carries, the running case shows the physical domain in 4 records, the cognitive domain in 5, and the social-emotional domain in 4. How many domain readings is that in all?
3. Of the running case's 8 records, 5 show exactly one domain each. How many of its records show more than one domain?
4. You ask the 4 core questions (nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, universal and context-specific change, normative and non-normative influences) of each of 2 scenes, the toddler's first morning at childcare and the teen's first job. How many question-and-scene pairs do you answer in all?

Beside each answer, add one brief interpretation:

• Problem 1: name the period of each of those records, and explain why R7, at 11 years, shows that the periods are conventions with fuzzy edges.
• Problem 2: say in your own words what each of the three domains covers, and use R3 to explain how a change in one domain can affect another.
• Problem 3: name the records that show more than one domain, and for one of them explain what reading it as nature and nurture working together would add.
• Problem 4: place the teen's first job in all five of Bronfenbrenner's systems and say which system a parent's workplace is.

Explain it to a non-expert

A relative says, "Child development is really only about babies, and kids mostly turn out the way they were born." Write a 3–5 sentence message that corrects both parts of that claim in everyday words, using the span the field covers and the way genes and experience work together, and names one limit of what you can say after one week (for example, that the course has not yet taught the theories that explain why a child changes). Explain any technical term in everyday words. More than one good answer is possible.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a coworker asking whether the "middle childhood" label on a summer camp's age group means every 8-year-old there will act the same. Model answer: "The label groups children of about 6 to 11 because they tend to share some things, which helps the camp plan activities. It is a convention, not a rule, so two 8-year-olds can still be very different. The edges are fuzzy too, so a child close to 11 might fit the older group equally well. Use the label to plan, then watch what each child actually does."

Use that pattern for your message to the relative, with your own wording and evidence.

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft all four answers, the four brief interpretations, and your message to the relative before opening a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Show calculations and cite the running case or Chapter 1 when asked. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one calculation or explanation, even if your first attempt was correct.
4. Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than write the work for you. Keep Chapter 1 open, and check every age range and every system the chatbot names against it.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful learning coach for an introductory child development course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about the running case, the three domains, the five periods, the core questions, and Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems. Do not write my assignment for me, do not invent work I did not show, never invent a study, a statistic, an age norm, or a quotation, never state an age as a deadline, never judge or label a real child, and never give medical or parenting advice.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these four problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The data: the course's running case (illustrative; written for this course; no real child) holds 8 observation records: R1 newborn, hospital birthing room; R2 9 months, family home; R3 14 months, childcare center at morning drop-off; R4 2 1/2 years, the same childcare center's block area; R5 4 years, preschool classroom; R6 7 years, after-school program; R7 11 years, after-school club; R8 15 years, youth program. Read by the concept each record carries: R1 physical; R2 physical and cognitive; R3 all three; R4 social-emotional; R5 and R6 cognitive; R7 social-emotional; R8 all three. The periods: prenatal; infancy and toddlerhood (birth to about 2); early childhood (about 2 to 6); middle childhood (about 6 to 11); adolescence (about 11 to 18); they are conventions with fuzzy edges. The domains: physical (body, brain, motor skills, health); cognitive (thinking, memory, language, learning); social-emotional (feelings, relationships, identity). The core questions: nature and nurture (always working together), continuity and discontinuity, universal and context-specific change, normative and non-normative influences. Bronfenbrenner's (1979) systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and the chronosystem added later.
PROBLEM P1: The running case holds 8 records, and 3 of them fall in infancy and toddlerhood. How many of its records fall after toddlerhood?
PROBLEM P2: Read by the concept each record carries, the running case shows the physical domain in 4 records, the cognitive domain in 5, and the social-emotional domain in 4. How many domain readings is that in all?
PROBLEM P3: Of the running case's 8 records, 5 show exactly one domain each. How many of its records show more than one domain?
PROBLEM P4: You ask the 4 core questions (nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, universal and context-specific change, normative and non-normative influences) of each of 2 scenes, the toddler's first morning at childcare and the teen's first job. How many question-and-scene pairs do you answer in all?
After the four answers, I must briefly interpret each one: for P1, the period of each record after toddlerhood and why R7 at 11 years shows the periods are conventions; for P2, what each domain covers and how a change in one domain affects another in R3; for P3, the records that show more than one domain and what a nature-and-nurture reading adds for one of them; for P4, the teen's first job placed in all five systems, including which system a parent's workplace is. I must then write a 3-5 sentence message to a relative who thinks child development is really only about babies and that kids mostly turn out the way they were born, correcting both parts in everyday words and naming one limit. I must explain technical terms in everyday words.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply: accurate tallies (20 points), child development reasoning (48 points), clarity for a non-expert reader (16 points), and showing the evidence so it can be checked (16 points). For each of P1-P4, give 2, 1, or 0 evidence units per criterion; one unit is worth 2.5 tally points, 6 reasoning points, 2 clarity points, or 2 evidence points. Sum all four problems within each criterion. Count my message to the relative only with P4, not again with P1-P3.
TALLY UNITS: A correct count = 2; the right values and operation with only an arithmetic slip = 1; a missing result or the wrong values or operation = 0. Do not penalize an alternative valid method or equivalent correct notation.
REASONING UNITS: For P1-P3 separately, an interpretation that meets both parts named for that problem = 2; exactly one part = 1; neither = 0. For P4, BOTH the teen's first job placed in all five systems with a parent's workplace named as the exosystem AND a relative message that corrects both parts of the claim and names a limit = 2. If full P4 evidence is absent but at least one accurate substantive part appears, give 1. No accurate reasoning = 0; naming a term alone does not earn a unit, treating an age as a fixed boundary is not accurate, and treating nature and nurture as competing forces is not accurate. An arithmetic slip alone is not a reasoning error.
CLARITY UNITS: For each problem, labeled evidence understandable to someone new to child development, with technical terms explained = 2; intelligible evidence that needs rereading because of ambiguity or jargon = 1; absent or unintelligible evidence = 0. Include the relative message with P4 if submitted. Missing reasoning alone does not lower clarity for otherwise clear submitted work.
EVIDENCE UNITS: For each problem, checkable values, steps, and citations, with each count tied to the running case's records and each system placement tied to a part of the scene = 2; a relevant but incomplete value, step, or citation = 1; a result alone or no method = 0. A visible method stays checkable despite an arithmetic slip.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my reply. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. Probe an unsupported claim and ask me to examine its evidence. Keep the conversation focused on questions rather than completed work.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word reply is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied all four answers and their brief interpretations AND written my message to the relative AND revised at least one calculation or explanation AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score; it may end in .5 and must not be rounded to a whole number. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my calculations, citations, and reasoning]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised work with all four answers, their brief interpretations, and your message to the relative — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript, or as a labelled sketch of Bronfenbrenner's nested systems with the teen's first job placed in each, plus a short note; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 1 skills — reading the running case by period and by domain, treating the periods as conventions, explaining how the domains affect one another, reading nature and nurture as working together, and placing a child's settings in Bronfenbrenner's systems — for comparable time and effort, about 60 to 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete the same four problems, the four brief interpretations, and the message to the relative. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion, and check every age range and every system placement against Chapter 1. Write a second draft and add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one calculation or explanation you changed, the evidence that prompted the change, and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The calculations, reasoning, revision, and final report must be your own. Do not ask the chatbot to create the assignment or add evidence you did not produce, and do not accept any age, study, or guideline from it until you have checked it against Chapter 1. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

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