Psy 112 Community Application Project Handout

PSY 112, Section F29 (TR 2:00-3:15)

Fall 2007

Prof. Conway

Community Service Childcare Project Assignment

You will work with a community partner, the YMCA of New Britain. Your group will spend time with a group of youths in an after-school program, working with the children on homework and other activities; you will also lead an activity of your choice (e.g., sports, arts and crafts, music). You will write a 5-page paper integrating your experiences with at least one source; you can use the Evans (2004) article or the Schweinart et al. (2004) article listed at the end of the syllabus, or a paper you locate through the PsycINFO database. You will submit your complete paper in mid-November and do a poster presentation at the end of the semester.

This project will involve working with people from outside the CCSU community and I expect that we will all conduct ourselves in a professional manner. You are expected to be on time for all scheduled appointments and to conduct yourself appropriately.

You will work in groups on parts of this project, though the outline and your paper must be done individually.

The assignment is worth 250 points (over a third of your course grade) and will be carried out in segments throughout the semester. Here is a brief timeline for the assignment:

Community Service Project	Due Date	Points
Inform me of your decision to do community application	Thurs. Sept. 13	--
Turn in Learning Contract	Thurs. Sept. 20	10
Meet in Library for PsycINFO presentation	Tues. Sept. 25	none
Turn preliminary information on references (Done as a group)	Thurs. Oct. 11	15
Community work with YMCA (Done as a group)	See project handout for dates	75
Turn in outline of paper (Done individually)	Thurs. Oct. 25	25
Turn in paper (Done individually)	Tues. Nov. 13	100
Turn in revision of paper; (Done individually) The revision is OPTIONAL	Thurs. Dec. 13	100 (will be averaged with the original paper grade)
Poster presentation (Done as a group)	Thurs. Dec. 13	25

Activity #1a. Inform me of your decision to do community application – by Thurs. Sept. 13

The fact that you were given this assignment handout means you have already made this decision. I am glad you did because this project can have important benefits for your learning and for our community. I just want to reiterate that you should carefully read the community service contract regarding what you have agreed to.

Activity #1b. Turn in your completed learning contract – by Thursday Sept. 20

This project is a great way to serve our community. It’s also part of a college course, so it also needs to be a learning experience. I want you to participate in deciding what you will learn from it. On the Community Service Contract you should state at least one learning objective for the community application project. It should focus either on (a) learning about the community (i.e., about the population you will be working with) or (b) learning about psychology.

For example, your learning objective might be (these are only examples; you should come up with your own):

1. Understand children’s peer relationships;

2. Learn about psychology-based interventions to improve childcare;

Please come up with a learning objective of your own and write it on the contract.

Activity #2: Completion of Community Work with YMCA of New Britain (Done as a group)

Your community work will involve a number of weekly visits to the YMCA for about two months. On the next page is an outline of the activities in which you will participate, along with dates; you are expected to attend all activities so please plan accordingly.

Activity #3. Meeting in Library/Topics: Tuesday Sept. 25

We will meet in the library computer classroom (in the Curriculum Lab on the 3^rd floor) on for a workshop on using PsycINFO. You will need to search for articles relevant to your community service, but this is just an exercise – you will not need to use the articles in your paper (though they need to be relevant to your community service work).

In order to make good use of our time, you first need to choose a topic. This will be done as a group; that is, all your group members will have the same topic and you will collaborate on searching for journal articles. We will spend time in class developing topics but it is your responsibility to make sure that your group has its topic by the time we meet in the library.

While in the library you will search the psychological literature using PsycINFO. You must find at least three journal articles located through PsycINFO. You cannot use sources from Dissertation Abstracts International.

** For Activity #4 you will be required to turn in a print-out of the PsycINFO references for your journal articles -- so be sure to print it while you are searching. **

Activity #2: Completion of Community Work with YMCA of New Britain (Done as a group)

Your community work will involve a number of weekly visits to the YMCA. Here is an outline of the activities in which you will participate; you are expected to attend on all scheduled dates.

	Activity	Dates (Option #1) Tuesdays 3:30-5 p.m.		Dates (Option #2) Wednesdays 3:30-5 p.m.		Dates (Option #3) Thursdays 3:30-5 p.m.

1.	First visit: meet with Youth and Family Director Josue Irrizary for orientation		Sept. 18		Sept. 19		Sept. 20
2.	Second visit: Spend time with children (help with homework, activities, etc.)		Sept. 25		Sept. 26		Sept. 27
3.	Third visit: Help with homework, activities, etc.		Oct. 2		Oct. 3		Oct. 4
4.	Fourth visit: Help with homework, activities, etc.		Oct. 9		Oct. 10		Oct. 11
5.	In between 4^th and 6^th visits, plan activity. Meet with Josue Irizarry to discuss plan and discuss YMCA’s work.		Oct. 16 (Meeting with Josue and then spend time with kids)		Oct. 17 (Meeting with Josue and then spend time with kids)		Oct. 18 (Meeting with Josue and then spend time with kids)
6.	Sixth visit: Help with homework, activities, etc.		Oct. 23		Oct. 24		Oct. 25
7.	Seventh visit: Help with homework, activities, etc.		Oct. 30		Oct. 31		Nov. 1
8.	Eighth visit: Do activity with the children.		Nov. 13		Nov. 14		Nov. 15

Activity #4. Turn in reference list (Done as a group): Due Thursday Oct. 11

Please submit a list of the references for your 3 journal articles. The references must by typed, and formatted according to APA (American Psychological Association) style (see the end of the handout). There is a sample reference list later in this handout. For each of the references you must give me a photocopy of the first page of the article, and the PsycINFO printout for that article.

Along with the preliminary reference list, you must turn in a statement of your group’s topic (which must be relevant to your community service work).

Checklist for Activity #4:

1. Reference List:

a. There are at least three references to journal articles

b. References are typed

c. References are formatted in APA style

2. Photocopy or printout of the first page of each article is included

3. PsycINFO printout for each journal article included along with the copy of the 1^st page

4. Statement of topic is included.

Activity #5. Turn in outline of paper (Done individually): Due Thurs. Oct. 25

Part of good writing is organizing your thoughts, and writing an outline is extremely helpful with this. Of course, before you can write your outline you need to have read your articles and taken notes. Once you’ve done this you’re ready to get organized and write your outline. **Note: even though your group collaborated on finding the sources, you must work on the outline by yourself. Collaborating on the outline is forbidden and would be academic misconduct.

Outlines can be done in different forms. One is the formal type with headings and subheadings (you can find more information on this form at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_outlin.html). Another form is the narrative outline, in which you use complete sentences to give an overview of your topic. You can use either form.

There is a sample outline near the end of this assignment handout.

Activity #6: Turn in paper (with reference list) (Done individually): Due Tues. Nov. 13

Your paper should include three major sections: (1) an introduction, (2) the body of the paper, and (3) a summary/recommendations section. Finally, you should include a sheet with the full references typed in APA style.

Writing the Introduction. In this section you will identify the topic you have chosen as the subject of the paper. E.g., your topic might deal with children’s interpersonal skills, or with providing high-quality childcare. You should explain (briefly) why you believe this is an important issue.

** This section should be one or two paragraphs long. **

Writing the Body of the Paper. Here you will discuss your community work and integrate it with the article you have chosen to use. The article can be the Evans (2004) paper, the Schweinart et al. (2004) paper, or another one you find using PsycINFO. Exactly how you organize this section is up to you, but I’d like to see these things: (a) a description of your community work (describe the organization, who the clients are, exactly what you are doing with them), and (b) what connections you see between your community work and the article you chose. (Does your community experience give you a better understanding of the article? Does the article give you a better understanding of your community experience?) You might also discuss any connections you see between your community work and course material (e.g., cognitive development, conditioning).

One important part of the body of your paper should be a description of what you have learned – see my sample outline below.

** This section should be about 3.5 pages long. **

Writing the Summary/Recommendations. Finally, you will state your recommendations about (1) what your community agency could do to improve services – this should be based on a combination of your article and your observations (e.g., if you read about an intervention to improve child care, you could recommend that your agency use the intervention; or you could point out that Evans found high staff-child ratios in low-SES child care; you could recommend reducing staff-child ratio at your agency), (2) what our society (government, private organizations, individuals, etc.) should do to improve quality of life for clients – again based on a combination of articles and your observations, and (3) how psychology can help (e.g., developing relevant programs, conducting research on what interventions would be effective).

** This section should be about 1 to 1.5 pages long. **

Checklist for Activity #6:

1. Introduction is included

2. Body of paper:

a. is about 3 or 3.5 pages long

b. includes integration of article with your community experience

c. Body includes a description of what you learned

3. Summary/Recommendations section is included, and is about 1 to 1.5 of a page long

4. Reference list is attached at the end of the paper

Activity #7: Poster presentation (Done as a group): Thursday, Dec. 13

During our last class meeting of the semester (before the final exam) we will have a poster session. You will have put together a poster describing your experience and recommendations, and each poster will be on display. We can circulate around and see other students’ posters. A sample poster layout comes later in this handout.

Activity #8 (Optional): Turn in revision of the paper (Done individually): Due Thurs. Dec. 13

I will have given you comments and suggestions on your paper (which you turned in earlier). You can now turn in a revised version if you choose to, and I recommend that you do. If you do this, I will grade your revision and average the grades for the revision and the earlier paper.

Sample References

Each of the articles you used as supporting evidence should be listed on a reference page in the appropriate format, APA Style. References should appear on a separate page at the end of your paper and should say ‘References’ at the top of the page (centered). An example of APA style:

References

Evans, G. W. (2004). The environment of childhood poverty. American Psychologist, 59, 77-92.

Papai, N. D. (2002). Literacy through content-based instruction: A case study. Working papers in Educational Lingustics, 16, 81-95.

Taylor, B. M., Pearson, P. D., Peterson, D. S., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2003). Reading growth in high-poverty classrooms: The influence of teacher practices that encourage cognitive engagement in literacy learning. The Elementary School Journal, 104, 3-28.

(Journal title and volume # are italicized; the last two numbers are page numbers.)

[Sample Outline]: One-on-One Tutoring for English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages Children

I. Introduction

A. Discuss importance of immigrant children learning English quickly

B. Statistics on students in New Britain with non-English home language: over 40%!

C. Purpose of paper: how psychology can contribute to community work with ESOL children

II. Description of setting and my community work tasks

A. New Britain elementary school; one third of students have non-English home language; 75% low-SES (eligible for free/reduced price lunch)

B. I work with 8-year-old Arabic-speaking boy in US several months

C. My work tasks: read books with him; have him read to me; work on writing, etc

D. My observations about his progress: almost no English to start, but learned some English quickly; language barrier has been challenging

III. Community Work Experience/Integration with Evans’ “The environment of childhood poverty” Article and the Papai (2000) article

A. Evans (2004)

i. Brief description of article – characteristics of poverty environment (e.g., crowded living conditions, poorer education, frequent moves), and effects on development (for a variety of reasons, children in chronic poverty tend to have lower levels of cognitive skill and academic achievement)

ii. B. How it applies to my community experience: my child has a large family; most likely lives in crowded apartment; this and other conditions associated with poverty may slow his progress

IV. What I Learned

A. I learned about a technique for fostering English-language learning in ESOL students

B. The Evans (2004) article provides me with a better understanding of the reasons for academic difficulties English-language learners may have, especially if they are low-SES (which is likely to be the case, according to New Britain school district statistics)

C. I learned that it takes a lot longer than I thought for an ESOL child to become proficient in English (the school ESOL teacher told me it’s normally 5-7 years!)

V. Summary/Recommendations

A. What the school could/should do to improve services:

i. Use context-based materials with ESOL students

ii. Increase time with trained ESOL teachers

B. What our society could/should do to improve education for ESOL children

i. Provide resources allowing more ESOL instruction

C. What can psychology do to help – develop new educational methods, conduct more research on how effective these methods are

Grading Criteria for Papers

Structure (15 pts.)

Full Credit: all of the following are clearly recognizable and substantial

15 pts.: all of the following are clearly recognizable but one or more is short

10 pts.: one element is missing

5 pts.: structure is unclear

Introduction (half a page)

Topic clearly stated

Body of paper (3.5 pages)

Description of your community agency and your tasks

Description of each of the articles and their connections to community work

Conclusion section (1 page)

Includes recommendations for your community agency

Content (70 pts.)

Appropriate length (5 pages or slightly more) (points deducted if less than 5 pages, or if a section is substantially less than the guidelines above, under “Structure”)

Description of community agency and your work tasks are clear and thorough (20 points)

Descriptions of articles are clear and thorough, and clear description of connection to community work (25 pts.)

Recommendations logically follow from articles (25 pts.)

Mechanics (15 pts.)

Full Credit: all of points below are very good

15 pts.: occasional errors

10 pts.: a few consistent errors

5 pts.: serious and persistent errors

* Minus 15 for failing to include reference list *

Avoid excessive quotations (one or two in the whole paper is plenty)

Clear & appropriate transitions (e.g., uses “transitional sentences” when beginning a new topic)

Appropriate paragraphing

Correct sentence structure Appropriate word choice

Correct spelling Correct punctuation

Correct capitalization Reference list included at the end of paper

	One-on-One Tutoring for English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages Children
		James M. Conway Central Connecticut State University
		Research:	Recommendations for [Name of Agency]:
Description of School:
			[Here you should list at least two recommendations for improving your agency’s services to clients]
[Here you should have a one-paragraph description of your agency]		I read articles by Evans (2004) on socioeconomic status and poverty and by Papai (2000) on context-based methods for ESOL children. Here are some things I learned:
		1. It takes longer than I thought for a non-English speaking child to learn (5-7 years!) 2. Context-based reading and writing materials can help 3. Better understanding of the environment low-SES English-language learners live and go to school in
My Community Work:
[One-paragraph description of who you worked with and what you did with them]

Directions to the YMCA of New Britain

50 High Street

Contact person: Josue Irizarry, Youth and Family Director

860-229-3787

Directions

1.	Start at 1615 STANLEY ST[CT-71], NEW BRITAIN going toward COMMONWEALTH AVE - go 1.3 mi
2.	Continue to follow CT-71 SOUTH - go 0.3 mi
3.	Bear Right on E MAIN ST - go 0.2 mi
4.	E MAIN ST becomes MYRTLE ST - go 0.2 mi
5.	Turn Left on HIGH ST - go 0.1 mi
6.	Arrive at 50 HIGH ST, NEW BRITAIN, on the Right

Psychology 112 (Prof. Conway):

General Psychology Community Service Contract

Student name: _______________________ Student telephone #: __________________

Semester: ________________________ Student e-mail: _______________________

Organization name: _____YWCA____________________