Assignment Paper

CPC Paper Assignment

Aligned Course Objectives 1. Apply theoretical perspectives in examining human behaviors and learning environments.
2. Apply appropriate instructional strategies to enhance learning outcomes.
3. Identify child-level and classroom-level factors that may affect learning.
4. Analyze major theories of motivation and learning.
5. Identify and describe individual differences and social influences on teaching and learning.
6. Design and implement assessment tools for measuring and supporting continuous learning.
7. Analyze classroom situations and make judgments as to appropriate teacher behavior.
8. Reflect upon and evaluate your own teaching, so that you may identify and enact changes to make you a more effective teacher.
Description The Core Psychological Concepts (CPC) Paper is the final writing project in which you will demonstrate your understanding of the psychological principles and concepts learned in this class by applying them to solve a problem involving teaching and learning.
The scenario: You are a first-year teacher (or business manager, speech pathologist, etc.) and you are experiencing a problem related to motivation and learning in your classroom (or with a student, employees, client, etc.). You have an idea for an intervention to address the problem using psychological principles, and you want to present your ideas to your superior (or department chair, supervisor, etc.).
The paper will consist of:
1. A problem of your choosing from the CPC problem list.
2. At least one (1) psychological theory to frame the problem.
3. Three or more (3+) psychological principles and concepts you consider relevant to the problem and why they are relevant.
4. An intervention plan to address the problem using the principles/concepts identified.
5. A plan to measure and assess whether your intervention is effective.
The key to this paper is being specific on the relations among the problem, the principles and concepts, and your intervention plan, which should all be supported by educational psychology theories from this class. The main body of your paper will contain three sections:
Section One: The Problem
a. Describe the problem in full.
b. Frame the problem within a psychological theory. Describe the theory accurately, and explain how it relates to the problem. (e.g., “According to self-determination theory, these students are unmotivated because they do not feel in control of their learning.”)
c. Three or more core psychological principles/concepts, and how each apply to the problem.
Section Two: The Intervention
a. Identify the goal(s) of the intervention. If this intervention is successful, what will be accomplished? What is each component of the intervention designed to achieve?
b. Defining the components of your intervention (e.g. What actions are you going to take? What are the steps of each action? What materials are you going to use? etc.).
• There will likely be more than one component to the intervention
• All psychological principles/concepts should be incorporated into the intervention somehow.
c. Discuss why the intervention will address the psychological theory and principles/concepts you identified in Section 1.
d. Describe the context of the intervention plan. This would include:
1. Resources. What supports and resources will you need to accomplish this? Parents? Other Teachers? Materials?
2. Feasibility. The intervention should be something that you as a teacher could do yourself (or with a bit of help). Consider how much time you would spend on the intervention and the resources you would need
3. Timeline. When would each component of the intervention take place? When do you expect the intervention to be complete? When will you evaluate the intervention?
Section Three: Evaluation Plan
Discuss how you will measure the outcome(s) and assess your intervention to know if it has worked. You need at least one measure for each core psychological concept you discuss. These measures could be survey, test/exam, interview, observation, etc. Each measure must be presented and described in detail or with example items.

Formatting:
• Cover page (1 page)
• Body (6-8 pages), double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1” margins, no extra spacing in between paragraphs.
• Reference Page (1 page)
• APA Style for everything (cover page, references, citations, etc.)

References: You will be required to include at least five (5) empirical or theoretical journal articles (or book chapters) that expand and/or support your ideas. These articles can be found in places such as the UNL Libraries, Google Scholar, or other resources.

Some final notes:
1. Be very specific about the components of your intervention (how they address the problem, exactly what will be done, how the concepts are addressed, and why they should be effective). Someone else should have no problem replicating your intervention and evaluation plan based on what you write.
2. You are writing this from the perspective of a professional to a supervisor, and therefore the language you use must be professional.
3. Avoid filler or “fluff” that add length but no substance your paper.
4. Use direct quotations sparingly, if at all. They are an easy way to add length, but your paper will flow much better if you put quotations into your own words, and it will help you relate the idea to the problem. Plus, the paper is intended to demonstrate your grasp of psychological principles and constantly using other peoples’ words does not convey this.

Submitting Online via Canvas.
Grading
The paper is worth 50 points total. Below is the rubric:
Section One (30 pts.)
Describe the problem in detail. 2.5 pts
Frame all or part of the problem within a psychological theory or framework (and describe the relevant elements of that theory in detail). 2.5 pts
Identify and thoroughly define three or more psychological principles/concepts. 5 pts
Discuss how each principle/concept relates to the problem, and/or describe why the problem is occurring using your psychological concepts. 5 pts
Section Two (40 pts.):
Frame all or part of your intervention within your chosen theoretical framework. 5 pts
Incorporate each principle/concept into the intervention. 3 pts
Describe intervention components in detail, including what issue(s) each component is intended to address and why the component would be effective. 3 pts
Describe the intervention context and intended outcomes (e.g., timing, resources) 5 pts
Section Three (20 pts.):
Identify/design a measure for each principle/concept and outcome. 5 pts
Providing enough information on each measure to justify its use. 2.5 pts
Describe how you would administer each measure (e.g., timing, resources). 2.5 pts
References and Format (10 pts.):
Using APA style throughout the paper 3 pts
Grammar, punctuation, syntax 3 pts
Organization & structure 3 pts
Total: 50 pts

Things that will make you lose points:
Paper body not within page requirement (6-8 pages) – 5 pts
Fewer than 5 academic references – 5 pts
Not formatted correctly (see paper guidelines) – 5 pts
Plagiarism (not putting direct quotes in quotation marks, etc.) – 50 pts (!)