Welcome to CHILD 210: Child Development. We will be spending the next seven weeks studying the development of the child, from prenatal through adolescence. Before we dive into each age range of development, we need to have an understanding of principles of development, periods of development, the importance of family dynamics and atmosphere, and the scientific process.

Principles of Child Development

(Paris et al., 2019)

There are several underlying principles of development to keep in mind: 

• Development is lifelong and change is apparent across the lifespan (although this course  ends with adolescence). eEarly experiences affect later development.

• Development is multidirectional. We show gains in some areas of development, while showing loss in other areas.

• Development is multidimensional. We change across three general domains and dimensions: physical, cognitive, and social and emotional (Paris et al., 2019).

• The physical domain includes changes in height and weight, changes in gross and fine motor skills, sensory capabilities, the nervous system, as well as the propensity for disease and illness. 

• The cognitive domain encompasses the changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem-solving, memory, and language. 

• The social and emotional domain (also referred to as psychosocial) focuses on changes in emotion, self-perception, and interpersonal relationships with families, peers, and friends.

All three domains influence each other. It is also important to note that a change in one domain may cascade and prompt changes in the other domains.

• Development is characterized by plasticity, which is our ability to change and that many of our characteristics are malleable. Early experiences are important, but children are remarkably resilient (able to overcome adversity).

• Development is multicontextual (Lally & Valentine-French, 2022). We are influenced by both nature (genetics) and nurture (the environment). When and where we live and our actions, beliefs, and values are a response to circumstances surrounding us. The key here is to understand that behaviors, motivations, emotions, and choices are all part of a bigger picture (Carter et al., 2019).

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) offers us one of the most comprehensive theories of human development. Bronfenbrenner studied Freud, Erikson, Piaget, and learning theorists and believed that all of those theories could be enhanced by adding the dimension of context. What is being taught and how society interprets situations depends on who is involved in the life of a child and on when and where a child lives.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model explains the direct and indirect influences on an individual’s development.

For example, in order to understand a student in math, we can’t simply look at that individual and what challenges they face directly with the subject. We have to look at the interactions that occur between teacher and child. Perhaps the teacher needs to make modifications. The teacher may be responding to regulations made by the school, such as new expectations for students in math or constraints on time that interfere with the teacher’s ability to instruct. These new demands may be a response to national efforts to promote math and science deemed important by political leaders in response to relations with other countries at a particular time in history.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model challenges us to go beyond the individual if we want to understand human development and promote improvements. Now let’s look at a framework for examining development.

Periods of Development

(Berk, 2007)

Think about what periods of development a course on Child Development would address. How many stages are on your list? Perhaps you have three: infancy, childhood, and teenagers. Developmentalists (those that study development) break this part of the lifespan into five stages:

• Prenatal development (conception through birth)

• Infancy and toddlerhood (birth through 2 years)

• Early childhood (3–5 years)

• Middle childhood (6–11 years)

• Adolescence (12 years to adulthood)

This list reflects unique aspects of the various stages of childhood and adolescence that will be explored in this book. While both an eight-month-old and an eight-year-old are considered children, they have very different motor abilities, social relationships, and cognitive skills. Their nutritional needs are different and their primary psychological concerns are also distinctive.

Child and the Family

The reason we turn out much like our parents, for better or worse, is that our families are  an important part of our socialization process. When we are born, our primary caregivers are almost always one or both of our parents. For several years we have more contact with them than with any other adults. Because this contact occurs in our most formative years, our parents’ interactions with us and the messages they teach us can have a profound impact throughout our lives. During middle childhood, children spend less time with parents and more time with peers. Parents may have to modify their approach to parenting to accommodate the child’s growing independence. At this time, using reason and engaging in joint decision-making whenever possible may be the most effective approach .

Family Atmosphere

(Berger, 2005)

One of the ways to assess the quality of family life is to consider the tasks of families.

Consists of five family functions:

1. Providing food, clothing and shelter

2. Encouraging learning

3. Developing self-esteem

4. Nurturing friendships with peers

5. Providing harmony and stability

Notice that in addition to providing food, shelter, and clothing, families are responsible for helping the child learn, relate to others, and have a confident sense of self. The family provides a harmonious and stable environment for living. A good home environment is one in which the child's physical, cognitive, emotional, and social needs are adequately met. Sometimes families emphasize physical needs but ignore cognitive or emotional needs. Other times, families pay close attention to physical needs and academic requirement, but may fail to nurture the child’s friendships with peers or guide the child toward developing healthy relationships. Parents might want to consider how it feels to live in the household. Is it stressful and conflict-ridden? Is it a place where family members enjoy being?

Scientific Inquiry

(Seccombe & Warner, 2004)

An important part of learning any science is having a basic knowledge of the techniques used in gathering information. The hallmark of scientific investigation is following a set of procedures designed to keep questioning or skepticism alive while describing, explaining, or testing a  phenomenon. Some people are hesitant to trust academicians or researchers because they always seem to change their story. That, however, is exactly what science is all about; it involves continuously renewing our understanding of the subjects in question and an ongoing investigation of how and why events occur. Science is a vehicle for going on a never- ending journey. In the area of development, we have seen changes in recommendations for nutrition, in explanations of psychological states as people age, and in parenting advice. So think of learning about human development as a lifelong endeavor.

Take a moment to write down two things that you know about childhood. Now, how do you know? Chances are you know these things based on your own history (experiential reality) or based on what others have told you or cultural ideas (agreement reality) . There are several problems with personal inquiry. Read the following sentence aloud:

Paris in the the spring.

Are you sure that is what it said? Read it again:

Paris in the the spring.

If you read it differently the second time (adding the second “the”) you just experienced one of the problems with personal inquiry; that is, the tendency to see what we believe. Our assumptions very often guide our perceptions, consequently, when we believe something, we tend to see it even if it is not there. This problem may be a result of cognitive blinders or it may be part of a more conscious attempt to support our own views. Confirmation bias is the tendency to look for evidence that we are right and in so doing, we ignore contradictory evidence. Popper suggests that the distinction between what  is scientific and what  is unscientific is that science is falsifiable; scientific inquiry involves attempts to reject or refute a theory or set of assumptions (Thornton, 2005). Theory that cannot be falsified is not scientific. Much of what we do in personal inquiry involves drawing conclusions based on what we have personally experienced or validating our own experience by discussing what we think is true with others who share the same views. Science offers a more systematic way to make comparisons guard against bias.

Scientific Methods

One method of scientific investigation involves the following steps:

1. Determining a research question

2. Reviewing previous studies addressing the topic in question (known as a literature

review)

3. Determining a method of gathering information

4. Conducting the study

5. Interpreting results

6. Drawing conclusions; stating limitations of the study and suggestions for future research

7. Making your findings available to others (both to share information and to have your work scrutinized)

Your findings can then be used by others as they explore the area of interest and through this process a literature or knowledge base is established. This model of scientific investigation presents research as a linear process guided by a specific research question. It typically involves quantifying or using statistics to understand and report what has been studied. Many academic journals publish reports on studies conducted in this manner.

Another model of research referred to as qualitative research may involve these steps:

1. Begin with a broad area of interest

2. Gain entrance into a group to be researched

3. Gather field notes about the setting, the people, the structure, the activities or other areas of interest

4. Ask open ended, broad “grand tour” types of questions when interviewing subjects

5. Modify research questions as study continues

6. Note patterns or consistencies

7. Explore new areas deemed important by the people being observed

8. Report findings

In this type of research, theoretical ideas are grounded in the experiences of the participants. The researcher is the student and the people in the setting are the teachers as they inform the researcher of their world (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Researchers are to be aware of their own biases and assumptions, acknowledge them and bracket them in efforts to keep them from limiting accuracy in reporting. Sometimes qualitative studies are used initially to explore a topic and more quantitative studies are used to test or explain what was first described.

Research Methods

Let’s look more closely at some techniques or research methods used to describe, explain, or evaluate. Each of these designs has strengths and weaknesses and is sometimes combined  with other designs within a single study.

Observational Studies

Observational studies involve watching and recording the actions of participants. This may take place in a natural setting, such as observing children play at a park or behind a one-way glass while children play in a laboratory playroom. The researcher may follow a checklist and record the frequency and duration of events (perhaps how many conflicts occur among two-year-olds) or may observe and record as much as possible about an event (such as watching  children in a classroom and capturing the details about the room design and what the children and teachers are doing and saying). In general, observational studies have the strength of allowing the researcher to see how people behave rather than relying on self-report. What people do and what they say they do are often very different. A major weakness of observational studies is that they do not allow the researcher to explain causal relationships. Yet, observational studies are useful and widely used when studying children. Children tend to change their behavior when they know they are being watched (known as the Hawthorne effect) and may not survey well.

Experiments

Experiments are designed to test hypotheses (or specific statements about the relationship between variables) in a controlled setting in efforts to explain how certain factors or events produce outcomes. A variable is anything that changes in value. Concepts are operationalized or transformed into variables in research, which means that the researcher must specify exactly what is going to be measured in the study.

Three conditions must be met in order to establish cause and effect. Experimental designs are useful in meeting these conditions.

1. The independent and dependent variables must be related. In other words, when one is altered, the other changes in response. (The independent variable is something altered or introduced by the researcher. The dependent variable is the outcome or the factor affected by the introduction of the independent variable. For example, if we are looking at the impact of exercise on stress levels, the independent variable would be exercise; the dependent variable would be stress.)

2. The cause must come before the effect. Experiments involve measuring subjects on the dependent variable before exposing them to the independent variable (establishing a baseline). So we would measure the subjects’ level of stress before introducing exercise and then again after the exercise to see if there has been a change in stress levels. (Observational and survey research does not always allow us to look at the timing of these events, which makes understanding causality problematic with these designs.)

3. The cause must be isolated. The researcher must ensure that no outside,  unknown variables are actually causing the effect we see. The experimental design helps make this possible. In an experiment, we would make sure that our subjects’ diets were held constant throughout the exercise program. Otherwise, diet might be creating the change in stress level rather than exercise.

A basic experimental design involves beginning with a sample (or subset of a population) and randomly assigning subjects to one of two groups: the experimental group or the control group.

The experimental group is the group that is going to be exposed to an independent variable or condition the researcher is introducing as a potential cause of an event. The control group is going to be used for comparison and is going to have the same experience as the experimental group but will not be exposed to the independent variable. After exposing the experimental group to the independent variable, the two groups are measured again to see if a change has occurred. If so, we are in a better position to suggest that the independent variable caused the change in the dependent variable.

The major advantage of the experimental design is that of helping to establish cause and effect relationships. A disadvantage of this design is the difficulty of translating much of what happens in a laboratory setting into real life.

Case Studies

Case studies involve exploring a single case or situation in great detail. Information may be gathered with the use of observation, interviews, testing, or other methods to uncover as much as possible about a person or situation. Case studies are helpful when investigating unusual situations such as brain trauma or children reared in isolation. They are often used by clinicians who conduct case studies as part of their normal practice when gathering information about a client or patient coming in for treatment. Case studies can be used to explore areas about which little is known and can provide rich detail about situations or conditions. However, the findings from case studies cannot be generalized or applied to larger populations; this is because cases are not randomly selected and no control group is used for comparison.

Surveys

Surveys are familiar to most people because they are so widely used. Surveys enhance accessibility to subjects because they can be conducted in person, over the phone, through the mail, or online. A survey involves asking a standard set of questions to a group of subjects. In a highly structured survey, subjects are forced to choose from a response set such as “strongly disagree, disagree, undecided, agree, strongly agree”; or “0, 1–5, 6–10, and so on.” This is known as Likert Scale. Surveys are commonly used by sociologists, marketing researchers, political scientists, therapists, and others to gather information on many independent and dependent variables in a relatively short period of time. Surveys typically yield surface information on a wide variety of factors, and  may not allow for in-depth understanding of human behavior.

Of course, surveys can be designed in a number of ways. They may include forced choice questions and semi-structured questions in which the researcher allows the respondent to describe or give details about certain events. One of the most difficult aspects of designing a good survey is wording questions in an unbiased way and asking the right questions so that respondents can give a clear response rather than choosing undecided each time. Knowing that 30% of respondents are undecided is of little use!  A lot of time and effort should be placed on the construction of survey items. One of the benefits of having forced choice items is that each response is coded so that the results can be quickly entered and analyzed using statistical software. Analysis takes much longer when respondents give lengthy responses that must be analyzed in a different way. Surveys are useful in examining stated values, attitudes, opinions, and reporting on practices. However, they are based on self-report or what people say they do rather than on observation and this can limit accuracy.

Developmental Designs

Developmental designs are techniques used in developmental research (and other areas as well). These techniques try to examine how age, cohort, gender, and social class impact development.

Longitudinal Research

Longitudinal research involves beginning with a group of people who may be of the same age and background, and measuring them repeatedly over a long period of time. One of the benefits of this type of research is that people can be followed through time and be compared with them when they were younger.

A problem with this type of research is that it is very expensive and subjects may drop out over time. The Perry Preschool Project which began in 1962 is an example of a longitudinal study that continues to provide data on children’s development.

Cross-sectional Research

Cross-sectional research begins with a sample that represents a cross-section of the population. Respondents who vary in age, gender, ethnicity, and social class might be asked to complete a survey about television program preferences or attitudes toward the use of the Internet. The attitudes of males and females could then be compared, as could attitudes based on age. In cross-sectional research, respondents are measured only once.

This method is much less expensive than longitudinal research but does not allow the researcher to distinguish between the impact of age and the cohort effect. Different attitudes about the use of technology, for example, might not be altered by a person’s biological age as much as their life experiences as members of a cohort.

Sequential Research

Sequential research involves combining aspects of the previous two techniques, beginning with a cross-sectional sample and then measuring them through time. This is the perfect model for looking at age, gender, social class, and ethnicity. But the drawbacks of high costs and attrition are here as well (Bhattacherjee & University of South Florida, 2012).

(Lukowski & Milojevich, 2024)

Consent and Ethics in Research

Research should, as much as possible, be based on participants' freely volunteered informed consent. For minors, this also requires consent from their legal guardians. This implies a responsibility to explain fully and meaningfully to both the child and their guardians what the research is about and how it will be disseminated. Participants and their legal guardians should be aware of the research purpose and procedures, their right to refuse to participate, the extent to which confidentiality will be maintained, the potential uses to which the data might be put, the foreseeable risks and expected benefits, and that participants have the right to discontinue at any time.

Consent alone does not absolve the responsibility of researchers to anticipate and guard against potential harmful consequences for participants. It is critical that researchers protect all rights of the participants including confidentiality.

Child development is a fascinating field of study, but care must be taken to ensure that researchers use appropriate methods to examine infant and child behavior, use the correct experimental design to answer their questions, and be aware of the special challenges that are part of developmental research. Hopefully, this information helped you develop an understanding of these various issues and to be ready to think more critically about research questions that interest you. There are so many interesting questions that remain to be examined by future generations of developmental scientists.  Maybe you will make one of the next big discoveries!

Analyzing Findings

(Florida State College at Jacksonville, n.d.)

Did you know that as sales in ice cream increase, so does the overall rate of crime? Is it possible that indulging in your favorite flavor of ice cream could send you on a crime spree?  After committing crime do you think you might decide to treat yourself to a cone? There is no question that a relationship exists between ice cream and crime (Harper, 2013), but it would be pretty foolish to decide that one thing actually caused the other to occur.

It is much more likely that both ice cream sales and crime rates are related to the temperature outside. When the temperature is warm, there are lots of people out of their houses, interacting with each other, getting annoyed with one another, and sometimes committing crimes. Also, when it is warm outside, we are more likely to seek a cool treat like ice cream. How do we determine if there is indeed a relationship between two things? And when there is a relationship, how can we discern whether it is attributable to coincidence or causation?

Correlational Research

Correlation means that there is a relationship between two or more variables (such as ice cream consumption and crime), but this relationship does not necessarily imply cause and effect. When two variables are correlated, it simply means that as one variable changes, so does the other. We can measure correlation by calculating a statistic known as a correlation coefficient. A correlation coefficient is a number from -1 to +1 that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between variables. The correlation coefficient is usually represented by the letter r.

The number portion of the correlation coefficient indicates the strength of the relationship. The closer the number is to 1—be it negative or positive—the more strongly related the variables are, and the more predictable changes in one variable will be as the other variable changes. The closer the number is to zero, the weaker the relationship, and the less predictable the relationships between the variables becomes. For instance, a correlation coefficient of 0.9 indicates a far stronger relationship than a correlation coefficient of 0.3. If the variables are not related to one another at all, the correlation coefficient is 0. The example above about ice cream and crime is an example of two variables that we might expect to have no relationship to each other.

The sign—positive or negative—of the correlation coefficient indicates the direction of the relationship. A positive correlation means that the variables move in the same direction. Put another way, it means that as one variable increases so does the other, and conversely, when one variable decreases so does the other. A negative correlation means that the variables move in opposite directions. If two variables are negatively correlated, a decrease in one variable is associated with an increase in the other and vice versa.

The example of ice cream and crime rates is a positive correlation because both variables increase when temperatures are warmer. Other examples of positive correlations are the relationship between an individual’s height and weight or the relationship between a person’s age and number of wrinkles. One might expect a negative correlation to exist between someone’s tiredness during the day and the number of hours they slept the previous night; the amount of sleep decreases as the feelings of tiredness increase. In a real-world example of negative correlation, student researchers at the University of Minnesota found a weak negative correlation (r = -0.29) between the average number of days per week that students got fewer than 5 hours of sleep and their GPA (Lowry et al., 2010). Keep in mind that a negative correlation is not the same as no correlation. For example, we would probably find no correlation between hours of sleep and shoe size.

As mentioned earlier, correlations have predictive value. Imagine that you are on the admissions committee of a major university. You are faced with a huge number of applications, but you are able to accommodate only a small percentage of the applicant pool. How might you decide who should be admitted? You might try to correlate your current students’ college GPA with their scores on standardized tests like the SAT or ACT. By observing which correlations were strongest for your current students, you could use this information to predict relative success of those students who have applied for admission into the university.

Correlation Does Not Indicate Causation 

Correlational research is useful because it allows us to discover the strength and direction of relationships that exist between two variables. However, correlation is limited because establishing the existence of a relationship tells us little about cause and effect. While variables are sometimes correlated because one does cause the other, it could also be that some other factor, a confounding variable, is actually causing the systematic movement in our variables of interest. In the ice cream and crime rate example mentioned earlier, temperature is a confounding variable that could account for the relationship between the two variables.

Even when we cannot point to clear confounding variables, we should not assume that a correlation between two variables implies that one variable causes changes in another. This can be frustrating when a cause-and-effect relationship seems clear and intuitive. Think back to our discussion of the research done by the American Cancer Society and how their research projects were some of the first demonstrations of the link between smoking and cancer. It seems reasonable to assume that smoking causes cancer, but if we were limited to correlational research, we would be overstepping our bounds by making this assumption.

Unfortunately, people mistakenly make claims of causation as a function of correlations all the time. Such claims are especially common in advertisements and news stories. For example, recent research found that people who eat cereal on a regular basis achieve healthier weights than those who rarely eat cereal (Frantzen et al., 2005). Guess how the cereal companies report this finding. Does eating cereal really cause an individual to maintain a healthy weight, or are there other possible explanations, such as someone at a healthy weight is more likely to regularly eat a healthy breakfast than someone who is obese or someone who avoids meals in an attempt to diet? While correlational research is invaluable in identifying relationships among variables, a major limitation is the inability to establish causality. Psychologists want to make statements about cause and effect, but the only way to do that is to conduct an experiment to answer a research question. The next section describes how scientific experiments incorporate methods that eliminate or control for alternative explanations, which allow researchers to explore how changes in one variable cause changes in another variable.

Nature and Nurture

(Paris et al., 2019)

Most scholars agree that there is a constant interplay between nature (heredity) and nurture (the environment). It is difficult to isolate the root of any single characteristic as a result solely of nature or nurture, and most scholars believe that even determining the extent to which nature or nurture impacts a human feature is difficult to answer. In fact, almost all human features are polygenic (a result of many genes) and multifactorial (a result of many factors, both genetic and environmental). It’s as if one’s genetic make-up sets up a range of possibilities, which may or may not be realized depending upon one’s environmental experiences. For instance, a person might be genetically predisposed to develop diabetes, but the person’s lifestyle may determine whether or not they actually develop the disease. This bidirectional interplay between nature and nurture is the epigenetic framework, which suggests that the environment can affect the expression of genes just as genetic predispositions can impact a person’s potential. And environmental circumstances can trigger symptoms of a genetic disorder.

Observations

In this course, you will be tasked with completing several observations of children. To prepare for those observations, please read the following information.

Becoming A Skilled Observer

(Peterson & Elam, 2020)

To truly observe a child, you must be present, knowledgeable, inquisitive and intentional. With every observation, you will sharpen your skills as you learn how to effectively gather objective evidence and detailed data.

Be present: To capture all the individual mannerisms, subtle social nuances, nonverbal body language and dynamic conversations that occur throughout the day you must be attentive, focused and ready to go at any given moment. Children move fast. When we blink, we are bound to miss some little detail or precious moment, that’s a given. Being present takes considerable effort and careful planning.

Be knowledgeable: Understanding the core concepts of early childhood education is extremely important if you are to set reasonable expectations and plan developmentally appropriate learning experiences. Familiarizing yourself with child development theories will help you understand and appreciate why children do what they do. Learning about the key principles in early care and education will provide you with a solid foundation and a wide range of instructional strategies to support a child’s development.

Be inquisitive: Think of yourself as a researcher. Your primary mission is to investigate the children in your care by routinely gathering evidence, using a variety of observation methods and tools. As a good researcher you will need to ask some thoughtful questions. These questions will guide you as you plan purposeful observations and as you select your method of observation. Here are some sample questions you may ask yourself: What activities interest Max? How many times did Stevie hit today? What skills did Hazel master today with this activity, and what skills need further support? How long did Zoey stay engaged while playing in the sandbox? What milestones will this activity support? By asking thoughtful questions, you will learn more about the children in your care and you will do a better job at supporting each child’s individual needs. Rather than fixating on a child’s behavior, in time you will begin using focused observations to try and figure out the reasons why a child acts the way they do.

Be intentional: As you organize learning experiences, set up the classroom and outside environment, assess children’s developmental progress, engage in activities, and interact with your children and families  you must have a thoughtful plan of action in place. “Intentional teaching means that everything you do as a teacher has a specific goal and purpose” (Gordon & Browne, 2016). Even as spontaneous situations arise, intentional teachers must make the most of teachable moments. Intentional teachers conduct regular observations and gather objective documentation data to be accountable for the actions they take, the plans they generate and the assessments they make.

Objective Versus Subjective Observation Evidence

Intentional teachers must learn how to write objective observations. As you observe, it is best

to write down all that you see and hear, and report just the facts. It takes practice to learn how

to separate facts from opinions. Here are some helpful tips to review:

Observation and Documentation Do’s and Don’ts:

Outdoor Play

In “Balanced and Barefoot,” Angela J. Hanscom states, “True joy, a sense of play, and confidence overcome children who play outdoors” (Hanscom, 2016). While any form of play is beneficial for children, playing outside and in nature often brings greater benefits and opportunities for children.

The benefits of being outside and playing are endless. Some benefits include:

• Increased motor skill development

• Lower rates of myopia (nearsightedness)

• Lower obesity rates

• Improved mental health

• Improved cognitive functioning and attention

These benefits and many more occur when children play outside. Regardless of the climate, children can interact with nature and the outdoors through play. Parents and caregivers can set the example of outdoor play by finding ways to get outside. Dress for the weather and find small and simple ways to engage in nature.

This course will invite you to be outside each week. You are encouraged to think about your time outside and how you feel, physically, mentally, and emotionally. What benefits do you find as you increase your time outside? What barriers are there to outdoor play for you and/or children in your community? What can be done to overcome these barriers?

References

Bhattacherjee, A. & University of South Florida. (2012). Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices. Global Text Project. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-research-methods/

Carter, S., Clark-Plaskie, M., Dickman, D., Jones, T., Lazzara, J., Loalada, S., Mather, J. R., Miller, S. A., Ott, N., & Traylor, J. (2019). Introduction to Lifespan Development. Lumen Learning. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/

Florida State College at Jacksonville. (n.d.). General Psychology. Lumen Learning. Retrieved January 24, 2024, from https://library.achievingthedream.org/fscjgeneralpsychology/chapter/analyzing-findings/

Frantzen, L. B., Trevino, R. P., Echon, R. M., Garcia-Dominic, O., & DiMarco, N. (2005). Association between Frequency of Ready-to-Eat Cereal Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Body Mass Index in Fourth- to Sixth-Grade Low-Income Minority Children. 9.

Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research (1st edition). Routledge.

Gordon, A. M., & Browne, K. W. (2016). Beginnings & Beyond Foundations in Early Childhood Education (10th edition). Cengage Learning.

Hanscom, A. J. (2016). Balanced and barefoot: How unrestricted outdoor play makes for strong, confident, and capable children. New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Harper, J. (2013). Ice cream and crime: Where cold cuisine and hot disputes intersect. The Times Picaune. https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/ice-cream-and-crime-where-cold-cuisine-and-hot-disputes-intersect/article_ca3c791c-d524-555f-9431-06dc69bcfbe1.html

Lally, M., & Valentine-French, S. (2022). Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective. College Lake County. https://dept.clcillinois.edu/psy/LifespanDevelopment_08092022.pdf

Lowry, M., Dean, K., & Manders, K. (2010, January). The Link Between Sleep Quantity and Academic Performance for the College Student. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265808932_The_Link_Between_Sleep_Quantity_and_Academic_Performance_for_the_College_Student

Lukowski, A., & Milojevich, H. (2024). Research Methods in Developmental Psychology. Noba. https://nobaproject.com/modules/research-methods-in-developmental-psychology

Paris, J., Ricardo, A., Raymond, D., & College of the Canyons. (2019). Child Growth And Development (1.2). California Community Colleges, Chancellor’s Office. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B4e6oKPTFeUE9tXsJMcjsczb6Kj7EfEb/view

Peterson, G., & Elam, E. (2020). Observation And Assesment In Early Childhood Education. College of the Canyons. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WQWHn5M7qzHUzYh8Km3aJdtRsJCnx7OE

Thornton, A. (2005). Reading history sideways: The fallacy and enduring impact of the developmental paradigm on family life. University of Chicago Press.