ECE 114 Child Development: Prenatal to 2 ½ years

MyVirtualLife Assignment Value: 30%

Due Date: Various, Refer to your Critical Path

This assignment requires you to work on it throughout the semester. This is both an individual
and small group experience. You will also need to refer to your course text to add depth and
support your responses/reasoning for the written components of the assignment.

Purpose:
The purpose of this assignment is for you to have an opportunity to examine growth and
development over time (infancy-toddlerhood).

As an Early Childhood professional, you will use your knowledge about growth and
development together with your observations to inform what you plan to do, changes you wish
to make and the action you take in professional practice.

Through this assignment, you will also demonstrate a contribution towards the following
course specific learning outcomes (LO) and essential employability outcomes:
 apply the principles of development to inform professional practice (LO#2)
 evaluate the potential impact of heredity on children’s development to establish and
maintain inclusive early learning experiences (LO#4)
 examine how child development guides early childhood professionals in designing
individually responsive and inclusive programs (LO#7)
 link individual children’s knowledge, skills and interests to design responsive inclusive
early learning experiences (LO#9)
 examine professional behaviours that support the development of individuals to support
diverse equitable learning environments (LO#10)
 communicate clearly, concisely and correctly in the written, spoken and visual form that
fulfills the purpose and meets the needs of the audience
 respond to written, spoken, or visual messages in a manner that ensures effective
communication
 show respect for the diverse opinions, values, belief systems and contributions of
others
 interact with others in groups or teams in ways that contribute to the effect working
relationships and the achievement of goals
 manage the use of time and other resources to complete projects
 take responsibility for one’s actions, decisions, and consequences

Instructions:

For this assignment, you will be creating and raising a ‘Virtual Child’ (VC). You will need to
sign up for this on REVEL course textbook site in class.

You will need to register on this platform using the access card code you purchased at the
beginning of the semester.

ECE 114 – Child Development: Pre-natal to 2 ½ Years Fall 2019 Page 1

Virtual Child Assignment
Created by: ECE Dept. Faculty, last modified by Prof. S. Sheikh
There is some preparation you will need to do before beginning to raise your child.
Set aside some time, like 20 minutes, to set-up. Consider taking notes as these will support
your understanding of child development.

This assignment has three parts. Part ONE & TWO are a combination of online and in-class
components (Value: 10%+ 10%), Part THREE is an in-class parent-educator meeting
component (Value: 10%).

By the completion of this assignment, you will need to have raised your Virtual Child up to the
age range of approximately 2 ½ years and answer the questions below. Please do not raise
your child beyond this age, as you will be continuing to raise your virtual child in semester two
for a different assignment.

On the final due date for this assignment, you will come prepared to class to have a parent-
educator meeting with your class colleagues. Instructions for the meeting(s) will be shared
closer to the due date by your course faculty.
**Please note: faculty can access your Virtual Child. Please ensure you meet the due dates
for your responses to the questions as cited by your course faculty.

**If you have some technical difficulties, you will need to contact the publisher’s
support number. Do not wait until later in the term to work on this.

Part ONE – 10% Due Date: __________________

You will raise a virtual child up to the age of approximately 8 months old. As you raise the
child, prompt questions will appear on the MyVirtualLife platform. It is recommended that you
type in key points within the online platform to help you remember in the moment ideas. You
should also copy and paste these ideas in a Word file and save this file on your USB/virtual
drive, as a backup.
You will need to refer to these notes when preparing to submit Part One, the written
component of the Virtual Child assignment. This will give you an opportunity to enhance your
responses before the final deadline. Your course faculty will share details with you closer to
the deadline date, please also refer to your course Critical Path for due date(s).

See the questions below to help you anticipate the key questions you will be answering. You
will need to use complete sentences to express your understanding in the final written
submission.

Raising your child up to 8 months of age by the end of Part ONE

Once you have signed up and responded to the avatar prompts. You will receive a labor and
delivery report. Copy and past this into a Word file. You will require this information to assist
with answering the first question.

ECE 114 – Child Development: Pre-natal to 2 ½ Years Fall 2019 Page 2

Virtual Child Assignment
Created by: ECE Dept. Faculty, last modified by Prof. S. Sheikh
Your virtual child should be raised up to 8 months of age in order to answer the following:

1. Describe your labor and delivery experience. For example, when and where did labor
begin, how did your labor experience compare with typical patterns described in your
textbook? How was your baby's initial health? Was your baby preterm, low birth weight, or
small-for-gestational age (refer to your textbook and lecture notes)? Were there any birth
complications? If provided, be sure to describe and interpret your virtual child’s APGAR
scores and initial physical appearance. List 3 maternal factors (e.g., demographic,
medical/health, and behavioural) that likely influenced your baby’s health during pregnancy
and at birth.
1 point for describing the labor experience of your virtual child, 1 point for describing the
baby’s health, 1 point for describing and interpreting the child’s APGAR score, and 3
points for addressing maternal factors with an example (Total possible points: 6)

2. What did you and your virtual partner decide you would do in terms of breastfeeding
versus formula feeding? Or, will you do a little bit of both? Explain how you think this
decision will impact your child.
1 point for decision you made to breastfeed/formula feed, 1 point for explaining how the
decision will impact your child (Total possible points: 2)

3. At the age of 8 months, you receive a report from your child’s pediatrician based on a
routine physical exam, and some observations of your child in the playroom. The report
offers information on where your child is at with gross and fine motor development. Write
down what the assessment says where your child is at with his/her gross and fine motor as
compared to typical development (Hint: typical, advanced, behind/delayed). Then,
describe what this would mean for you as a parent in terms of what you would need to
consider to stimulate or maintain gross and fine motor skills in your child.
1 point for identifying child’s gross and fine motor development, 1 point for describing what
it means for a parent to stimulate these skills (Total possible points: 2)

Total overall points for Part One: 10

*A good answer for these questions, wherever possible, should relate your descriptions
and explanations of the child’s behaviour to the concepts, theories and research covered
in the course’s text, resource materials (such as ELECT) and/or in class. This means
where possible include in-text citations to add evidence.

Submission Checklist for Part ONE:

 Completed raising your VC up to approximately the age of 8 months online
 You have come to class prepared with your notes and device to complete the write-up
 Submission by deadline(s) as directed by your course faculty
 Responses for the written component are proofread for completeness,
spelling/grammar
 You have a cover page, the written component with in-text citations
 You have a self-graded rubric for the appropriate part of the assignment
ECE 114 – Child Development: Pre-natal to 2 ½ Years Fall 2019 Page 3
Virtual Child Assignment
Created by: ECE Dept. Faculty, last modified by Prof. S. Sheikh
Part TWO– 10% Due Date: __________________

You will raise a virtual child up to the completion of approximately 2 years of age. As you
raise the child, prompt questions will appear on the MyVirtualLife website. It is recommended
that you make notes on key points within the online platform to help you remember in the
moment ideas. You may chose to copy and paste these ideas in a Word file and save this file
on your USB/virtual drive, as a backup.
You will need to refer to these notes when preparing to submit Part Two, the written
component of the Virtual Child assignment. This will give you an opportunity to enhance your
responses before the final deadline. Your course faculty will share details with you closer to
the deadline date, please also refer to your course Critical Path for due date(s).

See the questions below to help you anticipate the key questions you will be answering. You
will need to use complete sentences to express your understanding in the final written
submission.

Raising your child up to 2 years by the end of Part TWO

As you continue to raise your virtual child, please consider taking notes for the age ranges
noted below in order to capture in the moment thoughts and ideas. Your virtual child should
be progressing to 2 years of age in order to answer the following:

1. At approximately 12 months of age, why might your child enjoy engaging in games that
involved object permanence? On what do you base your hypotheses? Refer to your
course text for supporting evidence.
(Total points possible: 2)

2. At approximately 15 months of age, why might your child enjoy doing “little experiments”
when playing with toys, such as pushing floating toys down and watching them float back
up?
(Total points possible: 1)

3. You decide to have a developmental assessment completed for your child when the child
is at approximately 19 months of age. What did the examiner say are your child’s memory
skills, and the child’s ability to understand directions? What suggestions did the examiner
give to you, the parent, to support/stimulate/enhance these cognitive skills in your child?
Based on the decisions you made in raising your child, do you think the suggestions are
developmentally appropriate for your child?
1 point for examiner’s report on memory skills, 1 point on child’s ability to understand
directions, 1 point on suggestions to support/stimulate/enhance, 1 point for thoughts on
developmental appropriateness
(Total points possible: 4)

ECE 114 – Child Development: Pre-natal to 2 ½ Years Fall 2019 Page 4

Virtual Child Assignment
Created by: ECE Dept. Faculty, last modified by Prof. S. Sheikh
4. At 2 years of age, a developmental specialist shares with you some recommendations
about how to support your child’s language skills. Write down what the specialist’s
assessment is about your child’s language skills. Then, compare your child’s skills with
what is typically expected of a 2 year old. Write down a comparison and explain what you
could do to stimulate these language skills if the skills are lower than expected. Or, if your
child’s skills are assessed to be advanced, what could you do to enhance the child’s skills.
Finally, explain briefly how you know these strategies to stimulate or enhance will work.
1 point for specialist’s assessment of language skills, 1 point for comparison between your
VC and typical development, and 1 point for explanation.
(Total points possible: 3)

Total overall points for Part Two: 10

*A good answer for these questions, wherever possible, should relate your descriptions
and explanations of the child’s behaviour to the concepts, theories and research covered
in the course’s text, resource materials (such as ELECT) and/or in class. This means
where possible include in-text citations to add evidence.

**Do not raise your VC beyond the age of 2 years. You will continuing to raise this VC in the
next Child Development course in Semester Two. The faculty in the next series of this course
may reset your VC if it is above the age limit described above. This means you will need to
re-raise the VC up to 2 years in order to fulfill the assignment requirements for Semester Two.

Submission Checklist for Part TWO:

 Completed raising your VC up to approximately the age of 2 years online
 You have come to class prepared with your notes and device to complete the write-up
 Submission by deadline(s) as directed by your course faculty
 Responses for the written component are proofread for completeness,
spelling/grammar
 You have a cover page, the written component with in-text citations
 You have a self-graded rubric for the appropriate part of the assignment

Part THREE – 10% Due Date: __________________

Here is a summary of what you will be expected to do/prepare for Part Three.

In a Word document you will write a few introductory sentences to share about your VC, bring
this with you on the day of the Parent-Educator Meeting. Things to include in the introduction
are: name of your virtual child, age of virtual child, culture, any other significant point you
would like to share. Some of this information is yours to generate to add context.

Refer to your Critical Path for the due date of the Parent-Educator Meeting. On this day,
bring your introductory written component and the following:

ECE 114 – Child Development: Pre-natal to 2 ½ Years Fall 2019 Page 5

Virtual Child Assignment
Created by: ECE Dept. Faculty, last modified by Prof. S. Sheikh
  A toy, book, or activity that reflects the developmental skill level of your virtual child as
of 2 years of age. Be sure to bring an item that is safe, developmentally appropriate
and engaging for a toddler. Consider borrowing an item from the Carol Reid ECE
Resource Centre.
 Be prepared to share briefly about your child with the other parents in the meeting
 Then, in the role of an educator discuss with your team one responsive experience
that can be offered to these toddlers based on what you have learned about the VCs
attention span, temperament and communication and language skills. You will be
given a worksheet to write down your brief plan for submission as a team.

Attendance in class for the parent-educator meeting on the noted date in the Critical
Path is required for eligibility of marks for Part Three.

For Part Three students, must come prepared to class with the materials requested and
participate for the beginning, duration and completion of the parent meetings in order to be
eligible for grades for this portion of the assignment.
Submission Checklist for Part Three:
 You are prepared for the class parent-educator meeting with the following materials:
 A toy, book, or activity that is developmentally appropriate for a toddler
 A copy of the brief summary of your VC
 A copy of Excerpts of ELECT (Continuum of Development)
 Thoughtful ideas for a responsive plan supporting attention span,
temperament and communication and language skills
 Writing tools (pen…)
 Review the Worksheet that your faculty gives you in class to help prepare for the
meeting
 Bring the ELECT Continuum of Development document to assist with locating the
target developmental area and skill(s) being supported in the responsive plan

ECE 114 – Child Development: Pre-natal to 2 ½ Years Fall 2019 Page 6

Virtual Child Assignment
Created by: ECE Dept. Faculty, last modified by Prof. S. Sheikh