Ways to Structure Strong Forum Posts
• Think about what, why, and why it matters when considering a given article’s conclusion or argument o Example: § What: This article provides a review of several studies that have found that Measure A does a poor job of predicting academic success in children from households that speak English as a second language. § Why: Measure A’s questions rely on American pop-culture knowledge and idioms that children from immigrant families or children who speak English has-a-second language (ESL) may have less exposure to. § Why it Matters: Measure A has been implemented in some school districts to determine which children can enroll in “gifted and talented” courses. This suggests that this measure may unfairly underestimate the abilities of children from immigrant and ESL backgrounds, which can unfairly prevent these students from accessing higher quality educational experiences.
• There are few “wrong answers” but more points will be given for students that show they can: o Think critically, make connections to other research, general topics in psychology/child development, potential developmental outcomes, or downstream consequences of the topic
• Remember that while you should be making connections to child development as a whole, if you propose changes or implications of research it should be clear how it directly relates to the research topic
