Nimra Qureshi, Kayla Mueller, Eunbi Park & Anika Kubalik
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology (Honours), 4th Year
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology Major, 4th Year
Bachelor of Science, Human Ecology, Family Science Major, 3rd Year
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, 4th Year
Course: PSYCO 323 (Fall 2021) with Instructor Dr. Wendy Hoglund
Who was your community partner and can you describe the project objectives?
Our community partner was U School and our project consisted of creating a newsletter for caregivers of students aged 9-12 in the program. The overarching theme of the newsletter was social development, with specific topics being social responsibility, interpersonal skills and decision making skills.
What was your biggest takeaway from your CSL placement?
One takeaway was learning how to transcribe relevant academic information into a more accessible form so that it can be read and understood by general audiences. It has expanded our ability to effectively translate and communicate critical aspects of academic research with others in a way that they can understand it well.
How can you apply any newly gained knowledge/skills to your future endeavours (courses/employment/volunteering)?
We learned about how social development encompasess many components, looks different for each child at various developmental periods, and continuously develops throughout one's life. This can help us in our future endeavours, especially those that involve interactions with youth. Acknowledging that every child is at a different developmental period in relation to their social skills and development can help shape how we communicate and interact with them. We also learned how the social development of children can be continuously supported through the use of many tips and strategies, such as modeling and mentoring. Using these strategies, we can work towards further enhancing children's social development in our future endeavours.
What are some of the ways that COVID-19 has affected your community partner or your placement?
Initially, the pandemic made communication and interaction with others challenging, as we no longer had direct and immediate access to those around us. One of our biggest takeaways from our CSL placement was learning how to work together, coordinate schedules and manage workloads in a virtual setting to achieve a shared goal. This serves as valuable experience and can be taken into other employment or volunteer opportunities where we must coordinate with others. Originally this placement would have been in person, allowing us to work with the kids in the program. Although COVID prevented us from interacting with the children directly, we believe it opened up an excellent opportunity to make resources for the caregiver, increasing their involvement in the program and supporting their child’s social development.