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Teresa Escalante

PEPSI Case Study

EDU 220 1001

July 3, 2016
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Biography

Angela Isabel Moran was born November 11, 2002 in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is a 13

year old female who currently attends Monaco middle school. As a little girl she has been living

with her grandmother due to the fact that her mother could not take care of her properly. Within

the household was her grandmother, her uncle Jesus, and her grandfather. She went to school in

Mexico for elementary school and a portion of middle school. In which she created various

joyful memories with those around her and in school events. One of the school events that was

memorable for her was when she danced with her classmates in front of all the parents. The

dance is a very common one known to be done by children in elementary to show their Mexican

pride. After a few visits from her mom in Mexico she decided to come with her mother, leaving

everything behind including friends as she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. It is then when her

lifestyle and personality changed. Within her family household now is her mother, mothers

boyfriend, and two siblings; Milagros and Evelyn who lives in a low-income class. Since Angela

is the oldest out of the three, her sisters tend to look up to her but Angela is found within the age

where teens rebel therefore she locks herself in her room and pushes her family members away.

With her future ahead of her and the time passing by she is almost on her way to high school but

due to bad grades she is at risk at failing a year of advancing to Desert Pines High School.
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Physical

Angela is a 50 teenager with black hair and black eyes. Her long hair which reaches her

waist, not matter the time or weather is always parted on the side and covers her left eye. Her

face structure is round with acne around her face. Within an article by Raising Children Network

in Australia, teens are more active which creates oil and produces acne. This provides the

information that her body is currently going through the puberty stage.

An article by Cliff Notes called Physical Development: Age 12-19 highlights that

Perhaps no aspect of adolescence is as noticeable as the physical changes that teenagers experience.

Since students are going through change, the child may become insecure in which their body language

will describe the adolescents emotion. When someone speaks to Angela in person she tends to look

at the ground or at her feet constantly avoiding eye contact. Her body shape is pear like with a

weight that seems to be around 155. The body posture that she has is her back a bit curved or

slouched with her arms crossed, when it comes to walking it is at a slow pace with her arms

crossed. When she needs to communicate with others she uses her phone or will go up to

someone and use a very soft tone within her voice to murmur short phrases. Since her tone in

voice is soft, some people make her repeat herself, which is why she will just get to the point

where she rolls her eyes and walks away or do it herself.

According to Robert E. Slavins Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice eleventh

edition, words will vary, as a students motivation, interest, culture, and peer group come to

have a huge impact. (pg.45) Due to the lack of motivation and peer group, her phrases are short

and to the point. Interest also plays a role because to expand ones vocabulary a person has to be

exposed to context information. Those that are not exposed due to lack of interest do not get to

expand their vocabulary as much as someone who reads novels. In this case, Angela gets her
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vocabulary off of the music that she listens to. Slavin confirms Piagets stage of development

which contains four stages which include sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and

formal operational. Formal operational is where children at the age 11 all the way to adulthood

gain the factor of dealing with situations. When people ask Angela to repeat herself, she just

walks away rather than speaking up a bit louder so she can be heard. Walking away from the

problem is Angelas way of solving the issue in her case although it is not the proper way to

handle situations.
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Emotional

Everyone is different and due to that people have different experiences that make them

who they are as they grow up. Erik Erikson created stages that focus on the development of ones

personality. Slavin refers to Erikson to discuss the fifth stage which focuses on Identity vs. Role

Confusion. (pg. 50) Since Angela is at the age of fifteen, she falls into the category in which she

is trying to discover who she is. Angela currently has begun to hang out with various peers to

find out where she belongs. The peers she has been with currently are those who enjoying going

out at night to party and bullying others. According to Micki Caskey and Vincent A. Anfara Jr.,

authors of Developmental Characteristics of Young Adolescents, adolescents experiment with

different groups and tend to be fiercely loyal to their peer groups due to the need of belonging.

Due to the need of belonging, some people will follow the crowd even if that goes against their

own morals. Speaking to Angelas mother, even since she has gotten her new friends she has

started leave at night after she is told that she cannot. This occurs because her friends peer

pressure her into following the crowd. When she lived in Mexico with her grandma, her time

with friends would be restricted and her grandma would have to meet the friends that she is

hanging out with and if the grandmother did not approve, she would slowly distant them from

her niece which was rare. Caskey and Anfara Jr. confirm that teens tend to rebel when they are

rejected by an adult; therefore they will look for a secure environment of their peer group.

When Angela is rejected, she goes to her room and messages her friends in which they come and

ask Angelas mother for permission and will not leave unless they hear what they want. The lack

of authority here, is shown from Angelas mother as well because she does not stand her ground.

Each parent has their own way of dealing with their teens.
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Psychological

The psychological development of teenager focuses on the morals in which they have

created for themselves as well as their beliefs. An article written by Joe Lewis called The

Physiological and Psychological Development of the Adolescent explains that three stages are

present. As the teen is 11-13 the teenager is trying to find themselves in which they will create a

new image. Within the new lifestyle that Angela has in Las Vegas, Nevada, she has created

different images to fit in with the crowd in which she believes she belongs in. Lewis goes further

into the topic to discuss that when the adolescent is between the age of fourteen and fifteen,

adolescents strive to loosen their ties to their parents . . . the adolescent becomes

adventuresome, and experiments with different ideas. Observing Angela, although she is close

to turning fourteen she has starting experimenting as Lewis suggested. With the temptations in

her surrounding, Angela has started sleeping over at her friends house. The reason for her

sleeping over is because Adolescents battle over his own sets of values versus the set

establishes by parents. Since her mother prevents her from experimenting, she finds a place in

which she can become independent and make her own choices.

Within the psychological aspect there are various theorists in which explain the

development of an adolescent such as Kohlberg. Slavin points out that Kohlberg presents three

different levels that occur during moral reasoning which includes pre-conventional level,

conventional level, and post-conventional level. The one that relates most with Angela in this

case is the post-conventional level. (pg. 54) The reason that I suggest that she is within the last

level is due to the fact that she has past the level of following rules and adopting them. She has

now viewed her values and had made the choice of what is important to her. The stage that I

believe she is in is within stage five. In an article by Saul McLeod called Kohlberg, he
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describes that within Kohlbergs stage five which is on social contract orientation and individual

rights. McLeod states that The child/ individual becomes aware that while rules/ laws might

exist . . . there are time when they will work against the interest of particular individuals. This

relates to Angelas case because although she knows the rules, she does not approve or is in favor

of them which is why she tends to go against them and make her own guidelines on how to live

her life.
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Social

As an adolescent begins to grow throughout the years, their social development will

begin to change. Within an adolescents social development one can find the factors such as self-

esteem, peer pressure, and the temptations that surround teenagers that make them want to fit in

the society and social norms. Within Slavins book, he mentions the self-concept and self-esteem

by stating Self- esteem is lowest as children enter middle school or junior high school . . . Early

Maturing girls tend to suffer the most dramatic and long lasting decreases in self-esteem. (Pg.

62) Self-esteem is very important due to the fact that it focuses on how a person feels about

themselves. Society can bring someones self-esteem down when we compare ourselves to others

but with people in our surrounding the change can become positive. Angela currently does not

compares herself to her peers physically and creates a leadership role but her mother compares

her to her siblings which brings her self-esteem down.

Although self-esteem is important; peer pressure also plays a role within the

development. An article written by the Cleveland Clinic called Social Development in the Teen

Years discusses peer pressure. Cleveland Clinic points out that since adolescents are with their

friends more than they are with the parents friends can influence a childs thinking and

behavior. Peer pressure can be both positive and negative according to the event taking place as

well as the friends. With the lack of communication between mother and daughter, the mother is

unaware of the actions that Angela takes when she is not home.

Self-esteem and peer pressure can be different topics but can come together when

temptations are around. An article by Eliza Martinez called What are Teens Tempted with?
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declares that teens are tempted with drugs, sex, alcohol, and social networks. Martinez declares

This is a legitimate concern because teens often feel invincible and are prone to trying

dangerous things. While adolescents want to experiment and fit in with the crowd there are

some that may not want to take part which is where peer pressure comes in. Angela was not

tempted to try the temptations that appeared around her but has now gotten the interest of

drinking. Before she would drink at home stated her mother but now she goes over to a friends

house to drink because she created rules.

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Intellectual

As a person grows up, their intellectual development will begin to change. Within an

article by L.C. Edwards called Intellectual Development, Edwards mentions Jean Piagets

theory which focuses on three different stages including sensorimotor, preoperational, and the

concrete operational stage. As a child goes through the different stages, the child will begin to

recognize and demonstrate their accomplishments. Edwards points out that for students to build

their knowledge, they have to be exposed to the world and discover. True knowledge occurs

inside the child and is processed and understood as the child is actively involved in hands-on,

real-life experiences. Angela was not as active with her knowledge as she should have been and

due to that her process of interpreting and recognizing viewpoints lacks. As for the other stages,

she excels because she gained the concept of her senses as well as knowing the representation of

objects from symbols.

Lev Semionovich Vygotsky who was a Russian psychologist also created a theory that

focuses on the intellectual development of a child. Slavin affirms that through Vygotskys theory

one can understand the development through the childs experiences and also depends on the

signal system. (Pg. 39) By gaining experiences a child can learn how to react and respond to

certain situations. Angela skills for solving problems tends to vary which is why guidance from

an adult allows her to be in her zone of proximal development. Slavin describes the zone of

proximal development as a zone in which a child receives assistant from an adult because the

child may struggle if they try to do it alone. Although Angela does not like to ask for help from

an adult, some of her peers allow her to be comfortable to reach her true potential.
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Within an article written by the University of Rochester Medical Center called Cognitive

Development in Adolescence mentions that middle adolescences tend to make their own plans.

Angela is currently in her adolescence stage but due to the fact that she has grown quickly and

learned how to be independent she has created her own plans including future wise. Rather than

staying with her plans, she will review the plans that she made which is an excellent tool that

adolescences have because they often question more extensively . . . often analyzes more

extensively by doing so they can gain the skill of correcting and comprehension.
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Recommendations

As adolescences begin their physical changes there are various things to take in

considerations to keep them healthy. One of them is, to provide the adolescence with vitamins

and food that contains the correct protein and nutrients that a grow teenager needs. (Raising

Children Network, 2016) In Angelas case, this would help her as she grows as well as keep her

body in shape before she enters the possibility of being obese due to the fact that she eats chips

constantly. Sleep and maintaining proper hygiene is an important factor but the adolescence

cannot do it alone therefore the parents should support the adolescent as they are going through

the changes. Raising Children Network mentions that a parent should be a healthy role model,

support physical movement, and encourage sleep routines.

When adolescences develop their emotional stage, people within the adolescent

surroundings should be aware of various steps. Micki Caskey and Vincent A. Anfara Jr. point out

that during this stage teachers should be supportive as the adolescent interacting with his or her

classmates. Although a teacher has to follow guidelines and cover different type of materials, the

educator can include within their lesson plans, group discussions or make a time at the end for

students to interact and discuss the material. Apart from interacting, the students may decide to

discuss the material to fix as misunderstanding or confusion. This action would help Angela but

she tends to be quiet around adult figures in which rather than asking a question or asking for

assistance; she remains quiet. Apart from creating a time to interact programs should be added

that promote freedom and independence within a safe space and interrupt negative peer

interactions particularly bullying that impedes the healthy development of youth. (Caskey,

Anfara. 2014) Programs in which will create a positive growth for the adolescence.
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Within the psychological development stage, adolescents will begin to judge the values

and question their surroundings in which they will explore. As a parent and adults within the

adolescents surroundings, they should be aware that the adolescent is going through and provide

opportunities rather than going against them. Since Angela is found within the identity versus

role confusion it is important to support her. Teachers can be a good resource for the students due

to the fact that they can create lessons in which the students can explore and experiment. Apart

from that they can incorporate opportunities for student choice and self-assessment.(Caskey &

Anfara Jr. 2014) This will help the student to develop within the school and see where they stand

after accomplishing certain tasks. This could help Angela because it would give her time to

reflect.

Students in their social development will be exposed to temptation and will be affected

by their peers. To solve the situation or reduce the risks, parents should be involved in their

childs life. A way of doing so is the mother meeting Angelas friends, rather than having her

leave and sleepover at other houses. Angelas mother can also have a conversation with her

daughter and describe to her the risks and temptations that she will encounter as she begins to

grow up. Even though Angelas mother will not be present if the temptations are in front of

Angela, Angela now knows right from wrong and it is up to her to decide which path she would

like to take. Another way to reduce the risks is for Angela to be involved in various clubs in

which she will be occupied and gain experiences.

The intellectual development varies between each child because every student thinks

differently and has different strategies to problem solve. In this case, teachers should provide an

assortment of education approaches and materials that are appropriate for their students wide-

ranging cognitive abilities.(Caskey & Anfara Jr. 2014) Rather than focusing on the approach,
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teachers should relate the lesson plans to real-life situations rather than just teaching the material

as it is. By doing so, the student will be able to compare the information and create a connection

between the two to make the information meaningful and relatable. With this ability Angela

would improve her intellectual development because she will not see the material as an activity

needed to complete the grade but instead will carry the information onward to her advantage and

use it.
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Angela's Initial Profile

Grap

After observing Angela within the various sections of P.E.P.S.I., one can take into

consideration that Angela various depending on the category. Within the Physical aspect, Angela

is going through puberty as the article from Cliff Notes and Raising Children Network

mentioned. Angela has started puberty early which includes getting her period early as well as

growth of breast at the age of 11. Cliff Notes suggests that teenagers start menstruating around

12-13.

Within the emotional category and social which tend to intertwine in certain aspects are

closely related because it focuses on becoming independent and being accept into their peers.

Caskey and Alfara Jr. states that adults become less important as a teenager puts their peers first.

With Angela, it is true but she does not look for peers in which she wants to fit in, instead Angela

prefers being alone or have the choice of being the leader of the group, which is why her

emotional level and social level are low.

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Psychologically, Angela is at an average term because she is at the stage where she is

looking for her identity. According to the article by Caskey and Alfara Jr., teenagers will be

moody and sensitive to criticism as they are exploring. Angela has been exploring and

experimenting but will have a tendency to be moody, restless and may exhibit erratic . . .

behavior including anxiety. These factors go along with how Angela is responding to the

change.

Intellectually, Angela is average as well because since she is going to school she is being

exposed to various material in which allows her to develop the intellectual aspect through

teachings and curiosity. The information she learns will all make sense to her as she matures.

(Caskey & Alfara Jr. 2014) At the moment she is on track to developing the different sections of

P.E.P.S.I. to fulfill her adolescent years.

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Reference

Caskey, M., & Anfara, V. A. (2014, October). Developmental Characteristics of Young

Adolescents. Retrieved June 30, 2016.

Content - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center. (2016). Retrieved June

30, 2016.

Edwards, L. C. (2006). Intellectual Development. Retrieved June 30, 2016.

Lewis, J. (2016). 91.05.07: The Physiological and Psychological Development of the Adolescent.

Retrieved June 30, 2016.

Martinez, E. (2016). What Are Teens Tempted With? Retrieved June 30, 2016.

McLeod, S. (2013). Kohlberg. Retrieved June 30, 2016.

Physical changes in adolescence. (2016, January 06). Retrieved June 30, 2016.

Physical Development: Age 1219. (2016). Retrieved July 02, 2016.

Slavin, Robert E. Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. 11th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson,

2015. Print.

Social Development during the Teen Years. (2014). Retrieved June 30, 2016.