Case Study 1

PRISM Case Study

Introduction

For my observation I choose a student from the school I’m working at named Marley.

Marley is eleven years old and is the only girl out of the 3 siblings. She has an older brother who

no longer lives at the house and her younger brother who is constantly in her shadow. Her

parents own a 4 bedroom home in North Las Vegas. Her, along with her parents, were born here

in the United States yet she is fluent in both English and Spanish as well as her father and

brothers. In terms of socio-economic status, the family is considered middle class. Her mother

works part time from home while her father works full time during the day. They don’t have to

worry about food being on the table or having a roof over their heads, they are very stable.

I’ve been very fortunate to have gotten close with her family by helping coach her flag

football team and supporting her at her wrestling matches. Over the last week I was able to

observe and take note of the different developmental milestones according to PRISM.

Physical

DSHS Fosterparentscope(1963) states girls may have rapid weight increase while boys

are more active and rough. I agree that the majority of boys this age are more active and rough

but Marley is the exception. I believe she is just as active if not more than most boys her age.

Three days a week she attends her flag football practice, school wrestling practice, and her club

wrestling practice all after a full day of school.

Marley’s mother told me that Marley definitely has gained more weight in the past year than the

boys in her class which was stated above. Snowman and McCown (2013) states that girls mature
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faster than boys and their growth spurts begin at age eleven. Being able to observe Marley in a

school environment is very helpful because I got to see her side by side with kids her age. For

her age, Marley is slightly taller than the other kids but what sets her apart is that she is strong.

From playing multiple sports she has more muscle than the majority of the other kids. Marley

has also just begun pubertal development by starting to grow a little bit of armpit hair which

Snowman and McCown (2013) stated is normal for girls ages eleven through thirteen. Marley

meets more than half of the developmental milestones for this category (physical).

The book states Maslow’s theory of growth motivation has five basic needs that

individuals develop as they grow. Maslow’s theory is based off the idea that people have

different kinds of needs. The five basic needs include Physiological, Safety, Belongingness/love,

Esteem, and Self-Actualization. The physiological needs include food, water, and oxygen. The

safety needs include nurturance and money. Belongingness and Love require acceptance and

affection. Esteem is the need for respect. Self-Actualization is maximizing one’s potential.

Because she is so active and athletic the only recommendation I would make is to just

stay on this same path. As long as she still loves to play sports she will always be physically

strong and remain healthy.

Emotional

According to her mother Marley started acting a little different since entering middle

school which DSHS Fosterparentscope (1963) has stated that kids Marley's age tend to be

concerned with school and peer relationships. Although Marley doesn’t get into trouble the

friends she sometimes hangs around can be troublemakers which can put her at a risk. She enjoys

hanging out with those kids because they are into sports and are really funny. She wants to be
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apart of the group. Although the other kids can be bad influences Marley hasn’t shown that she

has succumb to them. Snowman and McCown (2013) states middle school students are typically

self-conscious and self-centered. They went on to say that because of that they assume everyone

else is constantly evaluating their appearance, feelings, and behaviors. In this time most kids are

judging others based appearance, feelings and behaviors which is hard to see. Marley on the

other hand is confident about her own style and who she is to not be targeted by those other kids.

She meets half of the characteristics for the emotional chart. I would recommend that in

order for her to further her development in the emotional aspect she should take a good look at

which friends are good for her and which are not. If she stays on the path she is right now I see

her getting into more trouble at school which can then cause problems for her sports. If she

focuses her attention on school, sports, and the good friends she has she will meet more than half

of the characteristics.

Intellectual

DSHS Fosterparentscope (1963) states kids may begin to show talent and although the

other kids in her class don’t know it, Marley has been in a couple different shows along with

being in a Ronda Rousey commercial. She enjoys acting and might even explore into theatre.

Vygotsky social cognitive development theory suggests children learn more through social

interactions with adults (Snowman & McCown, 2013, p. 51). Marley showcases that when she is

at practice for football. She prefers to practice with the older girls because she is able to learn

more by watching them. She hasn’t quite learned all of the terminology yet so it helps that she is

able to see the older girls run it first. According to Piaget's stages of cognitive development there
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are 4 different stages, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operation

(Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.40). Marley is definitely in the beginning stages of Formal

operation. After school one day in the library I offered to help her with homework. She was

working on a worksheet, the topic being proverbs. As I went over her homework I noticed she

had only missed one question. The formal operational thinker can understand and use complex

language forms: proverbs... (Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.43).

Practical ability, creative ability, and analytical ability are the three parts to Sternberg's

triarchic theory of Intelligence (Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.121). Marley already has begun

talking about colleges and sport scholarships. This behavior suggests she is using practical ability

because she knows that college is where you want to end up after graduating and by playing

sports you could potentially go to college for free. I’ve also seen Marley display behaviors of

creative ability and analytical ability by being able to solve unfamiliar problems and use prior

knowledge and cognitive skills to solve problems (Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.122).

Her class was asked to participate in an activity where you had to fit all of the different shaped

pieces into one large square. For the exercise you really had to move the pieces around while

making fast decisions about which shapes could go where. Marley ended up finishing second.

Howard Gardener’s theory of multiple intelligences is different than Sternberg’s in that it

describes there are eight separate types of intelligences (Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.124).

The eight intelligences are logical-mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic,

interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. Marley showcases the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence

everyday. She is an athlete who is fast on her feet, has great hand-eye coordination and who is

just strong. She also can recognize what her strengths and weaknesses are which can be

accounted for under intrapersonal.

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Marley has only expressed going to college for sports and not for the arts even though she

is interested in both. I have a feeling she only talks about sports because that is the “cooler” thing

to do. I recommend that first tells her friends that she is interested in acting, singing, etc.

Knowing her friends, I know that would be very accepting. Once that’s off her chest she might

be able to have a different outlook on college and how she wants to get there.

Social/Psychosocial

DSHS Fosterparentscope (1963) states that kids around the ages of ten, eleven, and

twelve are affectionate with their parents and finds their mother all important. Family is a very

big part of Marley’s life. Marley, along with her brothers are family-centered and find their mom

to be all important. Erik Erikson’s theory of social/psychosocial development suggests we

develop social skills through different steps as we interact with other people and our environment

(Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.28). Marley exhibits that she is just finishing up Industry versus

Inferiority stage. She works hard in school to get the best grades she can. By doing that she has

earned and won several academic awards which only push her to strive to be better next year.

Marcia’s notion of identity statuses is an extension of Erikson’s observations on identity

formation. The four identity statuses reflect the extent to which people have committed to values

on such things as occupation, religion, sex role, and politics (Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.32).

Marley seems to be in the Foreclosure stage because she hasn’t given too much thought about

those values but has accepted her parents values as her own right now.

Marley seems to meet less than half of the characteristics on the chart. Marley can be

very social at school, maybe a little too social and that could be her downfall. Right now she has

good grades and good behavior but stays getting in trouble for talking in class with her friends.
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My recommendation would be too realize when it is appropriate in class to be talking and if it’s

not the right time, to be focused on her schoolwork.

Moral

According to Kohlberg’s theory of the six stages of moral reasoning , moral development

can be accelerated through instruction (Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.60). After observing

Marley in a school setting she shows to be in Level 3: Postconventional Morality, stage 5 social

contract orientation. She displayed this when we were talking about the DAPL protests. She

understands that it is the government who is trying to take the land and society has said to always

follow with what the government says. But her own opinion is that it is wrong and wouldn’t be

good for the majority of the people. In the book, Noddings stated that “a caring relationship must

exist, it’s not enough to just say we care” (Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.64). Before the kids

left for Thanksgiving break they wrote gratitude notes for any teacher of their choice. When I

received my note from Marley saying how much she was thankful for me I knew that she knew a

caring relationship existed between us.

It states in Piaget’s theory of moral judgement that the Autonomous Morality stage is

usually for kids 11-present (Snowman & McCown, 2013, p.40). Marley has been making

decisions based on equality and fairness even with the smaller things like picking teams in PE.

She realized that the same kids were getting picked last every time and knew that that probably

didn’t make them feel good. She decided that every time she was a Captain she would picked the

kids who aren’t normally picked till last, first. Gilligan’s view of Identity and Moral

Development suggests that females care less about separation/independence and more about

remaining loyal to others through expressions of caring and understanding (Snowman &

McCown, 2013, p.63) The only thing I could say about Marley fitting that description would be
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that she shows those emotions when she is with her parents. Instead of shifting her loyalty to her

friends she remains to be loyal and caring for her family.

Maslow talks about belongingness and love as being a basic need. Marley feels accepted

at school by her friends and also her sports teams. She shows affection towards her

family/friends and they do the same for her. She meets more than half of the milestones for this

category. Another basic need would be Esteem, the respect for others and herself. Marley is very

respectful but sometimes uses her cuteness and how much people like her to take advantage. I

would recommend that she stops using those tactics to get ahead or get out of trouble. At a

certain age that stuff stops being cute and starts being annoying.

Summary

Based on my observations, Marley meets about half of the developmental milestones that

are expected of her for her age. Most of the sections she meet at halfway, the only exception was

the intellectual and social category. Instead of being scared of what others might think of her

being into the Arts, she should dive in and find out what opportunities might be out there for her

in any aspect of life. Whether it be sports or the arts, as long as she works hard she will succeed.

References

DSHS Fosterparentscope: Child Development Guide: Ten to Eleven Years. (1993)

Washington State Department of Health and Social Services. Retrieved from

http://depts.washington.edu/allcwe2/fosterparents/training/cdevguid/cdg12.htm#PHYSIC

AL

Snowman, J., & McCown, R. (2013), Ed psych. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
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Appendix A

Marley Notes

11 years old, female

Middle child, 2 brothers

Stable home, 4 bedroom, both parents are present

English speaking home but speaks spanish as well

Physical
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Gained a good amount of weight, very strong for her age

Active and rough

Always playing football with the boys

Emotional

Mature

Not concerned too much about appearance, very casual look

Would describe her as too relaxed, always on the go

Intellectual

In class observations showed her to be very energetic

Sometimes that can get in the way of her learning

Easily can focus back onto her work, sometimes has to be told

Doesn’t enjoy reading, but enjoys acting

Social

Her world revolves around her mother

Her father is her hero

Looks up to her older brother and is a role model for her younger brother

Close group of friends, mostly boys

Doesn’t feel the need to fit in

Moral

Smart

Good head on her shoulders, makes smart decisions

Doesn’t use profanity

Doesn’t fall victim to peer pressure

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