As part of the formal assessment for the programme, you are required to submit a narrated PowerPoint presentation and a transcript (a word-for-word typed account of your narration) regarding the significant contribution of four research studies related to a specific topic within Developmental Psychology. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the scientific underpinnings of developmental psychology as a discipline, its historical and contemporary developments, and limitations as well as socio-cultural differences.
2. Reason scientifically, consider multiple perspectives in developmental psychology, consider ethical issues, and make critical judgments about arguments in developmental psychology.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of and critical thinking in developmental psychology
Graduate attributes:
4. Students will communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, using a range of media widely used in relevant professional context. They will be IT, digitally and information literate.
All learning outcomes must be met to pass the module.
This assignment will allow you to develop skills that are relevant to working within Developmental Psychology. Specifically, you will be developing skills of gathering literature and evaluating research in regard to how it contributes to our understanding of child development. You will also be identifying key ethical dilemmas within Developmental Psychology research which will be relevant if you go on to work within the area or conduct research with children generally. The mode of assessment (the narrated presentation format) will allow you to develop both your written and verbal communication skills, your ability to present information in an accessible way, and your ability to communicate with a target audience.
Narrated Presentation
Your task is to produce a narrated PowerPoint presentation (created on Microsoft PowerPoint) that is accompanied by a verbatim (word-for-word) transcript. You are required to submit your narrated presentation and transcript in two separate files; the PowerPoint presentation with embedded narration should be submitted as a PPT file and the verbatim transcript of your narration should be submitted as a Word/ PDF file.
Your narrated presentation should describe and evaluate the significant contribution of four empirical research studies (i.e., peer-reviewed journal articles) that have examined factors contributing to emotional development in childhood. The term “emotional development” refers to through process through which individuals acquire and refine their emotional skills and the ability to regulate their emotions. This can also refer to the process of developing an awareness and understanding of their own and other’s emotions. Each journal article should examine a different factor. Examples include (but are not limited to) individual differences, cognitive factors, social experiences, cultural-specific experiences and developmental differences/delay.
You should examine each paper individually, first starting with the key details of the article (i.e., the aims, methods, findings and conclusions). You should then summarise the significant contribution of the paper with regards to how it has added to our understanding of the factors that contribute to emotional development in childhood. You should use the lessons on iLearn to establish an initial understanding of the topic area but to obtain higher marks, evidence of wider reading is required. In order to reach the highest grade bands, you should also demonstrate critical evaluation in the way of critiquing each research paper. You should focus on what the study has contributed to our understanding of the topic and then, to take your critical evaluation further, you could also outline the limitations of the research and how future studies have/ may address these limitations, ethical dilemmas within the study and how these were/ should have been mitigated, and other perspectives or research studies that may contradict the findings of the study.
PowerPoint Presentation
When you are producing your PowerPoint presentation, you should include key points on your slides and then expand upon these in your narration. We would recommend the following structure for your PowerPoint presentation:
• The cover page
• A title slide
• An introduction slide
• Two slides per research study
o The first slide should outline the key details of the research study (i.e., aims, methods, findings and conclusions)
The second slide should outline the key contribution(s) made by that research study to our understanding of the topic area
• A concluding slide summarising the key points from the presentation
You do not have to include a reference list at the end of the presentation as you must include a reference list for all citations in the presentation and narration at the end of your transcript.
On the My Assessment tab on iLearn, you will be able to find a template that can be used for your presentation that already includes the cover page and guide for embedding your narration. For further support, please do email the module team and book an appointment. For help using PowerPoint, please do reach out to the academic skills team by emailing
