due Monday Mar.15
IMPORTANT! Some grading guidelines.
By now you know quite a bit about normal language development and about the positions of different theories on how children learn language. In this assignment you are going to apply that knowledge to evaluate the effectiveness (or lack-there-of) of a particular toy on language development.
The toy is the Babbler, by Neurosmith. You can read a description about it here, or download it as a pdf here. (I've had trouble accessing the official site for Neurosmith a couple of times, but maybe you'll have better luck.)
(3 pt) 2. Do a literature search and find one peer reviewed article that offers evidence in support or against one of these claims. Briefly describe the research findings and how they relate to the claim. (Make sure you include a full citation of the paper)
(4 pt) 3. In general, do you think the toy can deliver what it promises? Why or why not?
(2 pt) 4. Can you think of a way one might change the Babbler (or perhaps come up with a completely different toy) to make it more effective on its purpose?
Important: Think about the details of the research findings you are focusing on, do they transfer to the toy situation?