Running head: Age of Seventeen 1

Case Study of a Child Age Seventeen

Cristopher R Gamboa

EDU 220 – 1002 - 1003

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Case Study of a Child Age Seventeen

Case Study

I picked the best possible choice as a case study for the area that I plan on teaching in, the

adolescents/teenagers area. I chose this case study because this student is currently in high school

while applying for colleges and also working at the same time, this creates obstacles for the

student. With obstacles, this student manages to stay focus in school and has to go through the

course I am looking to teach in, which is mathematics.

Development

Students of the age of seventeen probably go through the most out of all ages, they have

the most responsibilities and are the closest to becoming adults. At the age of seventeen, you fall

into certain categories for development; Conventional on Kohlberg’s stages of moral

development, formal operational on Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, Identity on

Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development.

Physical.

Physical changes can have effect on students during this age mentally and physically, it

can take away from their education and create problems in school. Their bodies are shaping and

they can be going through complications with their body that can take a toll on a student.

The student for my case study explained to me that she is worried about her body and

physical appearance usually more than anything. She worries about what she eats and will starve

herself if she is feeling overweight, it has to do with her insecurities even though it isn’t

noticeable to another person. I noted that during this age, your physical state is really a

psychological thing and it doesn’t seem to matter at all when you look back as an adult.

Emotional.
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With the students’ emotion state, they can go through so many it might be unnoticeable to

catch even by the student. The emotions they go through are emotions most go through, but do

not stick with them for the rest of their life as it is a temporary thing. They can go through

unbalanced decisions with being dependent/independent, wanted to do things on their own but

not being able to or not comfortable. They are scared and confused of what is going to happen to

them, causing them to worry and stress.

The emotional state of the student that I’m case studying has plenty of emotions that gets

in the way of her work, she procrastinates and avoids doing certain assignments because of the

way she is feeling. She has different emotions because of her surroundings, her job, her

schoolwork, and her love life. Even though she seems to be figuring herself out and knows what

she wants, she doubts herself because of emotions.

Cognitive/Intellectual.

Students in their seventeens are usually insecure and are unsure of themselves, still

figuring themselves while trying to pay attention in school. The future is a huge concern and

decision making is a big deal around this age, especially because high school is coming to an end

and they have to figure out what they are going to do and if they are going to continue going to

school.

Becoming an adult can be difficult for students of this age, my case study is afraid of

becoming an adult and will get emotional thinking about it. She complains that she doesn’t want

to be an adult and prefers not to talk about graduation and certain activities that involve her

leaving high school such as college.

Psychosocial/Social.
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Relationships with the people around them can vary and they can lose or gain

relationships at the time. Friends and family can be an obstacle on the students, even if it is not

intentional they can be a bother to the student in their education. Students can be way too

invested into little love relationship and pushing away their parents because they feel like they

are too controlling.

With the case study’s social state, she fights with her parents and argues with her friends

about every week because of small things that she can easily avoid. She doesn’t like talking to

people, but would prefer someone to talk when she is going through something such as a friend.

It was explained to be as I was asking her about her friends, that she knows that her friends will

go their separate ways after high school and she will stubborn and act like she doesn’t care for it,

but secretly it does have huge effect on her.

Moral/Character.

Family and friends can play a huge role in their moral and character, it can hurt the

student or better the student. Sex can play part in some students this age, because their physical-

emotional urges and or because they want try things as it is something most do or talk about.

My case study is a student that has a an excellent GPA, a good job, a car, and good

relationship but seems to have urges just like any other seventeen year old. She wants to do

things that seem very inappropriate such as illegal things all the way to doing stuff with males.

She has urges to attend parties and talk to males that she is attracted to, but she has very little

time to do anything.
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For future practices.

After this case study, I noticed how difficult it is to be at this age with everything that is

going. For my future students I plan on understanding them and what they are going through, I

don’t want to push my students with excessive amounts of homework and difficult lessons that

leave them unsure of things, I want to work with them and better their education. Their lives

seem difficult as it is, I plan on putting myself in the position and talk to the students like how I

would want to be talk to. They go through enough so I have to watch the things I say as well as

how I act, it can impact the way they as a human and their education.
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References

University of Washington. (1993). Child development: Using the child development guide.

Retrieved from http://depts.washington.edu/allcwe2/fosterparents/training/chidev/cd06.htm (

Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)Links to an

external site.

Snowman, J. & McCown, R. (2013). ED PSYCH. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Child development. Retrieved from

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/facts.html (Links to an external site.)Links to

an external site.

Child Development Institute (2015). The ages and stages of child development. Retrieved from

https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/ages-stages/#.WR3Id_QrLrc (Links to an external

site.)Links to an external site.

Medline (2017). Adolescent Development. Retrieved

from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002003.htm (Links to an external site.)Links to an

external site.