Assignment: Applying the Awareness Viewpoint Tool

This week you have been learning, through the multimedia presentation, that there are at least three ways to look at issues and trends: your personal awareness viewpoint, your professional awareness viewpoint, and one that combines both and also takes into consideration the particulars of where you live or work—your local awareness viewpoint. You also learned that using this awareness tool; that is, looking at an issue or trend from at least these three perspectives, helps you to more fully understand the complexity of an issue or trend.

This assignment is an opportunity for you to practice using this tool and consists of the following steps:

Step 1: Review the multimedia presentation

• Pay particular attention to the 3-step ” awareness” model for analyzing issues/trends

Step 2: Review the following articles:

“The Foundations of Lifelong Health Are Built in Early Childhood”

“Fostering Child Development through Empowerment, Unity, and Cooperation.”

Pay particular attention to the contexts from which the authors present their suggestions, and note the consequences. Which of these consequences might be intended, and which might be unintended?

Step 3: Apply the Awareness Model

• Evaluate each article using all three viewpoints presented in the “awareness tool” section of the multimedia presentation by summarizing the following:
  • Your personal awareness viewpoint; that is, specific reasons why you are either interested in learning more about the issue or are challenged in dealing with the issue
  • Your professional awareness viewpoint; that is, the consequences of this issue that you perceive for children, families, and EC professionals
  • Your local awareness viewpoint; that is, the realities of this issue, as you see them, in the specific context of your personal and professional local community

(Assignment length: 2 pages minimum)