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PEPSI Project

Cameron Hardy

EDU 220 – 3001

Dr. Vincent Richardson

November 15, 2022

The child chosen for this PEPSI project is a girl aged twelve. She enjoys playing soccer

with her friends on the field and is absolutely in love with the game known as Roblox. Her

favorite thing to do with her family, in particular, is when they go to the store to pick out a new

board game. Every week they go pick out a new board game for their weekly game night. At the

time of the interview, it was one of her sisters’ turn to pick out the game, but she expressed

enthusiasm because the following week would be her turn.

She has two younger sisters, aged six and three with a good family life. Her parents have

been married for twelve years and are currently living together in the same house as one another.

When it comes to her schooling, she is considered to be a good student and her favorite topic is

history. Her favorite thing to eat is specifically the chicken nuggets from McDonalds and her

favorite color is yellow. She has many friends that she met at school that regularly come over

and together they all play Roblox online in the same server.

Her current dream when she grows up is to become a professional soccer player for her

favorite team, the Portland Thorns FC. She expressed that her mother told her to have other

options in mind and said her backup plan is to become a physical therapist like her dad so they

can open a clinic together one day.

One of her sisters was recently diagnosed with Lupus Syndrome which has made her

want to be a better sister. While the diagnosis was concerning to her, she felt that her sister

would be alright because of how much they all loved and were willing to help each other.

In regard to her physical development, thanks to physical activity such as soccer and

regular school activities, she seems to be doing very well. “Children’s conformity to their peers
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peaks during early adolescence reflecting the importance of social acceptance to youngsters of

this age” (Eccles). She is a lanky child and performs very well during her soccer games where

she plays as a forward. Ever since she was very small, she was known as an active child. Full of

energy, it was common for her to constantly be running and jumping all over the place. Having

broken an arm when she was nine years old, it did little to deter her from continuing her

energetic streak.

“A central task of adolescence is to develop a sense of oneself as an autonomous

individual. The drive for such autonomy derives from the internal, biological processes marking

the transition into a more adult role (puberty and increasing cognitive maturity) and from the

shifts in social roles and expectations that accompany these underlying psychological and

cognitive changes (Eccles). With all of these facts about her to take into account, she seems to be

doing well and above the age norm.

Emotionally, the girl seems to be doing well. She has a good relationship with her parents

and is described as being a good role model for her younger sisters. While she is a good student,

it must be remembered that “children are not miniature adults. They think differently and see the

world differently than adults do” (Slavin). She is good natured and is nice to those who she

interacts with, including younger children apart from her younger sisters and cousins.

As a middle schooler, she deals with a variety of courses and multiple different teachers.

While she didn’t say outright that she disliked the teachers themselves, she did express that she

hated math with a passion but that when her dad helped it seemed a lot more bearable. The girl

also engages in other extracurriculars outside of soccer in the form of clubs and electives. In the

school band as a member of the woodwinds, she often plays her clarinet at competitions with

other schools. The school itself has a jazz band that does separate competitions apart from the
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regular school bands and she is a member. While the material is difficult, she loves to play and

will normally practice at least an hour a day after school.

“All children are believed to acquire skills in the same sequence, although rates of

progress differ from child to child. The abilities children gain in each subsequent stage are not

simply “more of the same”; at each stage, children develop qualitatively different

understandings, abilities, and beliefs” (Slavin). In the case of this girl, she has an aptitude for

skills in the arts.

With the girl being twelve years old, she is considered to be in the “Formal Operation”

stage. The major accomplishments of this stage are, “abstract and purely symbolic thinking are

possible. Problems can be solved through the use of systematic experimentation” (Slavin).

During the formal operation stage, the child gets the ability to deal with hypothetical situations or

potential situations that could come about as a result of their actions. This girl is above the age

norm in terms of emotional development.

Philosophically, the girl often exhibits tendencies outside of black and white fairness.

Often being kind to younger kids and family members, she has the tendency of putting others

ahead of herself. The philosophical head of this portion is a man named Dr. Kohlberg, he came

up with the sequence of if a poor man should steal life saving medicine for his wife or not. Many

children, thinking in terms of the law as black and white would say it was not right for him to

steal the medicine. While many adults would say that it is moral and the correct choice to steal

the medicine.

The girl this project is being done on said that it would be the right choice for the man to

steal the life saving medicine in order to help his wife. “By studying the answers from children of
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different ages to these questions, Kohlberg hoped to discover how moral reasoning changed as

people grew older” (Mcleod).

Socially, the girl is involved in many positive activities for social development. At her

current age, she is expected to be in the formal operational stage, discussed in the emotional

development portion. “Sometime around the onset of puberty, children’s thinking begins to

develop into the form that is characteristic of adults (Horn et al., 2008; Packard & Babineau,

2008). The preadolescent begins to be able to think abstractly and to see possibilities beyond the

here and now” (Slavin). “Another ability that Piaget and others recognized in the young

adolescent is an aptitude to reason about situations and conditions that have not been

experienced. The adolescent can accept, for the sake of argument or discussion, conditions that

are arbitrary, that are not known to exist, or even that are known to be contrary to fact.

Adolescents are not bound to their own experiences of reality, so they can apply logic to any

given set of conditions” (Slavin). Because of this explanation of a properly developed

adolescent, in terms of philosophical development, it is easy to see that our twelve year old

subject is not only at the age norm but higher.

“Erikson hypothesized that people pass through eight psychosocial stages in their

lifetimes” (Slavin). Because of her age, our subject would considered to be in the fifth stage of

development, which according to Erikson, was known as “Identity versus role confusion (twelve

to eighteen years)” (Slavin). The girl participates in various clubs and social interactions that

build relationships with peers outside of the family. “The question “Who am I?” becomes

important during adolescence. To answer it, adolescents increasingly turn away from parents and

toward peer groups. Erikson believed that during adolescence the individual’s rapidly changing

physiology, coupled with pressures to make decisions about future education and career, creates
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the need to question and redefine the psychosocial identity established during the earlier stages”

(Slavin). She spends most of her time outside of the with friends in the group involved with

soccer or the various bands. With a large amount of her time spent around peers, it is safe to

assume that she currently has a healthy relationship with her peers and is at the age norm for

social development expected of a twelve year old girl.

The final step taken into account is the intellectual development of our twelve year old

subject. As is normal, there are a few normal characteristics seen in girls her age. Such as, “have

more ability for complex thought, be better able to express feelings through talking, develop a

stronger sense of right and wrong” (CDC). The girl is an exceptional student, an A student with

many extracurriculars under her belt, she is certainly one of the top students in her school. She

expressed how when she eventually gets the opportunity, to enroll in advance placement courses.

Her mother said how they would be good for her if she wants to get through college quicker and

keep her brain sharp.

While her school lacks any traditional science clubs, she enjoys participating in the

science fair. Last year she did a project about the effects of erosion in the desert and won second

place. She continuously seeks ways to learn through television shows and various internet

programs. True to her secondary dream of becoming a physical therapist, she has the habit of

borrowing her father’s old textbooks on subjects and matters pertaining to the job field.

Based off the information and questions asked, it is plain to see that the girl is an

exceptional individual and will continue to do so if she continues down her current path. The

main recommendations to be given to her parents are to ensure that the girl is not overworked or

over pressured. Due to her age and the pressures of going through puberty and preparing to move

on to high school in a year, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Through the act of being there
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for her and simultaneously giving her space, the girl should be able to flourish. As for her

teachers, the girl seems to want more opportunities to lead so having additional group projects or

presentations would be good to help her further improve her social development and abilities.
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Graph indicating her development according to PEPSI and the age norm
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References

CDC. (2021, Sept 23). “Young Teens (12-14 Years Old).” Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/adolescence.html.

Eccles, J. S. (1999). The Development of Children Ages 6 to 14. The Future of Children, 9(2),

30–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/1602703

Mcleod, Saul. (1970, Jan 1) Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development. Kohlberg's Stages of

Moral Development - Simply Psychology, https://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html.

Slavin, R. E. (2022, August 2). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice (13th ed.). Pearson.