This is an independent project giving you an opportunity to delve more deeply into a topic,
to integrate your understanding of concepts, and to develop a better understanding of the
contributions made by an individual and the systems that influenced them. Choose a
psychologist born in 1935 or after about whom you would like to know more. If your
chosen person is born before 1935, the paper will be a zero. A major goal of this assignment
is to utilize the materials we have covered and see the influences of these on a recent
psychologist. Do not use CSULB faculty. Please include and label the following sections in
your paper: (There is one point off for each section that is not labeled).
- Biographical: A short biographical description of their life, especially precedents leading
towards their being a psychologist. What year were they born? What personal data can
you find? Where did they go to school? What was the theoretical model studied there?
What was their dissertation topic? To what theoretical model do they currently subscribe?
How do/did they make a living? - Zeitgeist: Describe elements of the zeitgeist in which they live or lived. This includes
things like wars, financial depressions, recessions, boom economies, what is going on in
physics or other studies that impact psychology, what school of psychology is influential,
and any other cultural influences like discrimination or favoritism of cultural groups. - Influences: Trace back to at least 1880 their intellectual forefathers/mothers. Indicate
who were influential psychologists, philosophers, physiologists, philosophies, and ideas and
how these influenced them during their formative years and careers. - Overall impact/influence of your person on the field of psychology or society. What
contributions were made by your person (research, theory, perspective, therapy,
applications, etc.).
This paper requires your researching using six to ten references. At least three of these
references MUST be peer-reviewed journal articles, not books or web sites. You may use
your textbook, but it does not count as one of your six to ten references. It still needs to be
put on your references page and cited in your text when using information from it. Sources
need to go beyond what the text offers. Have a reference page listing all references cited in
the text following APA format. Make sure that all references cited in the text are on your
references page. Make sure that all references on references page are cited in the text. For
every reference on the references page that is not cited in the text, three points are
deducted. For every reference used in the text that is not on the reference page, three points
are deducted. Papers that have these reference problems lose their credibility with your
readers. I want you to become more aware of this to help when you are writing academic
papers in the future. Also, be cautious about on-line sources because many internet
resources are not reviewed for accuracy.
Your final paper should be composed of: - A cover page, including title, author, running head, page number 1, and your name. For
each of these missing, one point is deducted. Five points are deducted if there is no cover
page. This page is not part of the 7-9 pages of the body of the paper.
ELEANOR RUTH DUCKWORTH 2
- The body of your paper should be 7-9 pages in length (not 6). The first page of the body
is the number 2 page. The seventh page of the body is page number 8. For every page short
of 7 pages, eight points are deducted. For every page short, four points are deducted. For
every page short, two points are deducted. If margins are too big, font is more than 12
point Times New Roman, spacing is more than double, quotes are over-used (more than a
total of nine lines of print), right margin is justified, redundant information, or anything
else that takes up extra space, points are deducted for the amount this shortens the paper.
Information that is copied directly must be cited with page number. It is best to use your
own words. Use APA style for all citations and quotes. - The references page is not part of the 7-9 pages of the body of the paper. All sources need
to be cited. References are in APA format. It has References at the top middle page.
Authors are listed alphabetically according to the first author’s last name. There is a
hanging indent after the first line of each reference. Double spacing is used throughout.
Check APA 6th Edition Manual for correct positioning of commas, periods, for proper
sequencing of information, italics, and anything else needed for citations. A point is
deducted for each of these errors.
Papers are typed, double-spaced, on white paper, 12 point Times New Roman font, one-
inch margins all around (with text aligned to the left; do not justify text on the right; points
taken off for this depending on how wide the margin is), and stapled at top left-hand
corner. Page numbers are at the top right hand corner of each page. Your writing skills
will be evaluated as part of your grade on this paper. Your grade will be reduced if you
communicate poorly and if you use improper sentence structure, poor paragraphing, poor
spelling, poor grammar, etc. Points are deducted depending on how extensive the errors
are. Get someone to read and edit your paper before turning it in. A writing resource is
The Writer’s Resource, Located in LAB-206, (562) 985-4329. This fills up quickly, so call
for appointments well ahead of when you need them.
here in psychology on the third floor.
Your paper will NOT have the methods, results, and discussion sections that APA
experimental report articles have. This is a literature search paper. The APA Publication
Manual, 6th edition, is the final authority.
The Life and Contribution of Eleanor Ruth Duckworth
Eleanor Ruth Duckworth is a psychologist who was born in 1935 in Canada.
Duckworth’s foundation as a psychologist was motivated by Piaget Jean when she was studying
and being trained by Jean Piaget as a student. When she was a student, she studied philosophy at
the University of Harvard Graduate School of Education; during which she interacted with
ELEANOR RUTH DUCKWORTH 3
various psychologists such as Jean and Inhelder who motivated her ambitions and interests in
psychology (Duckworth, 2006). In fact, Jean Piaget and Inhelder are believed to be academicians
in psychology as a subject. Duckworth also acquired a PhD in 1977 and is today known across
the world as an important psychologist across the cities of Canada and at the Harvard Graduate
School of Education where she was teaching curriculum development and training of teachers.
Duckworth was involved in many area areas in psychology including cognitive psychology,
educational theory, and constructive education. She used her involvement in these areas to
change the society. As such, the purpose of this paper is to discuss Duckworth’s biography, her
zeitgeists in Canada from 1935 to present, her influential intellectual forefathers, and the overall
impact of Duckworth teachings in the society.
Biography of Eleanor Ruth Duckworth
Eleanor Ruth Duckworth is a female Canadian psychologist who was born in the year
1935 at Montreal City in Canada (Duckworth, 2006). Her parents were from Canada and were
Jack (born 1897) and Muriel H. Duckworth (born 1908). Duckworth’s parents were peace
advocators and intervened in community issues related societal challenges. For instance, Muriel
Duckworth was actively involved in freedom of social justice, peace, gender equality and
women’s right, eradication of poverty, and educational development in the society. Again, Jack
was the leader of Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) until his death in 1975. YMCA is
based in Geneva purposely to empower the youth. Duckworth had two brothers Martin and John
who were given birth to in 1933 and 1938 respectively. Duckworth pursued philosophy during
her undergraduate studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Duckworth, 2006). In
1977, Duckworth graduated with PhD and contributed in curriculum development and preparing
of teachers.
ELEANOR RUTH DUCKWORTH 4
Eleanor Ruth Duckworth Zeitgeists
Zeitgeists focuses on issues that struggled Canada during the period from which
Duckworth was born until present. The scope of zeitgeists explores historical and contemporary
issues that affected Canada. These issues include wars, cultural influences, and influential
relevant in psychological school from the period of birth of Duckworth. First, war occurred in
Canadian history following the exploitation by European imperialism (Dobson, 2012). For
instance, during colonial wars there was Pre-Civil war with Spanish that wanted to control
Canadian land. For instance, the borders of Canada with America have remained rejected
throughout the history of Canada to present. During colonial wars, England and France
communities of the American origin settled in the region of North of Canada and they appear to
be the immigrants in Canada who modernized the nation through transport and trade because
they were forced out of America during the Pre-Civil War in America (Dobson, 2012). The anti-
slavery movements and pro-slavery movement talk in America led to racial bias against the
immigrants who were seen as competitors in economic prospect of the original descendants of
the nation. Researchers argue that the influence of the colonial imperialism led to few established
cities in Canada (Dobson, 2012). At the same time, there were immigrants such as communities
of French backgrounds in Canada who settled there during the world war.
On the other hand, the Canadian cultural practices were mainly composed of primitive
culture. For instance, Canadians mainly practiced nomadic lifestyle because they depended on
animals as the source of food (Phillips, 2013). During colonial wars, England and France
communities of American origin settled in the region of North of Canada and they appear to be
the immigrants in Canada who modernized the nation through transport and trade because they
were forced out of America. Canada is a bilingual nation because of the immigrants who settled
ELEANOR RUTH DUCKWORTH 5
during the Pre-Civil War and world war. For instance majority of Canadians almost 60% speak
English with only 24% speaking French (Winter, 2009). The French language is majorly spoken
by French Canadian immigrants. During 1930s, French Canadian language established in Canada
and most of the elementary schools and newspapers were written in English.
Influential forefathers of Eleanor Ruth Duckworth
During her undergraduate studies, she was a student of Jean Piaget and related with one
another well (Duckworth, 2006). At the same time, she worked with Jean Piaget and Barbel
Inhelder as Research Teaching Assistant at the Institute of de I’ Education in a city in Geneva,
Switzerland. Duckworth worked hard as a cognitive psychologist, educational theorist, and
constructive educator with the aid of Inhelder and Piaget. For instance, Inhelder and Piaget
recommended Duckworth in 1962 to participate in a curriculum development and education
reform project in Massachusetts. The goal of the project was to evaluate how children can
investigate the nature of the society around him/her by putting particular materials such as bulbs,
batteries and butterflies into the hands of the children. Duckworth capitalized on this project and
incorporated Piaget’s theory and clinical method into her classrooms studies. The major
breakthrough for Duckworth came in 1964 when she acted as the translator and interpreter of
Piaget during the conference she dubbed Piaget Rediscovered. In fact, this formed the basis for
the foundation of book generated from essays from developmental psychology and curriculum
development.
Impact of Eleanor Ruth Duckworth on the Field Of Psychology and Society
Duckworth has significantly influenced the society and the field of psychology through
her teachings she envisioned as a cognitive psychologist, educational theorist and constructive
ELEANOR RUTH DUCKWORTH 6
educator. She majorly based her principles on the knowledge she acquired when she was a
student of Jean Piaget who introduced her to cognitive psychology. The insights of Inhelder also
proved valuable for her to help transform the field of psychology and society in general. Owing
to interaction with Jean and Inhelder, she reshaped their insights into the study of nature and
development of clear knowledge and intelligence using clinical research methods.
Cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology that deal with the study of how the
human being process information, receives information from another person (recipient) and how
they treat the information with respect to response they recipients of such information give to the
person who delivers the information (sender) (Sternberg and Mio, 2009). The process scope of
cognitive psychology entails studying internal processes of the human including how people
think, perceive, remember attentiveness, and the tone of language the person uses to
communicate. Cognitive psychology is a scientific process because it involves the study of the
brain functions such as memory tests using laboratory experiments set at specific by the
cognitive psychologist Cognitive psychology is applicable in varied ways including improving
memory, increasing decision-making process and construction of educational curriculum to help
learners in school study efficiently and smoothly.
Cognitive psychology is beneficial to students pursuing careers in behavioral
neuroscience, linguistics and artificial intelligence and computer simulation. For instance,
learners studying computer technology such as typesetting often find this technique useful to
them because they are able to simulate the computer commands and master the keyboard letters
because they develop good memory of the letters and can type words faster. At the same time,
behavioral neuroscientists with the aid of cognitive psychology are able to access the
individual’s brain damage and evaluate the nature of a person’s cognition capacity. Furthermore,
ELEANOR RUTH DUCKWORTH 7
cognitive psychologists use the cognitive-behavioral couple therapy to counsel the couples with
difficulties in understanding one another (Dobson, 2010). For instance, couples who often
quarrel over petty issues and couples with difficulties inculcating moral values into their
children.
Cognitive psychology also helps teachers, educators and designers of the school
curriculum to on how to process information, comprehend, and remember information (Dobson,
2010). This is beneficial to such teachers because they can get to prepare information faster in
order to teach their lesson comprehensively with proper content of the information. Owing to
such good mastery of information, the teachers often realize good grades from the learners and in
turn, the teachers feel satisfied. Similarly, scientists and engineers who often engage themselves
in constructing scientific model and designs majorly use cognitive psychology to understand the
state of mind and process before embarking on any activity.
Education theory refers to the theory of refers to the concept of application, interpretation
of the education system and learning models among other epistemological disciplines which help
students at different levels of career pursuit such as early childhood education, primary school,
high school and university to achievement the purpose of education (Noffke and Somekh, 2009).
These educational theories assist individuals with capacities to accomplish complex tasks and
predict what the future entails. At the same time, educational theories helps to transfer
information such as social issues from one setting to another through program evaluation of the
situation affecting the society. As a result, the society and individuals who embrace educational
theories are able to comprehend the status of the society and learn from the society. Educational
theories further help learners to design their potentials and capabilities within frameworks that
allow them to improve into greater opportunities and achievements in life. For instance,
ELEANOR RUTH DUCKWORTH 8
educational theorists offer information to learners regarding learning and performance by
improvising academic environment to help learners unleash their potentials for learning and
excellence.
The first learning theory is behaviorism that capitalizes mainly on noticeable behaviors
among the students during the learning process. Therefore, teachers use this technique to
commend students for good behaviors and to use corporal punishment on students found with
queer behaviors. Duckworth also extensively explored the literature of Piaget educational theory,
which focuses on child developmental processes and stages in order to familiarize with the
environment around them. Duckworth and Jean Piaget extensively explored four developmental
stages including sensory motor stage, pre-operational stage, concrete operations and formal
operational stage necessary for child development. This theory is majorly important to early
childhood teachers in customizing the curriculum to facilitate learning of students and conceptual
growth.
Finally, Duckworth influenced the society positively as constructive educator, a career
that focuses on constructive teaching (constructivism), which focuses on the individual’s
personal experiences in order to design models and understanding of the society we live in. In
other words, constructivism helps learners to modify their own mental perception from life
personal experiences into the way that accommodate new experiences and challenges.
Constructivism assists teachers to embrace assessments in evaluating the progress of students as
opposed to using grades and standardized testing techniques in elementary schools.
In conclusion, Duckworth from the time of her birth in 1935 developed a goal to pursue
psychology not only as a subject but also as a component for inculcating moral values and
ELEANOR RUTH DUCKWORTH 9
principles to society. The teachings offer solutions to problems facing learners and teachers to
unleash their potential for the best. The educational writings of Duckworth in curriculum
development and training of teachers is envisioned in her career. The period she was born is
marked with wars. Duckworth being cognitive psychologist, educational theorist and
constructive educator influenced the society and the field of psychology through varied ways
including memory, increasing decision-making process and construction of educational
curriculum, therapy to couples, behaviors, evaluating the behaviors of students and constructive
teaching of students. Therefore, Duckworth career in psychology has a significant role in shaping
the society, in learning lives of other psychologists and historical issues in Canada.
ELEANOR RUTH DUCKWORTH
10
References
Dobson, A. (2012). Canadian Civil Aviation 1935–45: Flying Between the United States and
Great Britain. The International History Review, 34(4), 655-677.
Dobson, K. S. (2010). Handbook of cognitive-behavioral therapies. New York: Guilford Press.
Duckworth, R.E. (2006). The Having Of Wonderful Ideas: And Other Essays On Teaching and
Learning. New York: Teachers College Press.
Noffke, S. E., & Somekh, B. (2009). The Sage handbook of educational action research.
London: SAGE Publications.
Phillips, J. (2013). Strong, Beautiful and Modern: National Fitness in Britain, New Zealand,
Australia and Canada, 1935–1960 by Charlotte Macdonald (review). Histoire
sociale/Social history, 46(1), 243-245.
Sternberg, R. J., & Mio, J. S. (2009). Cognitive psychology. Australia: Cengage
Learning/Wadswort.
Winter, E. (2009). The dialectics of multicultural identity: learning from Canada. World Political
Science Review, 5(1).