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Nancy Munoz-Avila
Education 220
Biography
Katia was born in Santa Barbara, California in the year of 2000. She has and lives with a
mother, father, and an older sister. Katia stands at 4’11” and weighs 98 pounds. Her older sister
stands at 4’ 8”, her mother stands at 5’1”, and father stands at 5’5”. She is sixteen years old. Both
parents are from Nochistlán, Zacatecas, Mexico. As she grew up, she was thought to be quite
reckless in the house. For example, she would bring outside items and bring them inside the
house to keep.
As time passed, she first became heavily influenced and inspired by video games such as
The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon, then, currently, Xenoblade Chronicles and Fire Emblem.
Katia said that videogames have taught her more about the real world despite the worlds she
learnt from being a fantasy. It taught her about morals, friends & family relationships, the
importance of loyalty and trust, and many more things about life. She thanks video games for
guiding her to her current friends, who have the same interests as her. She felt that she has gotten
along with people better and became more social through the subject. Katia stated that she
believes video games are what shaped her to be the person that she is now.
CASE STUDY 3
Physical
Katia stands at 4’11” and weighs 98 pounds. She currently struggles to gain weight, for it
took her two years to gain nine pounds. Katia drinks one nutritional shake every night in order to
obtain her required nutrients and more calories. In her freshman year of high school, she had an
incident where her family was brought to the attention about her disinterest in food and how
According to J’anne Ellsworth, girls have a change in food consumption. However, her
claim is because girls have a mental goal in their heads to reach a body that they hope will be
satisfactory to society. Although this may be the case to many girls out there, unfortunately for
them, it is not for Katia. In most cases, when it comes to their physical development, the only
couple of evident changes in the teen’s body is a growth spurt and weight gain. Katia shows to
When it came to seeking professional help, doctors recommended the parents to send
Katia to therapy. They believed that it was some sort of mental thoughts that may be causing
Katia’s lack of food consumption. In addition, Silverthorne, from Jewish News, recommends to
have an appetite stimulant in order to give the proper amount of nutrients to the patient. A sign
from low body weight is hair loss (Family Doctor). Katia, at one point, had been shedding hair
mysteriously. This is what helped bring attention to the parents and started taking Katia to the
doctors. However, the mother believes that Katia simply does not have an interest in food and
Emotional
Katia says that she believes she has found herself as a person. However, she feels that she
is still a child. When finding out about herself, she did feel that her discovery was interrupted
and change through experiences in the classroom. Her classmates have misbehaved in the
classroom, displaying an authoritative teacher. The teacher, and the way they disciplined Katia’s
This opened Katia’s eyes, and made her think that she needs to behave and improve
herself more in order to avoid being the people her classmates were. As said by Richard Stevens,
“The adolescent is newly concerned with how they appear to others.” In this case, Katia did care
about what her instructor thought of her. When having to come to the conclusion about how she
is as a person, she did not have to think twice whether or not an emotion was part of her
characteristics.
what is done to a person and what the person does. This shows how Katia feels about a certain
situation and which side she would stand by with. “An adolescent must struggle to discover and
find his or her own identity” (Identity vs. Role Confusion), again, Katia claims to have not
struggled finding out her identity. Her past influences have shaped her to believe in what she
“Many dimensions of our identity intersect to form our sense of self and cannot be
separated from one another.” (ACT for Youth Center). To interpret this, Katia shows the
example of how some topics differentiate from how her character reacts. Her identity as a
person reflects how she feels about a certain topic and another, it does not separate.
CASE STUDY 5
Philosophical
Katia explains that she needs to behave in order to please others because they represent
yourself and personality. For example, if employers notice how the student received straight O’s
(Outstanding) in their citizenship section of the student’s report card, it shows the characteristics
of the person. She also states that her morals come from influences. For example, she read stories
online and from her friends that influenced her to believe in what she believes in now.
Most of her beliefs come from influences through others, but for a small portion of her
beliefs, they come from the way she was raised. When asked if she believes that it is your part as
a citizen or to be a good person when it comes to obeying the law, she responded that she
believes one should obey what they feel is right. If they believe that the law is correct and obey
it, then there will be no problem. However, if they believe that the law is wrong and do what they
think is right, then they will be doing justice to themselves, but they will have a more difficult
time.
According to Kohlberg’s theory, the second level of moral thinking is generally found in
society. Stage three is characterized by an attitude which seeks to do what will gain the approval
of others, whereas, the second stage is oriented to abiding by the law. This supports how Katia
gained the majority of her morals, through what she has seen and heard from others. In order to
encourage moral development to see reasonableness, Kohlberg suggested that it was important to
present them with moral dilemmas so that they will be encouraged to think through the situation.
As said by Angela Oswalt, “parents may find this process of moral development difficult
children’s well-being and ultimate success in life.” When asked to the parents regarding any sort
CASE STUDY 6
of worry towards Katia’s morality, there was no worrying. If anything, they were simply worried
on Katia’s career path and what she wanted to study for. “As parents and mentors, it's vital to see
ourselves not as static role models but as imperfect human beings, continually developing, in our
dynamic relationships with our children, our own moral and mentoring capacities.” (Psychology
Today) this shows an example on how parents should think. It is a reminder that not all parents
Social
Katia’s friends are mostly male dominated, because she feels that it is easier to befriend
males than females. Her best friend is named Juan, who she met in 2013. Katia likes to have time
by herself but also enjoys her time with others. She only enjoys her time with others if they are
her friends or immediate family. Katia also stated that she feels it is easier to continue a
conversation in person rather than through text or social, because you are forced to continue a
conversation, Whereas, through a screen, the responses are not as immediate and the person can
When it comes to choosing after school clubs or going to a party with friends, she chose
to go to the party, She did claim, however, that an after school club almost acts as a party, so it
would be the same to her. As for making new friends, it is incredibly difficult for her to make a
new one and have a conversation with someone completely new to her. She has stated that she
has standards when it comes to the people that she will hang out with, such as, the interest in
According to J’anne Ellsworth, belonging and being accepted is a large part of this stage.
Katia did not seem to struggle finding where she belonged since she found others that are just
like her. It is also mentions that at this stage, “mood swings and goals may appear to be erratic
and out of control” which did not occur for Katia. According to her parents, Katia was always a
quiet and shy teen. She never lashed out or argued much against the parents. This may be due to
the parents allowing her to freely express herself, causing Katia to keep a calm character.
However, because she is shy, her parents did become quite concerned over her social
development and her ability to make relationships. As suggested by Patti Richards from Live
CASE STUDY 8
Strong, parents should “choose activities that encourage communication so your teen will
understand her opinions are valued and respected”. On their first couple of attempts, Katia stayed
silent during these activities. When asked to respond how she felt or if she was having fun, she
would not give a proper answer but instead make a monotone sound. Later, it was revealed that
Katia did not express her emotions very well and would simply make sounds. As of now, she has
grown out of that and can now express her emotions rather well.
“Friends can influence a child’s thinking and behavior” (Cleveland Clinic), in Katia’s
case, she claims to have never been peer pressured or influenced to do something that she did not
want to be part of. There was never a time where she felt pressured to do something she did not
feel prepared for. Which, to many parents, is what many would be grateful for.
CASE STUDY 9
Intellectual
Katia had quite a struggle comprehending symbolism, and finding the meaning behind a
subject or item. From Piaget’s stages of intellectual development, in the formal operational stage,
adolescents are able to logically use symbols related to abstract concepts. In Katia’s case, many
symbols that are used in poems and books are confusing to her. She did not, however, struggle in
math or science. Katia prefers to contemplate about concepts in justice. She often likes to think
Because of her thought process, she feels mentally stronger and self motivated to do her
best in school for her future. “An intelligent adolescent who is self aware and intrinsically
motivated will definitely have very high academic performance.” (Dr. Beena Johnson). This
explains how most teens, just like Katia, are motivated to reach a goal and in order to do so, they
must gain good grades. When Katia gets home from school, she would claim that it was done
Continuing with her intelligence, Katia’s passion for video games shows how she needs
to think intellectually in order to pass through the many puzzles the games have. From my own
experience, I cannot manage to finish a single game due to those puzzles. Katia surpasses and
figures them out without much of a struggle, finishing every video game she owns. As stated by
Jason Faulkner, “While playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it became apparent that
Nintendo crafted a game that has broken the mold when it comes to problem and puzzle solving
and interaction with the environment.” This shows that many people, including myself, find it
difficult to solve some of the puzzles in the games but Katia has proven to solve them after a
Graph
(NNCC. Lagoni, L. S., Martin, D. H., Maslin-Cole, C., Cook, A., MacIsaac, K., Parrill, G.,
Bigner, J., Coker, E., & Sheie, S. (1989). Good times with toddlers. In *Good times with child
care* (pp. 14-27). Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University Cooperative Extension.)
CASE STUDY 11
Recommendations
For Katia’s physical development, I recommend that she tries a series of different
nutritionals foods and see which ones she likes best. This way, she does not bore herself with
drinking the same nutritional shakes and she can actually chew on something. This will also give
her a variety of different choices to eat from if she does not crave the taste of the nutritional
shake.
On the topic of Katia’s emotional development, I would say that she is right where she
needs to be. She has figured out her emotions well. If anything, I would say that she should
express her emotions to her family more, but as of right now, she seems to be doing just fine.
When it comes to Katia’s philosophical development, I would also say that she has
developed well into that category. The influence from video games is a huge part of her
philosophical development, and despite it to be a fantasy world, it has proven to help her morals
develop and her mind to mature. Her parents have also provided enough real life examples and
views on the real world to open her eyes from a different perspective.
In regards to Katia’s social development, I recommend that she expresses her passions
and interests more with other people. If she enjoys something so much, she should go to an event
that focuses on her passion. For example, if there was to be a video game tournament, she should
go and enter. That way, she realizes how many other people there are that share her interests and
her social life can grow. If anything, I recommend that she hangs out with her friends more to
places that they would all enjoy and simply enjoy each other’s company.
As for Katia’s intellectual development, I would say that she is right where she needs to
be as well. She is an incredibly intelligent girl, to be able to solve puzzles that stop a lot of
CASE STUDY 12
people from playing because a lot of players cannot solve them is incredible. As for her
academics, she does well on every subject and would always request for help when truly needed,
References
http://www.actforyouth.net/adolescence/identity/
https://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/kohlberg01bk.htm
Cleveland Clinic (n.d.). Social & Teenage Development Information. Retrieved April 20,
2017,
from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/adolescent-social-development
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jde7/ese504/class/pepsi/reading2-1-1.html
Erikson's Stages of Development. (2016, September 30). Retrieved April 20, 2017, from
https://www.learning-theories.com/eriksons-stages-of-development.html
Family Doctor. (2017, March 27). Healthy Ways to Gain Weight If You're Underweight.
https://familydoctor.org/healthy-ways-to-gain-weight-if-youre-underweight/
Faulkner, J. (2017, March 20). How Puzzles in Zelda: Breath of the Wild Reward Breaking the
http://www.shacknews.com/article/99474/how-puzzles-in-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-rewar
d-breaking-the-system
Help your loved one eat well for optimal health. (2011, Oct 27). Jewish News Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/904664835?
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accountid=27953
Johnson, B. (2009, February 8). Emotional intelligence and adolescents. Retrieved April 20,
2017, from
http://www.beenajohnson.com/2009/02/emotional-intelligence-and-adolescents.html
Mason, A. (2011, April 10). Self Identity Development. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from
https://studentdevelopmenttheory.wordpress.com/self-identity/
NNCC. Lagoni, L. S., Martin, D. H., Maslin-Cole, C., Cook, A., MacIsaac, K., Parrill, G.,
Bigner, J., Coker, E., & Sheie, S. (1989). Good times with toddlers. In *Good times with
child care* (pp. 14-27). Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University Cooperative
Extension.
Oswalt, A. (2010, November 17). Adolescent Moral Development. Retrieved April 20, 2017,
from https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/adolescent-moral-development/
http://www.webmd.com/children/piaget-stages-of-development#1
Richards, P. (2013, May 17). The Importance of Belonging in Teenagers. Retrieved April 20,