Dev Psych Research Topic Ideas?

[stefanyjoy]

Hey everyone!

So for some reason I'm having a really hard time trying to narrow down a research topic for a paper in Dev Psych. The instructor is very flexible and is allowing us to research anything do to with dev. psych as long as there are at least 5 reliable references, and should be about ~5 pages in length, so there does need to be a lot of information out there on the topic. I don't know why I am having such a hard time choosing! I think developmental psych is interesting, so you'd think I'd have thought of something by now. I thought maybe if I throw some ideas around here, someone could give me some kind of direction or ideas of things to research?

-I am interested in developmental toys for children, and longitutinal studies that implicate how certain toys or types of play impact a child's cognitive development (i.e, blocks have been linked with better math skills in the middle school years, fantasy play and the effect on children, etc) but I am worried I won't be able to find enough references, or stretch it out to 5 pages without getting wordy or repetitive.

-I also am interested in researching short term vs. long term memory studies, and tactics to increase the liklihood that information is stored in long term memory (I have a personal interest in this to help me gain new ideas for studying). But is this too broad of a topic?

I also have to find a way to incorporate colleague collaboration.... should I do a questionnaire or something?

Any ideas would be most appreciated!