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Peer Review

Little Criminals

Reviewed:
Dec 3, 2021 by Psychology
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Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.0 stars
Content Quality: 4.2 stars
Effectiveness: 4.5 stars
Ease of Use: 3.5 stars
Overview:

 

The learning materials are transcripts, readings, and recordings from a Front Line Documentary on violent children, with explanations on what may have encouraged these behaviors. 

Type of Material:

Reference, Presentation

Recommended Uses:

 

  • Reviewing these materials independently or in an assigned group project would be useful for most students.
  • This site would be valuable in introducing expert opinion on the research concerning youth violence. All information is text-based, so it would likely be most useful as an out-of-class assignment; but, the information is short and targeted so it could be adapted for brief in-class explorations. Due to reliance on text-based materials, use is best as self-paced due to differences in reading rates. 
Technical Requirements:

 

Only a standard web browser (e.g., Google Chrome) is needed for reviewing the items on this website. 

NOTE: When clicking the main links, the user gets an error with all links providing a .map download file. Users must click the row of small links at the bottom of the web page in order to access the materials. 

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The resources presented here would be useful in psychology, sociology, and other behavioral and mental health areas. Additionally, a student in family systems as well as adolescent development would benefit from these materials. 

The main learning goals are as follows.

1) Identify predictors of violence in young children. 

2) Overview research concerning factors that predispose a child to become violent. 

3) Explore public policy considerations relevant to youth violence. 

Target Student Population:

 

College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

 

  • A basic understanding of the field of psychology and possibly of psychological disorders would be useful for understanding the materials shared on this site.
  • For use in advanced classes, a background in child development would be useful. 

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:

 

  • The quality of the content that is linked is useful. Details provided on various cases are interesting and diverse. 
  • The information is very specific and targeted. It provides good depth of analysis in exploring current research on children exhibiting violent behaviors. It effectively presents a variety of perspectives. 
Concerns:

 

  • The main website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/little/ is experiencing technical issues. To access content, the user must navigate using navigational links at the bottom of the main site. 
  • Content is presented as text-only, so it may not be as engaging as a multimedia presentation. 

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:

 

  • Materials shared on Little Criminals appears interesting, engaging, and includes interviews with individuals involved in the families as well as mental health professionals. Additionally, a broad selection of options are available for reviewing the cases, which could make this a useful learning object to assign out individually or to student groups for further analysis and findings. 
  • Very interesting discussion of the psychological foundations of violent children. Students are likely to find the content interesting; expert opinions are presented in a manner that can be easily understood by students. 
Concerns:

 

  • Only text-based materials can be accessed. The videos are no longer available. 

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:

 

  • Navigation from the bottom menu of links is fairly straightforward, and the ability to assign out the entire site or individual topics is easily managed. 
  • Information is organized by content type; links appear to provide accessible information that would meet ADA compliance. 
Concerns:

 

  • Navigation of the site is disabled from the main page due to an error that appears ("map error") from the front page. Navigation from the bottom menu of links is  straightforward, but the videos from the original site are no longer available. 
Other Issues and Comments:

The quality of available content is good. Our greatest concern is the technical error on the homepage and the inability to access the videos.

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