Course: PSY300 Lifespan Developmental Psychology
Credits: 3
Instructor: Lynn Dorman, Ph.D.
Dates: February 11 to May 25
INSTRUCTOR AVAILABILITY:
Here are the specific times when I will be responding to your postings and answering your questions:
Sundays from 7 to 9 PM
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 7 PM
[All times are Pacific Time]
I am online at many others times but the above is when you can definitely expect me to reply to your postings. If there is ever a major change in my online schedule this will be noted in the announcements.
Email: use the classroom Webct email
Course Description: Lifespan Developmental Psychology is a course designed to introduce students to the various psychological approaches to the study of the mental, physical, emotional and interpersonal [social] development of an individual from birth to death. The course also looks at issues posed by life’s stages and transitions; including, prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence, early middle and late adult and death and dying. Our goal is to discover the changes in development at that occur over the lifespan and to look at the interdependence of these changes in all stages of life.
TEXT: Carol K. Sigelman and Elizabeth A. Rider Life-Span Human Development 5th Edition Wadsworth
COURSE OBJECTIVES: By the end of the semester, you should be able to:
* Describe the development of human beings in their social, cultural, and historical context.
* Depict the methods used in developmental research and the ethical standards involved.
* Distinguish among the different theories of human development.
* Describe the impact of heredity and environment on human development.
* Describe prenatal development and the birth process.
* Describe neonatal development.
* Describe development during infancy, early childhood, middle and later childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood.
* Study particular developmental events from the perspectives of the major developmental theories (i.e., psychoanalytic, social learning) and identify those theories when used by others to analyze events.
* Explain how research contributes to the understanding of development, and critically evaluate how research fits with particular developmental theories.
* Apply knowledge about development to real-life situations.
APPROACH:
My personal theory of teaching is helping students learn to think about issues by using information from many sources to reach their conclusions. In the past students have jokingly labeled me the “why” teacher since I almost always say, “Why do you think that.” It’s as important to be able to state why you have reached a conclusion as it is to reach that conclusion.
Since this is Psychology, and therefore all about people, there are no right or wrong thoughts or answers – as long as you can support your view with psychological information.
My approach is to involve students in their own learning process. As a Psychologist I learned and still believe that the more of your modalities involved - the more you learn. The class will therefore be a mixture of reading, writing, observing, interviewing, doing research and interacting – and some guest commentary when possible.
GROUPS:
As there is much material to be covered, I do not expect each of you to know all of it, and you will be assigned to work in groups to share in the learning and the workload. Groups will be set up early in the course. There will be 3 or 4 larger discussion groups and each of the large groups will be subdivided into 2 smaller groups for the projects. You will remain in the groups to which you are assigned for the entire course. You will be able to see and respond to the discussion topic postings only for your larger group.
I expect all group members to participate equally in their groups and if someone is not pulling their fair share of the work, I want to know. It is unfair for those who do the work to have to do more because someone is not working. The non - working people will NOT get the same grade as the others.
Please note that the groups will not be set up until there is a final count on the number of students.
OVERALL CLASS REQUIREMENTS:
Text readings, journals, class participation, and 3 projects.
Text readings
Posted for each week
Journals
You are required to do 10 journals in which you write a paragraph or two about the assigned topic. Each journal is worth one point toward the final grade and there are 10 journals. Journals are due by Sunday night at 11:55 PM Pacific time.
The journal is to be no more than two paragraphs reflecting your thoughts on the topic – noting any major insights you might have – or you can relate the topic to your work, life, or some relevant topic you read in the papers, etc… The purpose of the journal is to get you to look around you and into your own life’s experiences and see what, if any, relationship there is in “real” life and what we cover in class.
The journals are not graded but you must do them and in total they are worth 10 of your final grade – one point per Journal.
Journal due dates are in the weekly schedule and the topics are listed in the Assignment section Journals of WebCT
Discussion and Participation
The course will center around weekly discussions. This is where you respond to my posted discussion assignments for the week and to each other. I will post small assignments for you to think about and respond to. You will each post a response to my question[s] and then reply to at least 2 others within your larger group. The class participation is important and is 30 points of your final grade - think of it 2 points a week.
Your input to my assignment is due by Wednesdays at 11:55 PM and the two replies to others in your group is due by Sunday nights at 11:55 PM
Projects
There are 3 projects due during the semester: an observation, interview, and a research project. These will be fully discussed and you the written instructions will be posted as soon as the class begins.
Project 1 - Observation – one limited topic – observed in 3 different age groups
Project 2 – Interview – one limited topic - 3 different age groups interviewed
Project 3 - Research paper – one limited topic – research done on 3 different age groups
If it is possible, you may use the information you gather in one project in any or all of the others.
GRADING
The observation, the interview and research projects are each worth 25 points; the journals in total are worth 10 points and class participation worth 30 points. For group projects, everyone in the group gets the same grade on the project - except as noted above for those who do not do their share of the work.
I will grade each requirement on a scale worth its points - therefore the total points available for the semester are 115.
FINAL GRADE
A = 100 - 115
B = 85 - 99
C= 70 - 84
D= 55 - 69
F = 54 or less
I allow for ways for anyone to improve their grade…and you will always know where you stand at any given time. There will be “extra credit” projects toward the end of the semester for any who want to improve their grade.
ACADEMIC HONESTY: Students must adhere to the college policy on academic honesty, as published in the Linfield College Course Catalogue.
DISABILITY STATEMENT: Student with documented disabilities who may need accommodation, who have any emergency medical information an instructor should know, or who require special arrangements in the event of an evacuation, should meet with the instructor as early as possible, know later than the first week of classes.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS: Except under extraordinary circumstances – no assignments shall be submitted late and no Incompletes will be given as a final grade.
COURSE SCHEDULE
As most assignments will be due on Sunday evenings, the course schedule will use Sundays as the date due for readings and journals. BUT – the first part of the discussion assignment will be due on Wednesdays
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Feb 11 Studying Humans across the lifespan
1,2
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Feb 18 Major theories
Earliest development
3,4 Journal 1
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Feb 25 Physical Self
Perception5,6 Journal 2
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Mar 4 Cognition 7 Journal 3
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Mar 11 Memory and Information 8 Observation Posted
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Mar 18 Intelligence and Creativity 9 Journal 4
Observation Due
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Mar 25 Language and Education 10 Journal 5
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Apr 1 Self and Personality 11 Journal 6
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Apr 8 Gender Roles and Sexuality 12 Journal 7
Interview Posted
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Apr 15 Social Cognition
and Moral Development
13 Interview Due
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Apr 22 Attachment and Social
Relationships14 Journal 8
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due Apr 29 The Family 15 Journal 9
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due May 6 Pathology 16
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due May 13 Death and Dying 17 Paper Posted
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due May 20 Student choices – extra credit projects Journal 10
Paper Due
Date Topic Chapters Assignments Due May 25 Summary and looking ahead Epilogue