Developmental Psychology 2004

Social Science Department, Seminole Community College
Professor K. G. Noone 
Classroom L-015 Library Building
Office L-016B Library Building
Phone 407-328-2086
Fax 407-328-2419
NooneK@scc-fl.edu

Course Description:
[DEP-2004, Developmental Psychology (3 credit-3 hours); Prerequisite/co-requisite: PSY 2012 - General Psychology or permission of the instructor of the department chair.] The study of the effects of biological, psychological, maturational, and social factors on human behavior at various stages of development. This course partially satisfies requirements of S.B.E. 6A-10.30. Please be advised that Dep 2004 is a Gordon Rule Course. The Requirements of the Social Science Department is that in order to pass this course, students are required to write a minimum of 3000 words. Please govern yourself accordingly.

Required reading: Human Development Updated 7th edition. Be advised that it is easier and less expensive to purchase texts on line directly from the publisher. The web address of the publisher is www.mhhe.com. The ISBN number is 0-07-282595-2. Specify a paper copy, as it is cheaper than a hardbound edition. Several pieces of refereed research and a few magazine articles may also be provided for the student. Further, the instructor will be handing out several pieces of peer-reviewed work during the course of the semester for the student to read. There is also research on reserve in the LRC. Instruction will be offered about these readings during the course of the semester.  Further, information on the web will be offered throughout the course.

List of Basic Units: Introduction and brief review of General Psychology, Writing for research  & clinical purposes
Adulthood      Genetics                                  Prenatal, birth, Infancy
Intelligence     cognition                                 Childhood
Attachment     Methodology              The structure of the professional literature
Adolescence    Death

Office Hours:
 Office hours are 9:30-2:30 Mondays and Wednesdays or
call 407-328-2086 for an appointment. Direct inquiries to NooneK@scc-fl.edu

Course Objectives:
The purpose of the present course is to provide the student with a superficial view of how humans change across time. The course has two themes: firstly, to present to the student the academic and professional structure of psychology including the nature of research and clinical writing; secondly, to provide to the student how biological health and proper nurturance can combine to maximize psychological health.

 

Course Rationale: This course should benefit education, nursing psychology and social science majors for their degree requirements as well as being necessary for their professional knowledge. It should also benefit any other student as it provides one with knowledge as to how the self develops. A quantum theoretical (non-Cartesian) approach to the subject is defined and explored.

 Course Management Guide: 1. No make-ups are allowed unless there are serious mitigating circumstances that can be documented. Makeup’s provide a burden on the instructor and student assistant, Further, it is an unfair advantage to the person making up the exam in that they have more time to study than students who take exams at regularly scheduled times. Regardless of the circumstances, 10% of the earned grade will be deducted. 2. Late papers will be discounted 10 points. They will not be accepted two weeks after the due date. 3. When Cheating or plagiarism has occurred, the instructor may take academic action ranging from denial of credit for or assigning a grade of "F" on a specific assignment, examination, or project, to assigning a grade of "F" for the course. The student may also be subject to further sanctions such as disciplinary probation, suspension or dismissal from the college. This is a very serious aspect of course management. STUDENTS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT NOT HAVING EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CITATIONS ON ALL WRITTEN WORK LEAVES THE WORK VULNERABLE TO CHARGES OF PLAGIARISM. This means that in writing a research paper the student must credit where they obtained the material used. They must cite this within the paper. Further, a bibliography must be provided. If this is not done, the paper will receive no higher than 10 pts out of 100. Remember that using the web is the same as going to the library. As one obtains books from a library, one obtains books that are also on the web. There are bad sources and good sources. All must be evaluated and credited. Further, this instructor will use a program to identify and compare papers with familiar sources. Plagiarism is a growing problem and this instructor will give a student an "F" in the class if plagiarism is discovered. 4. No grades will be given by email or over the phone.  5. While attendance is at the discretion of the student, it is the instructor’s observation that the fewer classes attended, the lower the grade earned. The student is required to attend class.  Seminole State administration requires records of their attendance.  In the case of online and other distance learning courses, student participation is constantly monitored.
6. The policy on Incompletes has changed. No one can receive an Incomplete without a specific contract and reason prior to the end of the course. Further, incompletes must be completed according to college policy.7. The policy on withdrawals has also changed and the dates of withdrawal must be adhered to. Please check the college website. If one has not finished the work at the proper time, a withdrawal or incomplete will not be given.  Further, and most important, this professor will not give withdrawals. The student must initiate and handle all paperwork for a withdrawal. Last Day to withdrawal is October 28, 2004.  8. It is the policy of this instructor to make every student feel welcome. 9.While the syllabus id the document of record, please be advised that this record can be changed. Students are responsible for changes announced in class. 10. All work is expected to be the reflection of the individual student.

 

           

In this course you have three writing assignments.

Here are some considerations about the papers you will turn in. This is a Gordon Rule Course and requires 3000 words. The papers that you write must be handed in on time to be considered for grading. Further, they are academic papers and as such must be written in a formal and professional manner. PLEASE USE THE APA STYLE of citation. I will not accept the MLA SYLE that uses the author's last name and a page number. Go to the writing center if you are in doubt. You are absolutely required to have both internal and external citations. If you do not properly reference the material in your paper, the paper is VULNERABLE TO CHARGES OF PLAGIARISM. Please take this seriously as your grade depends on proper citations. As far as grading goes, I personally do not read peoples names as I grade. The grade is based solely on the work. An average paper that has nothing remarkable about it that generally covers most of the bases will get a "C." If the paper demonstrates good organization, excellent diction and grammar, and presents thoughtful content, a grade of "B" is given. If the paper is exceptional and demonstrates good analytical skills, a grade of "A" is given. Do not FAX  Or E-Mail PAPERS. We will provide students with a regulation cover page for all written work.

1.  The Annotated Bibliography is due October 7.  You are to research and develop a bibliography on peer-reviewed research on an assigned topic.  Only assigned topics are acceptable. You must have 10 entries. This must be written in APA style and the entries must be annotated. A bibliography is a list of references. Annotation means briefly described. One of the pieces of research you have on this list, you must locate to review for the critique due on October 28.

Several website address and class instructions will be offered to the understanding how to do the bibliography and all other writings. You must print the first page of each article.

 

2. The critique of refereed research

This paper is due on October 28. The paper must have a copy of the peer-reviewed research that you critiqued, stapled to the paper. To obtain a copy of peer re-viewed research, you must get a copy of a piece of research from your bibliography. No other research is acceptable.  This is a very formal paper. The paper must be well organized. A proper introduction is required. You must begin by stating exactly what your purpose is and what you will cover and the sequence that you will cover various topics. You must cover the following subjects thoroughly: why you chose this particular piece of research, any problems you had, a thorough summary of the research, its strong and weak points, and your opinion on the general subject the research addresses. Generally in this paper, one would not need a bibliography, however you must distinguish internally between what is your thought and that of the author's thought or words. This paper will give you an idea of the research side of psychology.

3.The Simulated Report of Psychological Services

This paper is due on November 18.  It requires that you spend time in front of a 7-year-old child. Please replicate the format given to you and do not change the format as you will be graded on Form as well as Content. In the Demographic Section, use initials for the child and his parents so not to identify the child. Fill out everything else except for the address. In the Reason for Referral section put, to fulfill a project in my developmental psychology class. In the Background Information section put information about the child that is in the past that might impact the child. This is information that you did not observe. You need to state where you received the information. For example, who was the informant?  In the Behavioral Observations section put information that you personally observed. You will use the phrase for example a lot in this section. In the Test Results section you will report the result of two "tests" which are actually projects for you to learn. You will state as follows: Test Results: I. Goodenough Draw a PersonSee attached In this section you will attach a drawing the child made of himself and a drawing he made of his family. II. The Piagetian Cognitive tasks. 1. Conservation of Numbers, 2. Conservation of Liquids, 3. Conservation of Length, 4. Conservation of Area, 5. Conservation of Substance, 6. Understanding Parts and Whole In this section you test the child and put whether the child passed or failed specific tasks. See your handout on Piaget in order to understand the tasks. In the Interpretation section you will cover three topics: 1. Discuss the drawing in terms of what it looks like physically and what you think it says about the child.        2. Discuss the child's performance on the Piagetian Tasks in terms of how he went about the tasks (i.e. was he confidant, etc.?) and what Piagetian Stage he is in given his performance.   3. Discuss your observations about the child. This will be your longest section.  In the Summary, Conc. And recommendations section (the shortest section) put a few brief sentences summarizing the entire report, a sentence of conclusion (e. g. X is doing very well) and a sentence of recommendation (e.g. I recommend he stay in the same environment.) This writing is to give the student an idea of the type of clinical writing a psychologist performs. The purpose of this assignment is not to undermine the confidentiality of a child's life. You are not to play at being a Jr. Detective or at being a clinician. You are to merely learn about report writing and how Piagetian theory works. Above all, you are to respect the child and the child's family. Please obtain permission from the adult responsible for this child before your proceed. This is a task done by many developmental psychology and education students in every college in the country. It is for learning about form writing and Piaget.

 

Schedules of Lectures and Assignments: Fall Term I, 2003

There are Five Tests

These are approximate dates. Each class has it’s own personality, so to speak, and many learn material more quickly, or less quickly then indicated on the syllabus. You must attend class regularly to find out if a change has been made.

Test One September 16

Test Two October 12

Test Three October 28

Test Four November 30

 Test Five December 9

There are Three Professional Writings

An Annotated bibliography of 10 peer-reviewed research articles due October 7

Research: The critique of peer-reviewed research is due October 28

Clinical: The Report of Psychological Services is due November 18

Grades:       93-100=A         82-92=B       70-81=C       60-69=D

 

 

 

 


How to Organize your Formal Writings, e.g. Book or Research Reviews, Critiques or Research Term Papers

 

You will be reviewing several articles in this course. When you review the
articles, you will want to follow a certain structure or organization.
First, as the writer, you must consider the reader. If you are going to
pitch the ball, you must set up the catcher. The best way to do this in
academic writing is to have an introduction to your paper that anyone can
pick up and read and consequently, understand WHAT THE PURPOSE OF THE PAPER
IS, WHAT THE PAPER WILL COVER, AND THE SEQUENCE OF TOPICS THE
READER WILL READ. Do not, at this stage in your academic career, worry about being
creative. You have a job to do in reviewing a paper, and you should think of
it as building a structure. So, the first paragraph tells all. One may start of by stating the purpose after a few beginning sentences. For example, if you are reviewing an article on reading you might have the following opening introductory paragraph:

Children entering first grade often have difficulty learning how to read. How
children acquire knowledge of sounds may be the key in learning to read. The
purpose of the present paper is to critique of the peer-reviewed research
entitled "The Psychological Understanding of Phonemes." Joseph Burkowsky of
the University of Miami wrote the research. It was published in Developmental
Psychology in May 2000. In this critique I will briefly discuss my personal
interest in reading and why I chose this research to review. I will
thoroughly summarize Dr. Burkowsky's work, paying particular attention to the
result and conclusion sections. A discussion of weak points of Dr.
Burkowsky's selection of subjects and his lack of a proper baseline will be
explored. I will highlight the strengths of the research. A suggestion for
further research on phonemes will be offered. Finally, my own opinions on
how to teach reading will be offered to the reader.

This introduction tells any academic reader what this paper is about.  The
writer can now take this paragraph as an outline and being to construct the
paper.  So, you now can think of building a paper.  Construct your introductory paragraph by telling the reader the purpose of the paper YOU are writing.  Give the reader information on what you will cover in order to accomplish your purpose and the sequence in which the reader will encounter the information.  After this information, build the body of the paper topic, by topic, thoroughly covering what you said you would cover in your introduction.  Now you build a paragraph  (or two) of conclusion in which you very briefly mention some of the highlights of what the reader read.  Any title can be thought of as the shortest summary.

Remember, for the purposes of this class, you will want to include a thorough summary, perhaps difficulties that you had, a critique that includes what was done well and what was questionable in the logic or structure of the writing that you are reviewing, and finally, you will want to include your opinion of the overall topic of the writing or discuss an issue that you think is important.

 

The final piece to a piece of formal academic writing is the documentation. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!  You must cite your sources internally.  Everything you learned, acquired, found, researched, quoted from someone else, YOU MUST STATE THIS OR DOCUMENT THIS.  For example…. According to Ainsworth & Bell (1972)…or In the research by Burkowsky (1989), he states that….Just having a name at the end of each paragraph is not sufficient. If it is your idea you are presenting to the reader, , say so,  for example….In my opinion…. You also, of course, need to cite sources externally, this is a  bibliography of all references you used.    Finally, when in doubt, always ask for help.