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Jack Bauer, PhD
Department of Psychology
University of Dayton
Dayton, OH 45469
(937) 229-2617

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Psychology Department

College of Arts
and Sciences

PSY 351:
Child Psychology

Winter 2008
Section 3: MWF 12:00 - 12:50, SJ 221
Section 4: MWF 1:00 - 1:50, SJ 221
Office Hours: TW 2:00-3:00 and by appointment

T.A.: Shaun Perciful, office hours by appointment

Syllabus
Required Text
Course Objectives
Grading & Requirements
Other Course Policies
Schedule

Required Text
Santrock, J. W. (2006). Life-Span Development, 11th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Note: You may use the 10th or 9th edition. Also, a copy of the text is on reserve at the library.

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Course Objectives
This course presents an overview of human development from birth through adolescence. This course has four main aims. (1) The course is designed for you to cultivate your ability to think from a developmental perspective—a perspective that helps you to step outside the immediate moment and to assess where that moment came from and where it’s going. (2) More specifically, the course is designed to help you better understand your own life (and the lives of others) from infancy through adolescence and a little beyond. (3) The written assessments in this course are designed for you to sharpen your skills at identifying a main idea and explaining that idea clearly. (4) The course is designed to prepare you for future studies and work in psychology.

This course challenges you to think about the individual person and people in terms of dynamic processes rather than merely static appearances. The course views human development along several dimensions (e.g., cognitive, emotional, social, biological), where each dimension contributes to the development of the others. In addition, the course views the individual person as part of biology, culture, and history yet also as having a mind of his/her own. In this course we will try to get inside the mind of a child (and adolescent)—to explore how kids experience their world—in order to understand not only children but also the adults who those children become. By cultivating the ability to think about life developmentally, you put yourself in a better position to understand yourself and others, to adapt to life, and to shape it.

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Course Grading & Requirements

Your grade will be calculated from a total of either 500 or 600 points, depending on whether you choose to write a film paper.

Exams. Three exams will cover the content of the class lectures and text. Therefore you are expected to attend class, take notes, and read the text as the course progresses. The exams will require you to integrate information, not just memorize it. The final exam is not cumulative. If you miss an exam, you must have a legitimate reason (by university standards) for taking a make-up exam in order to earn points for that exam. In such a case you must make every attempt to notify me in advance. Exams are worth 100 points each.

Media Paper. This assignment is designed to get you thinking about how development is portrayed in the mass media. Find an article about infancy, childhood, or adolescence that was published in a newspaper, magazine, or other news or entertainment outlet, either on-line or in print (but not in academic journals or academic websites). Start the paper with a good, brief, informative introduction, in which you state what your paper is about (in addition to what the article is about). Then briefly (1 short paragraph at most) summarize the main points of the article as they relate to your paper. Note: Your paper should not be a summary of the article. Your paper should be about a point or two that you are making, based on this article. The rest of your paper should evaluate the article and your main point(s): Do you agree or disagree, and why? What are your thoughts on this topic? In other words, this paper should state a position or make an argument, and then elaborate on it. Some possible positions involve the questions: What does this article imply about contemporary views on developmental issues (e.g., parenting, children’s abilities, schooling, play/leisure, nature v. nurture, childhood or adolescence itself)? What does the article signify about the media’s portrayal of human development? The paper should not exceed 2 pages, double-spaced, so your paper should be well organized, starting with a good introduction. You might want to write down all your thoughts first, then find what the most important point or opinion is—or perhaps find out what the main idea running through your thoughts is—and finally rewrite the paper so that it clearly presents the main point at the beginning and then explains it. Be sure to include the first page of the article with your paper, and be sure that this page includes the name and date of the newspaper, magazine, or website. Due in class: Wednesday, February 20. The paper is worth 50 points.

Preschool Observation Paper. This project involves (1) observing children in a preschool setting for 1 hour, (2) taking notes during that time, and (3) writing a reflection paper on the observation. The primary purpose of this assignment is to give you real-life exposure to children going about their lives. The observations will take place at UD’s Bombeck Family Learning Center, which is one of the best play-and-learning institutions for preschool-age children anywhere. Around mid-semester you will sign up for the day and time of your observation session. You are expected to keep your scheduled date and time, show up on time, and to be professional in dress and demeanor. When you show up, you will sign in at the Bombeck Center’s front desk and will be led to an observation booth in one of the learning areas. For the next hour you will watch preschoolers at play, participating in structured and unstructured activities, interacting with each other and with teachers, doing things on their own, etc. During this time you are to take notes on the children and their environment--notes on various activities, notes on individual children, notes on groups, notes on resources for the children, etc. Afterward, you are to write a paper on your observations. You have a lot of latitude in what to write for this paper (we'll talk about this more as the time approaches). However, do not let the fact that this paper is a reflection piece lead you to think that you can simply spit some thoughts onto a page and turn it in. This paper should make a clear point and be well-organized. You might want to write down all your thoughts first, then find what the most important point or opinion is—or perhaps find out what the main idea running through your thoughts is—and finally rewrite the paper so that it clearly presents the main point at the beginning and then explains it. The paper should not exceed 2 pages, double-spaced. The paper is due in class Friday, March 14. The paper is worth 50 points.
Download:
• Procedures for the Bombeck center observation

Research Paper. This paper requires you to form and communicate an idea or perspective on a specific aspect of development in childhood or adolescence. This idea or perspective must be well reasoned and firmly grounded in research. How to choose a topic: You are encouraged to pick a topic of personal interest to you that relates somehow to developmental psychology from birth through adolescence. You are also encouraged to start by thinking broadly and creatively about your own personal interests—the topic need not be a “textbook” topic—and only then look for some tie to development. If you want help coming up with a topic that interests you or refining your topic, let me know. How to find research articles: This paper is to be based on 3 articles that report on empirical research and that appear in academic, peer-reviewed journals (not newspapers, magazines, websites, etc). You may use only academic articles that either (1) present original research or (2) present a statistical meta-analysis of original research from various articles. Thus, you may not use purely theoretical articles, literature-review articles that do not present original research or statistical meta-analyses, commentaries, or other essay-type articles, even if they appear in peer-reviewed, academic journals. Use PsycINFO or another of the library’s search engines. How to write the paper: Later in the semester, about a month before this paper is due, we will spend an entire class period explaining and talking about how to do this paper (make sure you attend; it's a difficult assignment). In a nutshell, you are required to use a rigid structure to organize your paper. (This forces you to pour your creativity into the ideas, not the organization of the paper.) This structure will help you organize your thoughts in a way that is required for scientific writing—plus it provides a good basic structure for thinking systematically and for writing about fact-based opinions in general. The sections of the paper are: (1) introduction (which briefly states the main point of the paper), (2) summaries of the three articles (each one separately; each including a summary of the article’s main purpose, methodology, results, and conclusions), and (3) integration (which compares and contrasts the articles as well as elaborates on the main point of the paper). The grading key gives more detail (download it!). The paper should be 4-5 pages, double-spaced. Remember to give yourself enough time for this project: You will need to have a very well-organized paper in order to cover the necessary ground in such a short paper without sacrificing substance. I strongly recommend having your topic and articles chosen a few weeks before it is due. Be sure to include the first page of each article with your paper; it should have the article's abstract on it. Due in class: Wednesday, April 23. Be sure to download the grading key (though don’t think this covers everything that we’ll cover in the class devoted to how to do this paper). Finally, download a description and examples of how to format citations and references in APA style.
Link to PsycINFO
Download:
• Grading key
• Examples of citations and references in APA style

Film Paper (Optional). We will watch the documentary 49 Up, which features interviews of people about their lives. These individuals were interviewed every seven years from the time they were seven years old. Now they’re 49. You are to write a paper on the film, showing how the film portrays human development by linking the film to theory or research in developmental psychology. You have a good deal of latitude in deciding how to approach this paper. Do this: Start by choosing the interviewee(s) and the topics you want to explore in your paper. For instance, you may choose to write about one, two, or a group of the interviewees. You might describe how that person or those individuals developed over time, linking their youth to their later development (perhaps covering individual traits and interests and/or social environments and/or other life circumstances). Or you might analyze a particular social factor that differed for the interviewees, like gender or socio-economic status in childhood or adolescence, in terms of its effects on development. Then, pick one or two developmental theories or bodies of research, and use those ideas to show how the interviewees developed over time, from childhood to middle age. If you have any questions about how to approach this task, please ask. This project is designed to strengthen your ability to think about and describe people’s lives in a way that is conceptually clear and well organized. The paper should be 4-5 pages, double-spaced, and is due via email on the scheduled day for the final exam (note that the last exam itself is a couple weeks earlier): at 4:20 p.m., Monday, April 28 if you're in the 12:00 class, or at noon, Tuesday, April 29 if you're in the 1:00 class. This paper is worth 100 points. Note that this optional paper is not extra credit; it is an additional, graded assignment.

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Other Course Policies

Assistance with tests, classes, etc. Please let me know if you would like any form of assistance or accommodations in this class. Feel free to call or email me for an individual appointment, or stop by during my office hours. UD asks that we state the following. To request reasonable accommodations due to disability, please contact Student Learning Support (SLS; formerly called LEAD) in the Learning Teaching Center, LTC 023, 229-2066. If you have a Self-Identification form indicating that you have a disability that requires reasonable accommodations, please present it to me so that we may discuss your needs.

Attendance. While you will not be graded for attendance, students find it very difficult to do well on my exams if they miss classes, since my exams are based not on the memorization of facts but on the ability to integrate information—a skill we develop in class.

Note on plagiarism. Plagiarism is grounds for getting 0 points (not just an F) on any assignment (see UD’s policy on plagiarism and its penalties on page 3 of the Student Handbook). So be very careful. If you have any questions, ask. Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty that I take very seriously.

Questions. If you have a question, please ask. I am happy to address questions in class, in my office, or by email about how to do an assignment, study for a test, etc. However, if the question deals with material explained in this syllabus, read about it first. Also, do not email me to calculate your course grade. It is your responsibility to keep track of this. The grade is a matter of points. If you want to know what grade is possible for you, just do the math.

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Course Schedule

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