Developmental Psychology

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

MAC designation - MAC CritThink Soc and BehavSci

• Critically analyze claims, arguments, artifacts, or information
• Construct coherent, evidence-based arguments

Course Goals, Objectives, and Learning Outcomes

• What develops and when? We will learn about key aspects of human physical, social, and cognitive development from infancy to adolescence and adulthood. For example, what do infants know? What are the major personal challenges in adolescence? What cognitive changes are experienced by people as they age? This aspect of the course will enable you to develop strong content knowledge of the field. (Assesses SLO1)
• How is development measured? We will look at development from a scientific perspective, focusing on how we ask and answer research questions in the discipline of psychology, and development, objectively and systematically. Different research methodologies (and their advantages and limitations) will be addressed. This aspect of the course will encourage you to learn to evaluate critically the research studies and findings that are the focus of the course. (Assesses SLO1)
• What are the mechanisms of change? By examining the ‘what and when’ in relation to theory and evidence, we will begin to understand how the mind and behavior develop. Learning about the mechanisms of change will enable you to focus on synthesizing what we know about different aspects of development into a (relatively) coherent whole. (Assesses SLO2)
• What are the implications (i.e., How is this relevant to my life?) By understanding basic mechanisms of development, we can obtain insight into practical issues. For example, what does a positive parent-child relationship look like? This aspect of the course will encourage you to apply what you learn to the problems of everyday life. (Assesses SLO2)

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Quizzes	65%
Short Assignments	15%
Major Assignment	20%

Grading Scale:

Percentage	Letter Grade
93-100	A
90-92	A-
87-89	B+
83-85	B
80-82	B-
77-79	C+
73-76	C
70-72	C-
67-69	D+
63-66	D
60-62	D-
< 60	F

Attendance/Participation:

This is an online asynchronous course, so there is no explicit attendance or participation requirement.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

Lifespan Human Development, (10 Ed.) Sigelman, C.K. & Rider, E. A. (2022) https://www.cengage.com/c/life-span-human-development-10e-sigelman-rider/9780357373651/