MIDDLESEX COMMUNITY COLLEGE

COURSE SYLLABUS

Child/Adolescent Development

Spring, 2008

Department: Social Science

Course Number: Psychology 204

Course Title: Child and Adolescent Development/ CRN# 1280

Credit Hours/Lecture Hours: 3

Meeting Time/Place: on-line

Faculty: Judith Felton, Professor of Human Services

Office/ Phone#/e-mail: Room 508/ 860-343-5816/ webct mail; or, if webct is down, use jfelton@mxcc.commnet.edu

Office Hours: Tues/Thurs: 12:30-1:30p.m.; daily on-line; or by appointment.

Scope of Course:

This course will examine childhood from conception through adolescence, with emphasis on the areas of emotional, social, cognitive, language, and physical development.

This is a required course for the Early Childhood Education Associate’s Degree program, the Juvenile Justice Certificate Program, and a directed psychology elective for the Human Services Associate’s Degree program. It is often required for nursing students and those seeking education certification. In addition, this course serves as a useful social science or psychology transfer course.

Textbook: A Child’s World: Infancy through Adolescence. Authors: Papalia, Olds, Feldman. (10th edition)

Course Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, the student will have a greater understanding and appreciation of:

  1. the key theoretical perspectives pertaining to child and adolescent development;
  2. the methodology and function of scientific research in the area of childhood and adolescent development;
  3. the psychosocial, cognitive, and physical developmental milestones in childhood and adolescent development;
  4. the developing child within the context of his/her sociocultural environment;
  5. the genetic and environmental factors which have an impact on the developing child;
  6. abnormalities in development;
  7. clinical interventions and services for children, adolescents, and families;
  8. the applicability of what we learn to our personal and professional lives.

Methods of Evaluation:

  1. Four Exams: The exams will be a combination of fill in the blanks, short answer and essay. Exam Dates: First exam assigned Feb.17th. Due Feb. 24th.

Second exam assigned Mar 16th. Due Mar 23rd.

Third exam assigned Apr. 13th. Due Apr. 20th.

Fourth exam assigned May 4th. Due May 11th.

Each exam is due by 11:59p.m. on the dates indicated.

  1. Research Paper with observation/interview component:

Each student is going to pick a topic in the field of childhood/adolescent development that is of personal interest. This will be fun…a combination of research and field work/experience.

Step I: Pick a topic: for example, cognitive development during infancy.

Step 2: Research your topic. Great journal articles can be found via the college library web-site and over the internet. You must have at least four scholarly resources. Do not solely rely on informational web-sites for your research; this is not considered scholarly research. Your textbook, wikipedia, or an encyclopedia cannot be considered as one of your major research sources.

Step 3: Depending on your topic, you will then either observe a child, (or children,) or you will interview an adolescent. Your observation or interview serves as documentation to support the research you are doing. For example, if you are researching cognitive development during infancy, you would observe an infant and compare the infant’s cognitive milestones with the findings of your research. Please note: you may use your own children or relatives to observe for this assignment.

Step 4: Write your paper. Your paper needs to be 7-10 pages, typed. Given that this is a college level paper, you must appropriately cite your resources. ( Please use the APA standard of citation and references.)

Make sure you proof your paper for spelling and grammatical errors prior to submission. Do not merely rely on your computer’s ability to check for spelling and grammatical errors…it is only a machine and is not fool-proof. You need to review it carefully prior to submission.

Due Date: Email me your paper via webct by 11:59p.m. on Apr. 27th.

  1. Weekly Discussion Questions: Each week you will be assigned discussion questions that require your response. You are required to post a response to each discussion question and respond to (only) two-three other class participants, (your professor can be included in your postings to others.) Your discussion responses will reference your reading from your text and Prof. Felton’s overviews. Your responses should be critical analysis of what you are learning and thinking about, not merely your opinion. Your reading or other research should support any generalized opinion. Each post to a class participant must identify who is being responded to and who is posting. Please refer to the “discussion rubric” for further information about how the discussion assignments are graded. All discussion assignments are due at 11:59p.m. on the dates indicated in this syllabus. The weekly discussion assignments are worth 10 points each.

All assignments are equally weighted toward your final grade.

ADA accommodations statement: “ Students with physical or learning disabilities who may require accommodations are encouraged to contact the Counseling Office. After disclosing the nature of the disability, students are urged to discuss their needs with individual instructors. This should be done at the beginning of each semester. Instructors, in conjunction with appropriate college officials, will provide assistance and/or accommodations only to those students who have completed this process.”

Information regarding academic ethics and classroom behavior: “At Middlesex Community College we expect the highest standards of academic honesty. Academic dishonesty is prohibited in accordance with the Board of Trustees’ Proscribed Conduct Policy in Section 5.2.1 of the Board of Trustees’ Policy Manual. This policy prohibits cheating on examinations, unauthorized collaboration on assignments, unauthorized access to examinations or course materials, plagiarism, and other proscribed activities. Plagiarism is defined as the use of another’s ideas or phrases and representing those ideas as your own, either intentionally or unintentionally.”

Topic Outline/ Reading Assignments

Week of: Topic Assignment*

*All assignments include the text readings and Prof. Felton’s weekly overviews.

Jan. 21st Introduction; Overview of the Chapter 1

study of Child/Adol. Development; Discussions due 1/27

Influences on Development

Jan. 28th Theoretical issues and perspectives Chapter 2

in studying Child/Adol. Development; Discussions due 2/3

research methods

Feb. 4th Conception, Pregnancy, Prenatal Dev. Chapters 3&4

Discussions: due 2/10

Feb. 11th Birth and the Amazing Newborn Chapter 5

Discussions: due 2/17

Feb. 18th Physical Development during first 3 years Chapter 6

Exam: assigned 2/17; due 2/14. Discussions: due 2/24

(covers chapters 1-5)

Feb. 25th Cognitive&Psychosocial Dev., first 3 yrs. Chapters 7& 8

Discussions: due 3/2

Mar. 3rd Physical, Cognitive development Chapters 9&10

Early Childhood Discussions: due 3/9

Mar. 10th Psychosocial Dev.: Early Child. Chapt. 11

Discussions: due 3/16

Mar. 17th Physical/Cognitive dev: Middle Child. Chapters 12&13:

Exam: assigned 3/16; due 3/23 Discussions: due 3/23
(covers chapters 6-11)

Mar. 24th Spring Break!!!

Mar 31st Psychosocial Dev., Middle Child. Chapt. 14

Discussions: due 4/6

Apr. 7th Physical Dev.Adolescence Chapter 15

Discussions: due 4/13

Apr. 14th Cognitive Dev.: Adolescence Chap. 16: pgs.

Exam: assigned 4/13; due 4/20 Discussions: due: 4/20

(Exam covering chapters 12-15)

Apr. 21st Psychosocial Dev.:Adolescence Chap. 17: pgs. 459-468

Disc. and paper due 4/27

Apr. 28th Psychosocial Dev.: Adolescence Chap. 17: pgs. 468-485

Discussions: due 5/4

May 5th Exam assigned May 4th; due May 11th.

(Exam covering chapters 15-17.)