Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00-3:00 in Social Sciences 2, Room 203, or by appointment via Zoom (link on Canvas)

Communication: You can send me an email or drop by my office hours. I respond to emails Mondays through Fridays before

5:00pm. The expected wait time is 24 hours, excluding weekends. Office hours are a great way to get support for your learning. Make sure to stop by at least once or twice!

Course Description:

This course introduces psychological research on human development from the prenatal period through adolescence. It aims to

address two main questions: (1) How do children change their understanding of and interaction with the world and (2) How do multiple forces (e.g., biology, context) interact to shape development?

Learning Objectives:

1.   To become familiar with the key concepts, theories, and empirical research in development psychology. This will be assessed primarily by quizzes.

2.   To think and write critically about developmental research by considering race, culture, socioeconomic status, and/or gender, to promote equity and inclusion in the field of developmental psychology and its applications. This will be assessed by the

empirical thought papers and in-class assignments.

3.   To connect research-based knowledge with children’s everyday experiences. This will be assessed primarily by in-class assignments and empirical thought papers.

4.   To communicate ideas and arguments about developmental psychology in a professional way. This will be assessed by paper assignments.

Course Requirements:

All course assignments will be administered through Canvas. Checking Canvas frequently will help you succeed in this course! If you need help navigating our course Canvas site, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

Please bring a device (e.g., laptop, tablet) to class. You will complete in-class assignments or quizzes through Canvas in every class session. If you do not have access to a tablet or laptop computer, please let me know as soon as possible!

The required textbook is: Lightfoot, C., Cole, M., & Cole, S.R. (2018). The Development of Children, 8th Edition. Hardcover ISBN-10: 1319135730 ISBN-13: 978-1319135737

E-book ISBN-10: 1464178895 ISBN-13: 978-1464178894

**The library has our textbook on reserve for your use! Here is the link to the library reserve copy

Course Structure and Assessment:

There are four types of assessments in this course to help you (and Sam) track your learning:

Extra Credit: You can receive up to 2 points extra credit by participating in psychological research. See Canvas→SONA Extra Credit for instructions.

Study Recommendations:

●    Before each class session: Skim the textbook chapters

●    During each class session:

○    Participate fully in lecture by taking notes and asking questions

○   Thoughtfully complete all in-class assignments and activities

○   Stay until the end of each class session to work on your papers (Sam will be there to help you!)

●   After each class session:

○    Review any challenging content in the textbook to prepare for the next quiz

○   Spend some time working on your papers. Try to get the empirical thought paper done as soon as you can!

Late Assignment Policy: Course assignments are designed to help you engage deeply with course material and stay on track

during this fast-paced 5 week course! Late assignments will have a 10% deduction from the final grade for each day the assignment  is late. It will benefit your learning to turn in assignments on time; however, I realize that students often juggle multiple responsibilities and sometimes need flexibility with due dates. If you anticipate you will need extra time to complete an assignment due to external

circumstances, please know that you should feel comfortable reaching out to me to arrange for an alternative due date. I just ask that you communicate about this as soon as possible.

Course Participation and Attendance: The way to get the most out of this course is to attend every lecture and to actively

participate. There are many ways to participate including: being present, taking notes, contributing to class discussions, completing in-class activities, and engaging in small group work. Although attendance does not impact your overall grade per se, in-class

quizzes,  assignments, and learning activities are only administered in class. Therefore, missing a class will result in you missing the   opportunity to complete graded assignments. If an emergency, illness, or caregiving responsibilities make it difficult to attend a lecture or complete course activities, please let me know. We can work together to come up with a plan that allows you to complete all

course requirements. Each student will be allowed to drop one in-class assignment, one quiz, and one active learning activity from their final grade.

Scores to Letter Grade:

Academic Integrity:

All members of the UCSC community benefit from an environment of trust, honesty, fairness, respect, and responsibility. You are expected to present your own work and acknowledge the work of others in order to preserve the integrity of scholarship.

Academic integrity includes:

●    Following quiz rules

●    Keeping what you know about a quiz to yourself

●    Incorporating proper citation of all sources of information

●   Submitting your own original work

Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following:

●   Copying/purchasing any material from another student, or from another source, that is submitted for grading as your own

●    Using ChatGPT to complete assignments

●    Plagiarism, including use of Internet material without proper citation

●   Submitting your own work in one class that was completed for another class (self-plagiarism) without prior permission from the instructor.

Violations of the Academic Integrity policy can result in dismissal from the university and a permanent notation on a student’s transcript. For the full policy and disciplinary procedures on academic dishonesty, students and instructors should refer to the Academic Misconduct page at the Division of Undergraduate Education.

Accessibility:

UCSC is committed to creating an academic environment that supports its diverse student body. If you are a student with a disability who requires accommodations to achieve equal access in this course, please affiliate with the DRC. I encourage all students to

benefit from learning more about DRC services to contact DRC by phone at 831-459-2089 or by email at [email protected]. For

students already affiliated, make sure that you have requested Academic Access Letters. You can also request to meet privately with

me during my office hours or by appointment, as soon as possible. I would like us to discuss how we can implement your accommodations in this course to ensure your access and full engagement in this course.

Campus Resources:

UCSC provides many services to support students on campus, including Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), tutoring services, and Slug Support. For a list of these services, with links, please see the “Student Services” module on our canvas page.

TITLE IX/CARE ADVISORY

UC Santa Cruz is committed to providing a safe learning environment that is free of all forms of gender discrimination and sexual

harassment, which are explicitly prohibited under Title IX. If you have experienced any form of sexual harassment, sexual assault,     domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, know that you are not alone. The Title IX Office, the Campus Advocacy, Resources & Education (CARE) office, and Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) are all resources that you can rely on for support.

Please be aware that if you tell me about a situation involving Title IX misconduct, I am required to share this information with the

Title IX Coordinator. This reporting responsibility also applies to course TAs and tutors (as well to all UCSC employees who are not    designated as “confidential” employees, which is a special designation granted to counselors and CARE advocates). Although I have to make that notification, you will control how your case will be handled, including whether or not you wish to pursue a formal

complaint. The goal is to make sure that you are aware of the range of options available to you and that you have access to the resources you need.

Confidential resources are available throughCARE  . Confidentiality means CARE advocates will not share any information with Title  IX, the police, parents, or anyone else without explicit permission. CARE advocates are trained to support you in understanding your rights and options, accessing health and counseling services, providing academic and housing accommodations, helping with legal   protective orders, and more. You can contact CARE at (831) 502-2273 or [email protected].

In addition to CARE, these resources are available to you:                                                                                                            

If you need help figuring out what resources you or someone else might need, visit the Sexual Violence Prevention &

●   Response (SAFE) website, which provides information and resources for different situations.

You can report gender discrimination and sexual harassment and violence directly to the University’s Title IX Office by calling

Reports to law enforcement can be made to the UC Police Department, (831) 459-2231 ext. 1.

For emergencies, call 911.

Assignments

Empirical Thought Paper:

Learning objectives targeted by this assignment:

●   LO 2: To think and write critically about developmental research by considering race, culture, socioeconomic status, and/or gender, in order to promote equity and inclusion in the field of developmental psychology and its

applications.

●   LO 3: To connect research-based knowledge with children’s everyday experience.

●   LO 4: To communicate ideas and arguments about developmental psychology in a professional way.

How to Complete the Assignment:

1.  Choose an article to read and summarize

a.  Canvas→modules→empirical articles

2.  Read the article, making annotations about what you think are the most important parts of each section

3.  Summarize the article briefly, but in enough detail to give the reader a clear idea of how the study was conducted. Make sure to summarize in your own words. Use the following guidelines to help you describe the study (about 1  page double-spaced):

a.  Write one to two sentences on the research question and hypothesis, including the dependent and independent variables.

b.  Write about three sentences on the method, including information about:

i.     the participants and

ii.     what the participants did in the study

c.  Write about two sentences on the findings.

d.  Write about three sentences on the conclusions. Was the hypothesis supported? What are some of the real-world implications?

4.  Make an extension by a.) connecting the article to the lives of children or b.) by critiquing some aspect of the study. Here are some prompts to help you (choose just one of these prompts; write ½ to 1 page double-spaced).

a.  Do the results of the study align (or misalign) with observations you’ve made of children you know? Be specific.

b.  Do any aspects of the paper privilege the experiences of children from a particularly community? Does the study ignore the perspectives of children and families from underserved communities?

c.  What curiosities did this study spark for you? What would be some interesting nextsteps for the authors? d.  Do you think the methods used are appropriate to the conclusions drawn?

Observation Activity:

Learning objectives targeted by this assignment:

●   LO 3: To connect research-based knowledge with children’s everyday experience.

●   LO 4: To communicate ideas and arguments about developmental psychology in a professional way.

How to Complete the Assignment:

1.  Watch both Observation Project Videos

2.  Take notes on your observations and interpretations using the table format practiced in class (you will have two separate tables, one for each video).

3.  Make sure your notes have enough detail that the reader can fully reconstruct what happened in the video. Include interpretations that are unbiased and focus on important aspects of the observed behavior (see rubrics on Canvas for more detail).

4.  Write about the methods used to make your observations (about ½ page double-spaced). This should include:

a.  A description of the participants

b.  A description of the context/setting

c.  The procedure you used to make your observations. This should have enough detail that someone else could replicate what you did.

5.  *Extra Credit: Write at least one paragraph linking one of your observations to material learned in class. This paragraph should have the following format:

a.  Describe the observation and interpretation you made (in about two sentences).

b.  How does this observation relate to a topic studied in class?

i.     Summarize the topic from lecture or the textbook (in at least one sentence)

ii.     Write at least two sentences about how the observation either a.) illustrates the class topic, or b.) how the observation deviates in some way from the content learned in class.