EPSY 6330--Fort Bend Campus
Fall 2000 Syllabus
Dov Liberman, Karen Snead, Instructors
485 Farish Hall;
(713) 743-9826
Many of the classes you have taken in the course of your educational studies have been geared toward answering the question, "How?" This course will deal with other questions, such as: "Why?"; "How do you know?"; "What do you mean?"; and "Does that make sense?" Major ideas, concepts, and commonly held notions in education will be critically examined in light of the above questions. This examination will be undertaken by studying and contrasting some of the major developmental theories that have had an impact on psychological and educational thinking and then using these theories to examine current educational practices. It is hoped that this examination will make you more informed about the methods and frameworks used in schools and other educational settings. Who knows? It might even make you better educators.
I. Office Hours: After class or by appointment
II. Books:
1. Development psychology textbook; details will be discussed in class
2. Think!: Divergent Concepts of Theory and Practice in Educational Psychology, Liberman, D. & Gore-Laird, H., Eds.
3. Carl Jung and Other Mythologies: Freud and the Freudians,Craig, Robert P., Gore-Laird, H., Ed.
III. Course Requirements:
A. REGULAR CLASS ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY. Students who miss more than 3 class sessions (or who consistently come late to class) will be dropped from the class roll.
B. Throughout the course of the semester exercises (either from the readers or distributed by the instructors) will be assigned. All assignments on articles from Think! and from Carl Jung and Other Mythologies: Freud and the Freudians must include the original worksheet page from the book.. NO ASSIGNMENT WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT THE ORIGINAL WORKSHEET. If you need more space for your answer than is provided on the worksheet (as you OFTEN will), type your answers and staple them to the original worksheet. Assignment due dates are posted in the class schedule below. Assignments will be graded and returned to you as soon as possible.
C. There will be a take-home final examination that will be distributed the last day of class and will be due on December 4. The final examination will be integrative in nature and will encompass both assigned readings from all the texts and class discussions.
All papers will be graded for content and ideas. However, it is assumed that a student who is seeking a graduate degree is able to write clear, lucid, grammatically correct English. Students who cannot will experience great difficulty in completing course requirements satisfactorily. Papers that contain numerous errors in grammar, spelling, etc. will not be corrected. They will be returned for rewrite and will not be corrected until they are presented in articulate, comprehensible English.
Be certain to put your name on every sheet you turn in, including the original tear-out sheet from the reader. Keep a photocopy of everything you hand in. Papers do be lost. If the instructors do not have a copy of your paper, you are responsible for supplying one to us.
Departmental policy does not permit instructors to leave students' papers in a public location where others may obtain access to information or grades. Therefore, any student who wishes to have his/her last assignments and final examination returned to him/her after they are graded at the end of the semester must supply the instructors with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. It will be assumed that any student who does not supply such an envelope does not wish his/her paper returned, and these papers will be discarded.
If you fail to hand in your papers on time, it is not reasonable to expect the instructors to rearrange their schedules in order to correct your papers quickly and enter a grade when you decide to submit them. Long delays may occur in correcting late papers and removing the incomplete grades they incur.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarized papers will be handled in accordance with established university policy. The instructors reserve the right to ask a student to bring in all sources from which information was taken.
IV. Topics and Schedule
[This schedule is a general guideline and may change as a result of class discussion and student interests.]
A. PSYCHOLOGY—BACKGROUND AND THEORY--August 21,28
Introduction to course; the nature of scientific theory--fact and theory; scientific method; logic
Readings: Chapter on psychology as a science in textbook; van Ryn and Heaney article in Think! pg.14
B. WE LEARN WHAT WE ARE—THE ENVIRONMENTALIST APPROACH--Sept. 11,18 (Cognitive Development)
Reinforcement theory; Social Learning theory (Skinner Bandura, Locus of Control, etc.)
Readings: Appropriate chapter(s) in text (or distributed photocopies); Taylor article in Think! pg.99
Assignments: 1. Class handout Due Sept 18
2. Edwards article in Think! pg. 83; questions on pg. 115 Due Sept. 25
C. WE CONSTRUCT WHAT WE ARE—THE ORGANISMIC-DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH--Sept. 25, 0ct.2(Cognitive Development)
Piaget and the Piagetians
Readings: Appropriate chapter(s) in text; Piaget and Duckworth article in Think! pg.99
Assignments: 1. Kamii article in Think! pg. 121; questions on pg. 167-168 (error in book) Due Oct. 2
2. Class handout. Due Oct. 9 (Oct. 16 for students with religious obligations)
D. WE ARE BORN THE WAY WE ARE--THE NATIVIST APPROACH--Oct. 9 (Cognitive Development)
Information Processing
Readings: Appropriate chapter(s) in text; Bell article in Think! pg. 109
E. WE LEARN WHAT WE ARE—THE ENVIRONMENTALIST APPROACH)--Oct. 16 (SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT)
Social Learning theory (Bandura, Locus of Control, etc.)
F. WE ARE BORN THE WAY WE ARE--THE NATIVIST APPROACH--Oct. 16,23,30 (SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT)
Humanists (Maslow and Rogers); Freud and the Freudians
Readings: Appropriate chapter(s) in text; Rogers article in Think! pg. 68; Freud and Adler articles in Carl Jung and Other Mythologies: Freud and the Freudians
Assignments: 1. Reese article in Think! pg. 214 questions on pg. 243 Due Oct. 23
2. Section One in Carl Jung and Other Mythologies: Freud and the Freudians, question pg. 30 Due 0ct. 30
3. Erikson article in Carl Jung and Other Mythologies: Freud and the Freudians
Question B, pg. 236 Due Nov. 6
G. WE CONSTRUCT WHAT WE ARE—THE ORGANISMIC-DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH (SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT)--Nov.6,13
Moral and ego development (Kohlberg and Loevinger)
Readings: Appropriate chapter(s) in text; Gore-Laird article in Think! Pg. 227; Binfet article in Think! pg. 201
Assignment: Howard-Hamilton article in Think! pg. 189; questions on pg. 167-168 240 Due Nov.13
H. WE TEST WHAT WE ARE--THE ATHEORETICAL APPROACH--Nov. 20,27
IQ; Learning Disabilities; Standardized testing; ADD; labeling
Readings: Appropriate chapter (s) in text; Furth article in Think! pg. 287; Durica article in Think! pg. 285
Assignments: 1. Hilliard article in Think! pg. 298; questions on pg. 366 Due Nov. 20
2. Goodman and Poillion article in Think! pg.332; questions on pg .370-71 Due Nov. 27