NEW CLASS MESSAGE 4/10 about the final paper.

Course Objectives:  The purpose of the class is to examine processes underlying adolescent behavior and development.  The overall goal of the course is to to integrate different theoretical approaches to understand how and why adolescents behave and develop they way they do. More specifically the goals are to:

1. Gain a deeper appreciation of adolescence as an unique period by exploring normal adolescent behavior and development across a range of domains and levels, including neurological, cognitive, and socio-moral development.

2. Acquire a deeper understanding between three major theoretical perspectives in adolescent development and their research approaches -- Bio-ecology (Adolescent as Juvenile) Constructivist (Adolescent as Architect), and Socio-cultural (Adolescent as Apprentice).

3. Recognize sources of theoretical and empirical integration of different perspectives to fully understand the the interactions of factors underlying adolescent behavior and development.

4. Learn to competently read, critically evaluate, systematically integrate, and professionally present psychological research.

Textbook:  There is no textbook to buy for the course, only assigned readings, all of which will be available online for you. These readings will come initially from a new Adolescent textbook (Lightfoot & Amsel, in preparation), a new edited book on adolescent development (Amsel & Smetana, in press), and the two volume Handbook of Adolescent Development (Lerner & Steinberg, 2009).

Grading: There are three forms of assessment. One Exam will be assigned.  It will be a take-home essay exam which will require an analysis and integration of material from the first 6 weeks of class.  It will be distributed on the sixth week and due on the eighth.

There will be three formal Presentations.  First, students will serve as a Discussion Leader, where they will select and lead a discussion on a topic of general interest to them. Second students will lead a Research Presentation in which they will present a set of empirical studies on one the topic for which they served as a Discussion Leader. For this presentation, students will expected to be present targeted papers and moderating a 30 minute discussion of the quality and limits of the studies. Students will be expected to find at least 3 relevant articles (in consultation with the professor) on a domain of interest in adolescent development, with an eye towards finding a complementary set of papers to allow for their integration. At the end of the semester, students will also be expected to complete a Final Presentation and Paper, in which they give a polished presentation and write up of the Research Presentation they had performed. integrating the feedback from that presentation.  On the last day of class, each student will orally present his or her  project on the topic in a 5-7 minute PowerPoint presentation.  Subsequently, they will also submit a formal write up of the analysis.  The write-up will be the final product due after end of lectures.

Finally, Informal Activities include Weekly Written Reviews of one or two required papers assigned each week. Also students' engagement in in-class and online (through Blackboard) Discussions will be monitored and graded.

Distribution of Grades
Exam............................................15%
        Essay Exam....................15%

Formal Presentations and Papers.................45%
        Discussion Leader.............10%
        Research Presentation.........10%
        Final Paper/Presentation......25%

Informal Activities.............................40%
        Weekly Written Reviews........20%
        Weekly Discussions
                    online............10%
                    in-class..........10%

Course Structure and Sequence:  The course begins with a discussion of theoretical approaches in adolescent development and its application to understanding neurological, cognitive, and social development and adolescent risk taking (weeks 1-6). The subsequent four weeks (weeks 7-11) will involve students taking more responsibility by selecting a general topic and leading class discussion on that topic.  I will work with students to identify papers in topics of interest and help them prepare to run the class. Subsequently, during weeks 10 and 11, students will identify a handful to specific research studies on their topic to present in a 20 minute informal class discussion. As each student presents relevant studies, other students in the class will be expected to help critique and integrate the material. The last two weeks of the semester will involve students completing a formal presentation (e.g., learning how to give good presentations using PowerPoint) and write up of their analyses of the research.

Course Policies: For a review of class policies, click here.  For a late contract, click here.