BCS 172: Syllabus

Spring 2012

Time & Location

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 9:40 - 10:55 AM, Dewey 1-101

Personnel

Patricia (Patty) Reeder (Instructor)
Office: Meliora 322
Phone: 275-1812 (use email if possible)
E-mail:
Office Hours: Mon/Thurs, 3-4pm in Meliora 323A and by appointment

Katie Bankieris (TA)
Office: Meliora 414
E-mail:
Office Hours: Mon, 10:30am-12pm in Meliora 414

Alyssa Ibarra (TA)
Office: Meliora 407
Email:
Office Hours: Wed, 10-11:30am in Meliora 363

Readings

Required textbook:
Siegler, R.S. & Alibali, M.W. (2005). Children's Thinking (4th edition). Prentice Hall.

Careful: we are not using the text by Bjorklund with the same title! The textbook is also available as an eTextbook subscription for 180 days, from http://www.coursesmart.com. Required readings will be a combination of textbook chapters and journal articles posted to Blackboard.

Blackboard:
Much of what we will do this semester will be connected to Blackboard. Lectures, assignments, required readings, the course blog, the discussion forum, your grades, and any in-class announcements will be posted to Blackboard. As such, I expect you to check the website at least once before each class in order to view important announcements and stay up-to-date with the class.

Course Goals

Our goal for this course is to introduce you to the excitement of studying development, both human and non-human. We will discuss the contributions of nature vs. nurture, theories of cognitive development, and the experimental methodologies used to study cognitive development. We also want to train you to be a wise consumer of empirical data on development, whether those data appear in a scholarly journal or in the popular media. Some of you will go on to take more advanced courses in development, while others may simply wish to learn about the fundamentals. Regardless, you should acquire the analytical tools and a healthy dose of skepticism required to objectively evaluate findings on development.

Course Requirements

This class will be structured as a combination of lectures and in-class discussions. Attendance is highly recommended. However, we ask that you respect the learning environment by focusing on the course material while in class. There are thousands of studies in the cognitive psychology literature showing that when people attend to a secondary task, it detracts from their performance on a primary task. So please do not waste your time in class by multitasking with the internet, texting, farming your Farmville farm, reading the newspaper, etc.

Exams (worth 75%):
Each exam will be focused on the material from the most recent third of the course, but we reserve the right to ask questions that call on information from earlier portions of the course. Thus, the exams are technically "cumulative." Each exam contains a combination of multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and short essay questions. Questions will be based on readings, lectures, in-class videos, the class blog, and class assignments.

Make-up exams will be entirely essay-based. Only those students who have a documented University-sanctioned excuse will be granted the opportunity to take a make-up exam.

Research Project (worth 15%):
Each student will do a small research project, chosen from a set of four. The goal of the project is to give you the experience of collecting data from a young child and evaluating how these data fit with existing data and theories in the literature. The project will require you to observe a young child using a packet of instructions that will be handed out in February. Both the raw data that you collect and a 3-page summary and evaluation of your findings are due on April 19th. No more than two students may collect and report on the same data from a particular child. Although the data will be the same, the write-up must be completed independently.

Blackboard Quizzes (worth 5%):
Blackboard quizzes (BQs) are a tool to help you determine if you've understood the readings. They also help us to know if there are aspects of the readings that are particularly unclear for the class, so that we can go over them in class. BQs are to be completed on Blackboard no later than 9:00am on the date specified. Quizzes will become unavailable after this time.

Critical Responses (worth 5%):
Critical responses (CRs) are thought experiments meant to get you thinking about cognitive development outside of class. Each critical response should be no more than 1 page typed, and should be submitted via Blackboard.

Readings:
You are to have done the assigned reading prior to the class for which it is listed. This will allow us to use class time for discussion of the material and for supplementary information above and beyond that in the text. Although lectures and discussion follow the topics in the books, they will expand on the information in the text.

Grading:
Exam #1: Feb 21 → 25%
Exam #2: April 3 → 25%
Exam #3: May 10 → 25%
Research project: April 19 → 15%
Blackboard Quizzes: see schedule for due dates: → 5%
Critical Responses: see schedule for due dates: → 5%

Frequent and substantive participation in-class, on the course blog, or on the discussion forum may count for a small amount of extra credit, particularly if you are straddling two grades.

Academic Honesty

You are expected to uphold the highest standards of academic honesty. Bottom line: don't cheat; don't plagiarize. Cases of suspected misconduct will not be evaluated directly by me, but will be immediately referred to the College Board on Academic Honesty. I take this policy VERY seriously. If you are unsure of what the policy is for a particular assignment, please just ask us. The University of Rochester's policy on academic honesty is described in detail at: http://www.rochester.edu/College/honesty/

Learning Assistance

Students who desire assistance on how to take notes, study for exams, or write clearly should contact the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Lattimore 107 (275-9049). More details can be found at: http://www.rochester.edu/college/cetl/

Instructor Evaluation

I want this to be the best possible learning environment for all of you, and so I encourage you to comment at any time about how the class is going, what you would like to see more or less of, or anything else that would make this a more instructive environment for you. To this end, I will post anonymous feedback surveys on Blackboard throughout the semester and I encourage you to participate in them.

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