UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES
DEPARTMENT OF INTEGRATED PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & FAMILY STUDIES PROGRAM

HDFS 005                                    HUMAN DEVELOPMENT                                 FALL 2006

3:35 - 4:50  Mon & Wed             Marsh Life Science 235                                 Code 92258


INSTRUCTOR:                                                                                    GRADUATE TEACHING FELLOW:

Lawrence G. Shelton                                                                                    Talia Glesner
Living/Learning Center C-150                                                                     Talia.Glesner@uvm.edu
656-2008                                                                                                        656-9112
Lawrence.Shelton@uvm.edu   

DESCRIPTION:

HDFS 005 is a survey of normal development from conception through death.  We will look at physical, intellectual, and interpersonal changes across the life cycle.  We will examine the major influences on development and the relationships among the several aspects of development.

TEXT:    Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., & Feldman, R. D. [2007].  Human Development,
         [10th ed.].  New York:  McGraw Hill.

REQUIREMENTS:

<>Attendance and Participation:           
    Each student is expected to attend class sessions and to participate appropriately in discussions and exercises.

<>Three examinations will be offered, at the class time, on 02 October and 30 October, and at 11:45 a.m. on 11 December.  Locations for the exams will be announced in advance.  All three examinations are required.

<>A course evaluation is to be filled out at the end of the semester.

GRADES:

Three examinations will be given, one at the end of each unit.  Each exam will include multiple choice and short essay questions covering the material of that unit and its connections to previous units.  Study questions will be provided for each unit. 
   
Grades will be based on points accumulated on the three examinations and on several optional exercises.  All three exams must be taken to pass the course.  The first two exams will include approximately 80 points each, the final 110 points.  A distribution of total scores will be constructed, and I will then assign letter grades to sections of the distribution.  

OFFICE HOURS: 

I do not post regular office hours, in recognition that we all have different schedules and value flexibility.  But I do want to meet with you.  To make an appointment with me, please e-mail me or call and speak with me or leave a clear message on my phone-mail  [I make my own appointments]. 

Talia Glesner will have office hours Monday after class, 5:00 -- 6:00 and Wednesday 2:00 – 3:15, in Living/Learning C-150.  You may consult with her during these times, or by appointment.  She also can be reached by e-mail and telephone.  E-mail is usually faster than phone-mail.

RESOURCES:

Talia and I are available to help you figure out how to learn the material of the course.  Please don't hesitate to ask us for whatever assistance you may need.  We may not be able to provide everything, but we will do what is possible.

There is a study guide for the text on reserve in Bailey/Howe Library.  It is: Skinner, P.,  [2007], Study guide for use with Human Development [10th edition]. New York:  McGraw Hill.   I have no idea whether it is useful or not, but there it is.  If you consult it, let me know what you think of it.  The call number is ZZZ 160.

Your text also comes with two useful resources:  [1] a LifeMap CD-ROM, which includes practice quizzes, web resources, video clips, and links to websites that supplement the text, and [2] an access code for the publisher’s web site, which includes additional material. Be sure to access the Web site, register, save your username and password in a safe place, and use the site to explore Human Development.  If you bought a used text without the CD or access code, you may obtain them through the McGraw-Hill Web Site, http://www.dushkin.com/.  The CD also will be available for use at the Bailey/Howe Media Resource Center, one flight down from the Reference Section.  Ask for the HDFS 5 Human Development CD.

There is a web site for the course, which includes the syllabus, outline, copies of the overheads, study questions, MP3 recordings of the lectures, and other information.  Particular attention should be paid to the pages that summarize the Main Points of the course, and the Guide to Reading the Text.  Materials will be posted on the site periodically through the semester, so you will want to bookmark it and log on regularly at  http://www.uvm.edu/~lshelton/.   If you want to print the materials, choose the printer-friendly option at the bottom of the page.

OTHER NEEDS:

If you have any special needs to support your learning or performance in this class, please let me know, so we can try to implement them.  If you need to sit up front, use a tape recorder, have other students take notes for you, or take the exams in a quiet place, please do so.  The Learning Coop in Living/Learning offers workshops on study skills and taking multiple-choice exams.  Check their schedule now at http://www.uvm.edu/~learnco/, and take advantage of their opportunities. Tutors for this course can be found through the Learning Coop as well.

REVIEW SESSIONS:  

At the end of each unit, Talia and I will conduct review sessions.  Times and places will be announced as they are scheduled.  We will not present new material in these sessions, but will answer questions and try to clear up any confusions you may have about the material.  It will be helpful if you will review the study questions, your notes, and the text before the review sessions, so you can use the time most effectively.  We will also schedule informal discussion sessions randomly through the semester; these are optional.

EXAMINATIONS: 

Each examination focuses on the material of the unit.  The second and third exams, however, will include questions addressing the connections between the domains.  I will not repeat basic questions about concepts from the previous units, but will ask new questions that require you to understand how developments in each domain are related.  I try not to ask trick questions, but rather to focus on understanding and application of the material.  The essay questions will
require interpretation and application of the material, not simple repetition.  It will be helpful
if you pay close attention to the actual wording of the question, determine what I am really asking, and address the specific question, using the material you have learned.  Students sometimes tend to answer the question they think I will ask, rather than the one I do ask.  It is also helpful to plan your answers and to write carefully.  Space and time are limited, and I will expect reasonably elaborated answers.
                       
It will be clearer to you what I expect on exams after the first one.  You're all in the same boat, and there are three exams, so don't allow your anxiety to overwhelm you.  I will provide a distribution of the scores after each exam, so you will know how you are doing relative to others in the class.  I will also tell you what approximate grades I would assign to the distribution of scores.  You will not receive a specific letter grade on each exam, however, since I assign specific letter grades only to the accumulated total of scores at the end of the course.  You may rest assured that if you attend class, read the text, and study for the exams, you will pass the course.  If you don't attend, read and study, you should have no expectation of doing well, anyway, so worrying won't help.  There is never a time limit on my exams; you can have as much time as you need.  If you must miss an exam for any reasonable cause, don't fret.  Just let us know, and we will schedule a make-up exam.

Please note that the final exam for HDFS 005 is at 11:45 a.m. on Monday, December 11.  The final examination is required.  Be sure to plan your end of semester travel accordingly.  You will be finished with HDFS 5 some time after 3 p.m. on Monday, December 11, not before.  So if you or your parents are scheduling flights for you, they should not depart before 6 p.m. that day.  The exam schedule is established by the Registrar, and cannot be changed.  We will not give the exam earlier than Monday, December 11.
 
In-Class Writing Exercises:

You may acquire up to 25 additional points to apply to your total by completing written exercises in class.  These will be based on reading and lecture material.  They will be unannounced, there will be no make-up opportunity, and you must be present to participate.  Typically, points earned on the writing exercises make the difference of a whole grade in the course:  a B rather than a C, for example.  So regular class attendance is wise.

Optional Out-of-Class Exercises:

We will make available two or three optional writing exercises on which you may accumulate a few additional points.  Instructions for these will be given at the time they are assigned.


Extra Credit Opportunities:

We do not allow extra credit opportunities beyond the exams and exercises that are available to all students.  Focus on those, keep up, attend class, and you will have the same opportunities to do well in the course that every other student has.

Special Note about your e-mail:  When I e-mail the class, which I will do occasionally, I will use the Registrar’s list of enrolled students.  Messages sent by faculty go automatically to your uvm.edu address.  You are responsible for all messages sent to this address, so be sure to check it regularly.  If you prefer to use another e-mail address, you must forward your uvm.edu address to the preferred one.  You may do that through the UVM CIT web site.  If you use a Yahoo or AOL account, be sure to keep your inbox cleared out so messages sent to you will not be rejected.
 
ENGAGING THE COURSE:  Think, Ask Questions, Take Notes, and Study

I encourage active engagement with the material of this course, and hope you will apply it to your own lives.  I invite active participation in class sessions, and will appreciate if you will ask questions any time you are not clear about any aspect of my lecture.   The class is very large, and it will be impossible for me to learn names and recognize each student, but please try to resist being intimidated by the size or feeling anonymous and unimportant.

I invite you to submit questions about the text, previous lectures, and applications of the material to me in writing at the beginning or end of each class, or by e-mail.  Having your questions written helps me organize my thoughts and respond to you more helpfully.  I will often respond at length to your questions.  So don't tune out when another student asks a question--my response may be the lecture material for the day.

If you are unsure whether your question or observation may be of interest to the rest of the class, please feel free to consult me before or after class, or at any other mutually agreeable time.                

Many of you have brand new notebooks in which to take notes during class.  This is a good practice. You might find it helpful to consider using your notebook as a journal for the course.  To do this, you might divide the pages in half [vertically], take notes in one column, and then as you study your notes, use the other column to fill in details, ask questions, record personal observations about the material, and so forth.  Some students find it helpful to take lecture notes on one side of each page, and then use the back of the facing page to record reactions, notes, examples from the text, etc.

Since most of the overheads are available on the Web site, it is not necessary to try to copy all of them as I talk about them.  I won’t always post overheads before class, but when I do, so students find it helpful to print them before class and make notes directly on them as we discuss them in class.

I urge you to form a small group with other students with whom you can study, share notes, and prepare for exams.  If you don't know other students, and are a bit unsure about how to go about forming a group, Talia will be pleased to help.  Speak to her, or e-mail her, and give her your name, telephone, e-mail address, and major; she will try to match you up with other students. 

Your study group could create an e-mail list to use to communicate with each other.  Your group could then formulate questions about material that you need help understanding, e-mail the questions to Talia or me, and we could respond simultaneously to everyone in your group. 

If you have to miss class, it helps to have a study group or a couple of other classmates lined up to take extra-good notes to go over with you.  Audio recordings of the lectures will be posted on the web site so you can listen while you review notes.

There is a lot of material in this course, and the semester flies by.  Start now and avoid the rush at the end.  We will be happy to hear any ideas you have that will help us make this course helpful to you.  Talia and I look forward to a wonderful experience with you.

 
OBJECTIVES, etc.:                    

The purpose of this course is to examine ways of understanding individual development.  Human development is complex and multifaceted.  We will attempt to focus primarily on what is universal, while understanding that there are many sources of variation among people.  We will attempt to understand the processes of development, to understand how and why people develop.  We will consider the major domains of human existence:  physical, cognitive, personal, and social.  We will examine

    --the major features, stages, and transitions in each domain;
    --the major influences on development in each domain;                                                                               
    --the possible interrelationships of the domains, and explore the relationships of transitions in each domain to developments in the others.

The major theoretical perspectives employed in this course are constructivist and transactional.  I will attempt to convince you that

    -- we are active participants in our own lives,
    -- we attempt to make sense of our experiences,
    -- we construct our understandings using the mental processes available to us, and these mental processes change over the course of development,
    -- we attempt to make those understandings consistent with our previous understanding,
    -- experiences with other people are central to our development,
    -- experiences with us change the people we relate to in our lives, and
    -- what we can experience depends on where we are in time and place.

 
HDFS 005                                    Schedule                                   FALL 2006

DATE            TOPIC                                        TEXT READING --pages   

Aug     28        Introduction & Overview            1 - 57    [Prologue & Chapters 1 & 2]

        Biological Development   Website: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/miracle

        30            Prenatal                                         58 - 105          [Chapter 3]
Sept 06       
        11            Infant & Toddler                            106 - 149    [Chapter 4]
        13
        18            Child                                              232 - 248, 312 - 324
        20            Adolescent                                    392 - 415
        25            Adult                                             468 - 487, 544 - 571
        27            Elder                                            622 - 653

        Review Sessions—TBA                        Review Chapter summaries & key terms

Oct   02    EXAMINATION ON BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT 

        Cognitive Development    Review Pp. 29 - 43

        04            Infant & Toddler                        150 - 189    [Chapter 5]
        09
        11            Child                                            248 - 275
        16                                                                324 - 353
        18            Adolescent                                  416 – 433
        23            Adult                                          487 - 507, 571 - 583
        25            Elder                                            653 - 667     

        Review Sessions—TBA                        Review Chapter summaries & key terms

         30    EXAMINATION ON COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT       

        Personal & Social Development   Review Pp. 29 - 43

Nov  01            Infant & Toddler                        190 - 231       [Chapter 6]
        06   
        08            Child                                            276 - 311          [Chapter 8]
        13                                                                354 - 390          [Chapter 10]
        15            Adolescent                                    434 - 467         [Chapter 12]
        27   
        29            Adult                                            508 - 542         [Chapter 14]
                                                                            585 - 621          [Chapter 16]       
Dec  04            Elder                                            668 - 738         [Chapters 18 & 19]   
        06            Wrap-up & Review                Review Chapter summaries & key terms

        Review Sessions—TBA

Dec   11    FINAL EXAMINATION —11:45 a.m. -- Monday
 
HDFS 005                                 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT                                     FALL 2006

Where are we going?

Lives are constructed by biological organisms making sense of their experiences in a very social context.

We will look at biological development across the life span:

Orderly sequence, genetically directed
Both structure and function develop, and transact with each other
From undifferentiated state to differentiated to integrated
Effects of experience, practice, exercise, use
Adaptation to opportunities and demands in context
Major transitions
Effects of disuse, abuse

We will examine cognitive development across the lifespan:

Construction of knowledge from experience
Based on biological structures and functions
Understanding proceeds from undifferentiated state to differentiated to integrated
Effects of experience, practice, exercise, use
Adaptation to opportunities and demands in context
Individual differences in how we think
Context includes the biological “apparatus” and “container” --as disease or aging affects the brain and sensory systems, intellectual performance suffers.

We will explore personality and social development across the lifespan:

A biological organism transacting with other people
A thinking organism transacting with other people, making sense out of experience
Relationships proceed from very specific but undifferentiated to differentiated to integrated.
Biology and cognition affect the transactions we have with others, including their reactions to us.
Effects of experience, practice, exercise, and use of interpersonal skills
Adaptation to opportunities and demands in context
Constructing a sense of identity and a place for oneself in one's social context

As you encounter a person, ask:

How are the biological, cognitive, personal, and social intertwined to form this specific person?
What transactions/experiences have been given meaning by this person, to construct how this person views, reacts to, and relates to you and the rest of the world?
What social and historical contexts have determined the opportunities and demands to which this person has adapted?
What challenges are current, and what challenges lie ahead for this person?
What can you do to help this person have useful transactions and construct a life that makes sense?


 
HDFS 005                                  Biological Development                       Study Questions

Focus Questions:

1.  Where did you come from and what did you bring with you?
2.  What do genes do and how do they do it?
3.  How did you get from a single cell of just one specific type [the zygote] to the billions and billions of cells of so many different types that you are now?
4.  Why do you have a belly button and what is it connected to?
5.  How did you know what to do when you were born?
6.  How did you learn to walk?
7.  How are boys and girls different and when do the differences become important?
8.  When are you at your physical peak and what happens after that?
9.  How can you manage to live a long and healthy life?
10.  Why does menopause happen?
11.  When and why will you die?

Study Questions:

1.    What changes are included in biological development?
2.    What is the role of genes in human development?
3.    How do heredity and experience relate to each other in the course of development?
4.    What factors influence a person's biological development?
5.    Can biological development be speeded up or slowed down?
6.    How does the environment of the mother's body affect one's development before birth?
7.    What adaptations do we have to make at birth?
8.    Define, explain, and illustrate the process of differentiation.
9.    Define, explain, and illustrate the process of integration.
10.    What factors determine a person's health and fitness?
11.    What is the role of exercise in physical development?
12.    Explain the process of developing motor coordination.
13.    How are changes in the brain related to motor learning?
14.    Define and describe puberty.
15.    How are the two sexes different, biologically? 
16.    When does biological development stop?
17.    What is aging?  Why does it occur?  Can it be delayed?
18.    How long can people live?  Why?
19.    When does exercise stop benefiting a person?
20.    What can one do to ensure the best possible health in later adulthood?
21.    Define and explain menopause. 
22.    Do men experience menopause?
23.    What is death?  Why do people die?
24.    Why do people live longer today than in previous generations?
25.    Can you make a person taller than her genetic potential would allow? 
26.    Can you speed up motor development?  How?
27.    What motor skills are required to play soccer well?
28.    Is there any advantage to being a fast or early developer?
 
HDFS 005                        Cognitive Development                        Study Questions

Focus Questions:

1.    How do we think?
2.    How do we acquire knowledge and understanding?
3.    How do we change our knowledge and understanding?
4.    How does thinking change across the life span?
5.    How does the process of thinking change?    Process = How
6.    How does the content of thinking change?    Content = What
7.    Is there a relationship between content and process?
8.    Do we use different processes to think about different content?
9.    What are the important differences among us?
10.    How do biological changes and cognitive changes relate to each other?

Study Questions:

1.    What develops, in intellectual development?
2.    How do the concepts of differentiation and integration apply to intellectual development?
3.    How do the concepts of differentiation and integration apply to language development?
4.    What is the relationship between language and thought?
5.    How are biological and cognitive development similar?  Different?  Related?
6.    What is the role of genetics in intellectual development?
7.    What is the role of the environment in intellectual development?
8.    What do IQ tests measure?
9.    How did you learn to talk?
10.    What does using language do for a child?
11.    What does the child's use of language do to the parent-child relationship?
12.    What is conservation? 
13.    What does not being able to conserve do to a child's performance or behavior?
14.    How are concrete and formal operational thinking different?
15.    How does use of formal operational reasoning change adolescents' real, everyday lives?
16.    Describe the major changes in intellectual performance in middle adulthood.
17.    How are crystallized and fluid intelligence different?
18.    When and why and for whom does intellectual performance decline in later adulthood?
19.    How are health and intellectual performance related?
20.    How does intelligence develop, according to Piaget?
21.    What is the relationship between work and intellectual development?
22.    Describe the stages of cognitive development according to K. W. Schaie.
23.    What is Robert Sternberg's view of intelligence?
24.    Are there sex differences in intelligence?  What?  When?  Why?
25.    What is the relationship of intellectual development to moral development?
26.    What is the role of information processing in intellectual development?
27.    What does Piaget mean by "sensori-motor intelligence?"
28.    What is a constructivist view of intellectual development?
29.    How are stages related to each other in Piaget's theory of development?
30.    Can you make a person smarter than her genetic potential would allow?
31.    Can you speed up intellectual development?  How?
32.    What cognitive skills are required to play soccer well?
33.    Do we have more than one intelligence?
 

HDFS 005                Psychosocial Development               Study Questions

Focus Questions:

1.    What are emotions, where do they come from, and how do they develop?
2.    What is temperament?
3.    How do we become emotionally connected to other people?
4.    What differences do parents make in a person’s development?
5.    How do peer relationships change across the life span?
6.    How does physical development affect psychosocial development?
7.    How does cognitive development affect psychosocial development?
8.    How does psychosocial development affect physical development?   Cognitive development?
9.    What is “maturity” and how does it develop?
10.    How do family relationships change across the life span, and how do they affect development?
11.    How does the work one does affect and reflect development?
12.    How do we construct a life?

Study Questions:

1.    What is included in psychosocial development?
2.    What are the types of attachment?
3.    What is the relation between parenting and attachment type?
4.    What are the major types of parenting styles and how are they related to children's behavior     and development?
5.    What aspects of peer relationships are important at different points of the life cycle?
6.    What is the relationship between how one is parented and how one parents?  Partners?
7.    What are the effects of peers on one's development?
8.    How does Sullivan describe interpersonal relationships?
9.    What is Erikson trying to explain?
10.    What is the relationship of one stage to the next in Erikson's theory?
11.    What important changes take place, and why, in the developmental descriptions provided by Levinson, Gilligan, Kohlberg, Vaillant, Helson?
12.    What is death?  What is its importance to people?
13.    How do people cope with bereavement at different ages?
14.    What is the "normative-crisis" model?
15.    What is intimacy?
16.    What does parenting do to parents?
17.    What is a sense of identity?  How does a person get one?
18.    How does a constructivist theory approach interpersonal development?
19.    How are males and females different?  Why?
20.    How are biological development and personal/social development related?
21.    What is the role of genetics in personal/social development?
22.    What are the characteristics of a good relationship?
23.    Can you make a person more sociable than her genetic potential would allow?
24.    Can you make a person more emotionally competent than her genetic potential would allow?
25.    How did you learn to love?
26.    How did you learn to get along with other people?
27.    What interpersonal skills are needed to play soccer well?

 
HDFS 005                         Frequently Asked Questions                      Fall 2006
and Our Answers

Q.    What is the grading scale?

A.    The grades are based on total points earned, not the percentage of possible points.  All of the points you earn (from the exams and writing exercises) will be totaled, and a distribution of the entire class will be created.  Then grades will be assigned.  Therefore, the more points you earn, the better off you are.

Q.    If I’m not present for a writing exercise, does that mean I earn a zero?

A.    The writing exercises are an opportunity to earn more points.  You do not receive a zero if you are not present for the exercise, but your classmates are earning points that you are not earning.  Therefore, it is advisable that you be present in class so that you not miss these opportunities.  [Straight answer:  Yes, you earn a zero, or no points.]

Q.  Can I make up a writing exercise if I miss class and have a good excuse?

A.  No.

Q.    Are the questions on the exam based on the text or material from the lectures?

A.    Anything that is covered in the text or the lecture is fair game for the exam.  Do not assume that because it is not covered in class that it is not important, and do not assume that all of the lecture material is in the text.  It is not.  Both lecture and text weigh heavily in the exams. 

Q.  What is the best way to study for this course?

A.  As you read the text, try to explain the material to yourself, in your own words.  Make notes in the margins about anything you don’t understand, and about connections of the material to other ideas in the book or lectures.  Talk about it with other students.  If you don’t understand something, ask us to explain it.  Bring questions to the review sessions.  It is also important to be present in class and study your notes.  Remember that all of the slides with text on them are on the website, so you don’t have to copy them down in class.  Review your notes with other students, and ask about anything you have different understanding of.  Study the pages on the web site, too.  The Main Points of the course are on the web site, along with a reading guide for the text.  Important questions and other material are added to the web site regularly, so be sure to keep up with what is there and be sure you understand it.

Q.    What is the best way to prepare for an exam?

A.    We have several suggestions.  1. Keep up with the readings.  The more material you can absorb from the text, the better off you will be.  It probably will not help to try to “cram” the readings in all at once.  You will be better off if you skim and absorb all that you can. 2.  Attend and pay attention to every lecture.  3.  Participate in a study group. Study groups can be excellent aids for exam preparation.  Let us know if we can help you form a group.  4.  Go to the review sessions.  5.  Eat well, exercise, and get a good night’s sleep, especially the night before the exam.       
   
Q.  Are the exams cumulative?

A.  All of the material from the first exam will be from the first unit.  The second exam will focus on the second unit, but there may be questions that ask you to APPLY the material from the second unit to the first unit.  The same applies to the third exam.  In other words, the exams will repeat no questions from the previous exams, and they will ask no questions that apply ONLY to the previous units, but they will ask you to think about how the previous information relates to the new information. 

Q.  What do I do if I’m feeling overwhelmed in this course?

A.  It can be easy to feel lost in a large lecture course, but we hope that you will come to us early with any questions or concerns.  Please contact either of us by e-mail or phone, or drop by during Talia’s office hours.  We’re here to help, and we are fairly certain that we can address your concerns.  Don’t wait; come to us as soon as you feel lost.
 
Q.  Why can’t I find answers to the study questions in the text?

A.  The study questions are designed to draw your attention to specific concepts in the text and lectures.  Some of them don’t have simple answers, and some of them won’t be addressed in either the text or the lectures.  But thinking about them and trying to develop answers will help you put the material together usefully.  The study questions are often a focus in discussion and review sessions.

Q.  Where do you get the study questions?

A.  The study questions have been accumulated over many years, and are based on questions from students, class discussion, and Larry’s strange mind.  We welcome contributions of additional study questions.  If you think of one that might be useful to other students, please write it down and send it to:  Lawrence Shelton, at HDFS, Living/Learning C-150 or <Lawrence.Shelton@uvm.edu>.