ChAD 163-02: Critical Issues in Adolescent Development

Monday & Wednesday, 9:00-10:15

Spring 2008

 

Professor: Moin Syed, MA                                         Email: msyed@ucsc.edu         

Office: SH 333                                                            Web: http://people.ucsc.edu/~msyed   

Office hours: Mon 8:00-9:00am & Wed 12:00-1:00pm

                                                                                             

Required Texts

Steinberg, L. (2008). Adolescence. (8th Edition) New York: McGraw-Hill

            (see mhme.com/steinberg8 for student supplements)

Arnett, J.J. (Ed.). (2002). Readings on adolescence and emerging adulthood.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

 

Other Requirements

Some information will be available through the class website only (see URL above). It is the student’s responsibility to check the website frequently for updates and announcements. Additionally, all handouts given in class will be posted on the site.

 

Mission of the College of Education

The mission of the College of Education at San Jose State University is to prepare professional educators for service in a diverse, technologically complex democracy. In support of the mission, the faculty are committed to the preparation of professionals who will: make decisions affecting educational policy and practice from a reflective perspective; create educational contexts which enable all students to learn and achieve; accept responsibility for the improvement of the human condition; conduct and apply research on teaching and learning; model teaching excellence by demonstrating subject matter competence and sound pedagogical principles; promote public education as an institution necessary to democracy; take part in the cultural and intellectual life of the community. 

 

Mission of the Department of Child and Adolescent Development

The mission of the Child and Adolescent Development program is to develop educated persons: intelligent, well-informed, responsible life-long learners who take an active interest in the world around them. The goal is to prepare individuals who have a command of various theories and milestones of human development; an appreciation of the influences of parents, peers, teachers, social institutions, and other socializing agents on all domains of development throughout childhood and adolescence; an appreciation of the special considerations relevant to cultural, ethnic, social class, and gender diversity; an awareness of the effects of different child-rearing practices or conditions on the fulfillment of developmental promise (e.g., parenting styles, day care, divorce, child abuse); an understanding of individual differences (e.g., learning styles, abilities, handicaps) and how to accommodate them; and a sensitivity to the commonality and diversity in people of all ages.

 

Course Objectives:

This course is designed to provide students with an extensive overview of adolescent development, with an emphasis on behavioral and psychological influences. Through discussion of theories, research methods, and empirical findings, we will examine important changes in adolescents’ physical, cognitive, emotional, and social characteristics, as well as abilities and needs. Additionally, we explore some of the myths and misconceptions associated with this stage of development. The social/environmental contexts (e.g., family, peers, school, workplace, culture) of adolescent development also will be emphasized. Understanding adolescent development increases our ability to effectively work with our diverse population of youth in a variety of settings. 

 

Academic Honesty: Cheating and Plagiarism

Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University, and the University Academic Integrity Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty are required to report all infractions to the office of Judicial Affairs. The policy on academic integrity can be found at: www.sa/sjsu.edu/judicial_affairs.

 

Academic dishonesty defrauds all those who depend upon the integrity of the University, its courses, and its degrees – that includes students and potential employers. The Department of Child and Adolescent Development takes the issue of cheating and plagiarism seriously. All written assignments must be typed (double spaced) and submitted to turnitin.com unless otherwise noted. It also is your responsibility to make sure that your submission to Turnitin.com was accepted and processed. The penalty for failing to submit assignments to Turnitin.com is the same as for failing to submit assignments in class (see late policy below).

 

The class ID# is 2151419 and your class password is Teenagers

 

Hard copies of written assignment must also be submitted in class on their due date.

 

Plagiarism/Cheating will not be accepted in any assignments, papers, or exams! See the Schedule of Classes or the University Catalog for further information about the university policy on academic dishonesty. Any papers/exams/assignments that include minor plagiarism ("forgetting" to put in a quote, failing to cite a reference in text) will be given an F, and there will be NO possibility of resubmitting the paper/exam/assignment for further grading. Any student handing in a paper with extensive plagiarism or handing in someone else's paper from the current or a previous semester will receive a zero and will be referred to the administration. A second incident, no matter how minor will result in an F in the class and the student will referred to the administration for disciplinary action. I will not accept the response that you did not know or realize what you were doing. 

 

DEFINITIONS OF CHEATING: the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for academic work through the use of any dishonest, deceptive, or fraudulent means. Cheating includes but is not limited to:  Copying, in part or in whole, from another’s test or other evaluation instrument; Submitting work previously graded in another course unless this has been approved by the course instructor or by departmental policy. Submitting work simultaneously presented in two courses, unless this has been approved by both course instructors or by the department policies of both departments. Any other act committed by a student in the course of his or her academic work which defrauds or misrepresents, including aiding or abetting in any of the actions defined above.

 

DEFINITIONS OF PLAGIARISM: the act of representing the work of another as one's own (without giving appropriate credit) regardless of how that work was obtained, and submitting it to fulfill academic requirements. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to: The act of incorporating the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs, or parts thereof, or the specific substances of another’s work, without giving appropriate credit, and representing the product as one's own work; and representing another’s scholarly works as one's own.  Information about plagiarism can be obtained at www.sjlibrary.org.  (See the plagiarism tutorial for assistance.)

 

Americans With Disabilities Act

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible or see me during office hours. Presidential Directive 97-03 requires that all students with disabilities register with DRC to establish a record of their disability. Students should contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC). ADM 110; 408-924-6000 (voice) or 408-924-5990 (TDD). You may access their policies and services via the internet at www.drc.sjsu.edu/policies/default.htm. 

 

Late policy:

All papers must be completed on time and submitted in class and to turnitin.com. Any paper not turned in on time will be penalized one full letter grade. Any requirements not handed in by the last day of class will result in zero points. All papers must be handed to me personally, unless other arrangements are made in advance. Please note that papers left with the department secretary, slipped under my office door, faxed, or e-mailed do not count as being turned in on time and will be subject to a late penalty.

 

If you wish to discuss your grade on any class assignment, you must contact me no later than

one week after the graded assignment was returned.

 

Exams

There will be three exams: two midterms and a non-cumulative final. The exams will consist of 40 multiple choice questions and 10 short answer questions and will cover material from lecture and the text, as well as any activities, videos, or supplemental readings. Your lowest of the two midterm grades will not be counted towards your final grade in the class. Accordingly, there will be absolutely no make-ups allowed for the midterm. If you miss a midterm, for whatever reason, it will count as your dropped score. You must take the final exam, and thus it cannot be your dropped score.

 

Daily ‘Quiz’

At the start of each class period, I will ask a brief, short-answer question about the previous week’s lecture. The purpose of this quiz is for me to gauge your understanding of the big picture. Full credit will be issued as long as you demonstrate some familiarity with the topic, but you must be in class and on time to complete it. In other words: No make-ups for the daily quiz. This includes coming in to class after we have already completed it. There will 25 total daily quizzes (none on exam days), of which you can have a free pass on 3.

 

Short Papers

To supplement classroom learning you will be required to write two short papers (3 double-spaced pages each) on topics pertaining to adolescence. The first paper will be due Monday, Feb 11th and the second paper will be due Monday, March 10th. More details will be given in class and will be available on the class web site.

 

Term Paper

The course requires a 7- to 8-page (double-spaced) term paper. This paper will cover some aspect of adolescent development in-depth (the exact topic is up to you). In addition, you will need to show how your topic is affected by or affects the four domains of development. For example, if you select autonomy as your topic, you will review major research findings about adolescent autonomy and then you will show how it relates to physical development (e.g., puberty), cognitive development (e.g., abstract thinking), social development (e.g., relationships with parents), and emotional development (e.g., self-esteem). You will present current scientific empirical research to describe what we know about your topic. The term paper is due on Monday May 5th. More information will be given in class Monday February 25th.

 

To help you write the paper, you will submit a brief typed description (one paragraph) of your topic and at least 8 references (two for each domain of development) in APA style. You will need to discuss how you will relate your topic to the domains of development and that should be reflected in your references. You must save the graded (returned) paper preparation assignment and attach it to your final paper.  This proposal will be due Wednesday March, 19th.

 

Attendance

The best way to do well in the course is to show up every day, so please come to class! If you do miss class, you are responsible for getting the notes from another student, as I do not provide notes to students.

 

Email Policy

Email is the best way to contact me. My email policy is that I guarantee I will respond to your message within 24 hours of receipt. If I have not returned your email within 24 hours it means that I did not receive it, so I would encourage you to resend your message. This policy also means that if you absolutely need to ask me a question, you would be advised to email me at least 24 hours before you need my response (e.g., don’t email me a question at 11:30pm about an exam the next morning).

 

Extra Credit

Students may receive extra credit for participating in a research study that was approved by the instructor. If there is a lack of opportunities, or if a student does not wish to participate in research, an alternate opportunity will be provided (e.g., journal article review). The maximum extra credit available is 5 points. No exceptions.

 

Grading                             Points            Percent                                    

Highest Midterm                 100              (25%)                    93-100%   A                    77-79%    C+

Final Exam                         100              (25%)                    90-92%     A-                  73-76%    C

Daily Quizzes (25)                50           (12.5%)                    87-89%     B+                  70-72%    C-

Short Papers (2)                   50           (12.5%)                    83-86%     B                    60-69%    D

Term Paper                        100              (25%)                    80-82%     B-                   00-59%    F

Total                                  400            (100%)                   

 

 

 

 

 

Course Schedule:

 

Date                                          Topic                                                              Chapters

 

Wed Jan 23           Introduction and Class Organization                               

 

Mon Jan 28           Welcome to Adolescence – What is it?                      Steinberg Intro pp. 3-7

                                                                                                            Arnett readings 1.2, 1.3

 

Wed Jan 30           Methods and Theories                                               Steinberg Intro pp. 8-20

 

Mon Feb 4             Methods and Theories

 

Wed Feb 6            Biology                                                                     Steinberg Chp 1 pp. 23-49

                                                                                                            Arnett reading 2.1

 

Mon Feb 11           Biology

                             Paper 1 Due

 

Wed Feb 13           Cultural Beliefs                                                         Steinberg Chp 3, 9

                                                                                                            Arnett readings 4.1, 4.2

 

Mon Feb 18           Cultural Beliefs

 

Wed Feb 20           Exam 1

 

Mon Feb 25           Discuss Term Paper

 

Wed Feb 27           Cognition                                                                  Steinberg Chp 2

 

Mon Mar 3            Intelligence & Achievement                                      Steinberg Chp 12

 

Wed Mar 5            ***Class Cancelled*** Go to Library to find articles for Term Paper

 

Mon Mar 10          Language                                                                 Arnett reading 3.1

                             Paper 2 Due                                                          

                                                                                                           

 

Wed Mar 12          Gender                                                                     Steinberg Chp 8 pp. 297-299

                                                                                                            Arnett readings 5.1, 5.2

 

Mon Mar 17          Gender                                                                    

                                                                                                           

 

Wed Mar 19          Identity                                                                     Steinberg Chp 8

                             Term Paper Proposal Due                                     Arnett readings 6.2

 

Mon Mar 24          ***Spring Break***                                                 

 

Wed Mar 26          ***Spring Break***

 

Mon Mar 31          ***Cesar Chavez Day***                                        

 

Wed Apr 2            Identity & Personality                                               Arnett reading 6.1

 

Mon Apr 7            Exam 2

 

Wed Apr 9            Family Relationships                                                  Steinberg Chp 4

                                                                                                            Arnett reading 7.1

 

Mon Apr 14           Family Relationships

 

Wed Apr 16          Friends & Peers                                                       Steinberg Chp 5

                                                                                                            Arnett reading 8.2

 

Mon Apr 21           Schools                                                                    Steinberg Chp 6

                                                                                                            Arnett readings 10.1, 10.2

 

Wed Apr 23          Schools

 

Mon Apr 28           Dating & Intimacy                                                    Steinberg Chp 10

                                                                                                            Steinberg Chp 11 pp. 376-386

 

Wed Apr 30          Work, Leisure, & Media                                            Steinberg Chp 7

                                                                                                            Arnett reading 11.2

 

Mon May 5           Media

                             Term Paper Due

 

Wed May 7           Problems                                                                  Steinberg Chp 13, 1 pp. 49-55

                                                                                                            Arnett reading 13.2

 

Mon May 12          Wrap-up: What did we Learn?

 

Final Exam, Wed May 21, 7:15-9:30am

 

Please note that we will follow the schedule as closely as possible, but may vary depending on the pace of the class. All changes will be announced in class and it is your responsibility to keep up with those changes.