Psychology 130: Developmental Psychology

Course Syllabus
Lecture time: Tuesday & Thursday 8:00-9:15am
Location: Franz Hall Room 1178
Professor: Dr. Amber Ankowski
Email: [email protected]
Office hours: Tuesday & Thursday 9:00am (or immediately following class)
Teaching Assistants:
Name: Amy Rapp
Email: [email protected]
Office hours: Monday 12:30-1:30pm & Wednesday 11:00am-12:00pm
Office location: Franz Hall Room 2244B
Name: Kristen Jezior
Email: [email protected]
Office hours: Wednesday 10:00-11:00am & 1:15-2:15pm
Office location: Franz Hall Room 1167
Name: Todd Brown
Email: [email protected]
Office hours: Tuesday 12:45-1:45pm & Thursday 1:00-2:00pm
Office location: Franz Hall Room 1193
Discussion Sections
For section times and locations, see the class schedule at UCLA Registrars website.
All students must attend the discussion section in which they are enrolled. If students
need to switch sections, they must find another student with whom they can switch and
the two students need to go to Psych Advising, Franz 1571 to be switched. This can be
done until the end of Week 2 only. There is a discussion forum on the course website
that students can use to locate other students who would like to switch sections.
Course Goals
1. Understand the major issues that guide research in developmental psychology.
2. Learn about childrens abilities, thoughts, and actions at various stages of
development.
3. Understand the experimental techniques that tell us what we know about child
development.

4. Analyze primary source material and hone critical thinking and presentation
skills.
5. Learn how research in developmental psychology is applicable to working
with children in the real world.
Course Materials
Books:
1. Ankowski, A. & Ankowski, A. (2015). Think like a baby: 33 simple research
experiments you can do at home to better understand your childs developing
mind. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press.
2. Berk, L. (2012). Child Development (9th Edition). Boston, MA: Pearson.
A copy of each book is available on reserve at Powell Library. Use earlier editions at your
own risk.
Course Website:
As a student enrolled in this class, you should have access to our course website. The
syllabus, lecture slides, and any additional materials will be posted on the course website.
Course Grading
Your final grade in this course will be comprised of a lecture grade (67% or 200/300
points) and a section grade (33% or 100/300 points).
Your lecture grade will be determined as outlined below:
Assignment

Points

Exam 1

100

Exam 2

100

Optional Cumulative Final Exam

100
(to replace Exam 1 or 2 if score is higher)

Exams:
Two non-cumulative exams and one optional cumulative exam will be given throughout
the course. Exams will consist of multiple-choice questions, covering material from
lecture and readings.
You have the option of taking a cumulative final exam (worth 100 points). If you choose
this option, your highest two exam scores will count for credit. Although the university
allots a longer window of time for the administration of final exams, students will have
only one hour and fifteen minutes to complete the final exam (just like Exams 1 and 2),
beginning at the university-appointed final exam time.
Students are required to bring IDs, #2 pencils and erasers to exams. Do not be late for
exams. If you arrive late and we have not yet started collecting completed exams, you

may still take the test with the remaining time left. If we have started collecting exams,
however, you will not be able to take the test and will automatically receive a score of
zero. No makeup exams will be given for any reason.

Your discussion section grade will be determined as outlined below:

Assignment

Points

Attendance

10

Participation

10

Discussion Questions

20

Think Like a Baby Assignment

50

Reflection Assignment

10

Attendance:
Attendance to discussion sections is vital to your success in this course, and credit will be
awarded at every section meeting. Specifically, students will earn one point for every
discussion section meeting they attend during weeks 1-10, for a total of 10 possible
attendance points. Students will not be awarded attendance points for any section that
they do not attend for any reason. Students arriving more than ten minutes late or
leaving more than ten minutes early will not get credit for attendance.
Participation:
Since the purpose of discussion sections is active participation with course material,
students will be assessed on the extent to which they participate in section discussions
throughout the course. At the end of the quarter, students will be assigned a number on a
scale from one to ten based on the relative quantity and quality of discussion
contributions they made compared to their fellow section members. In assigning
participation grades, TAs will take into account the number of opportunities there were to
contribute to discussion and assign grades accordingly. The most common participation
score will be 7/10, as it represents average participation relative to other section
members. Students with more frequent participation can earn higher scores, however, few
students overall will earn 9s and 10s as these scores require that substantive comments be
made during each and every section meeting. Students who contribute less frequently or
negatively will earn lower scores. Students cannot earn participation points for sections
that were missed for any reason.
Discussion Questions:
To encourage students meaningful engagement with course material and active
involvement in course discussions, students will be required to submit two questions at
every discussion section meeting based on the weeks assigned reading. Questions may
be typed or neatly hand-written and submitted via hard copy to the section TA. No late
questions or questions via email will be accepted. No exceptions to this rule will be
made for any reason, and absent students cannot have another person submit questions
for credit on their behalf.

Think Like a Baby Assignment:

Students will complete an assignment in groups of 2 or 3 students (no exceptions will be
made to this number) based on an experiment from the Think Like a Baby book. The
group assignment will consist of two parts: a written component and a presentation
component.
Students must create a presentation and paper using the following three resources:
1. Think Like a Baby experiment: On the first day of your discussion section,
students will select a group and sign up for a Think Like a Baby experiment.
2. Source article: Students will access the Source Article List via the course
website and find the empirical article that their chosen experiment was based
on. Download the appropriate article from the course website.
3. Additional empirical article: Students will find an additional empirical
journal article (one that describes an actual research study, with sections for
Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, etc.) that relates to the
Think Like a Baby experiment information and/or source article in a
meaningful way.
Students must use these resources to create a 10-15 minute presentation and paper.
Obviously, not all of the information from these sources can be presented in 15 minutes
or less, so a central task of this assignment will be to determine which information should
be included and omitted. The result should be a substantive, interesting, well-structured
presentation that your TA and fellow students can easily follow.
Students will be graded on the following factors, and a complete grading rubric for the
assignment can be found on the course website.
Brief explanation of the selected experiment. This should be accurate and
concise, as all students should have already read it. (10 points)
Examination of source article. Examine the entire source article (i.e.,
Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion) and compare it to the experiment
as written in Think Like a Baby. Consider how development is depicted, the
real life implications of the source article versus its Think Like a Baby
description, what is included/omitted in each source, etc. Focus on your most
interesting findings or topics of interest for inclusion in your actual paper/
presentation. (15 points)
Additional research. Briefly describe an additional empirical journal article
and make meaningful connections between it and the Think Like a Baby
experiment and/or source article. Examine all sections of the article and
consider the real-life and theoretical implications in a similar way that you
examined the source article. Students must submit a hard copy of the article,
or no points will be awarded for this portion of the assignment. (15 points)
Overall presentation quality. Aspects of overall quality will be assessed,
including (but not limited to) organization of information, clarity, adherence to
6

presentation time guidelines, grammar and ability to address student

questions. (10 points)
All members of the group are expected to have mastery of all aspects of the assignment.
Lack of cohesion between parts presented/written by different group members or
apparent differences in mastery level between group members will adversely affect the
presentation/paper grade.
The Presentation:
Presentations should be between 10 and 15 minutes in length. (Students must practice, as
presentations longer than 15 minutes will be ceased and penalized.) All group members
must present a roughly equal amount of the presentation.
A question period will be provided following each presentation, so students should be
prepared to answer questions from their peers and teaching assistants. Questions that are
asked and the answers that presenters provide will be considered in the grading of the
presentation, because they reflect both the presenting students effectiveness in
communicating material and mastery of relevant information.
No late presentations will be allowed. Students who are absent on their presentation day
will receive a zero for the presentation portion of the assignment.
The Paper:
On the same day that a group gives their presentation, they will submit a single paper
authored by all of the group members. The written component should be a write-up of the
information that students present, so both the written component and presentation
component of the assignment should include the exact same information. There are no
length minimums or maximums, but the paper should be limited to only what can be
covered in a 10-15 minute long presentation.
Two copies of each paper must be submitted, one via hard copy to class and the other via
electronic copy to a turnitin assignment on the course website. If both the hard copy and
electronic copies are late, the paper grade will be deducted according to the following
scheme: 10% for the first week (anytime immediately following the class in which the
assignment is due through six days following), 30% for the second week, and 50%
anytime thereafter. If only one version is late, it will incur half of the described penalty.
No papers will be accepted after the last day of class.
Reflection Assignment
Each student must submit a written reflection of three presentations that they have heard
during the discussion sections. A description of your own groups assignment would not
count, as students must write about the presentations of three other groups. For each
presentation, include 1) the title and authors of the presentation, 2) a brief summary of the
7

presentation, and 3) a description of what you learned from the presentation. No

assignments will be accepted after the last day of class.

Note regarding section absences: The material covered during discussion sections is
designed to add both depth and breadth to your understanding of course material, and
being present and active in discussion sections is vital to your success in this course.
Therefore, no absences will be excused for any reason, including (but not limited to)
enrolling in the course late, illness, travel, family emergency, etc. even when
documentation is available. Although students cannot make up any section points (e.g.,
for attendance, participation, discussion questions, etc.) missed due to absence, there are
multiple opportunities for earning extra points in this course (i.e., extra credit and
optional cumulative final exam) that can be used to help cover any points that may be
missed due to absences.
Note regarding section grades: Although a standard rubric is used across all sections,
there may be minor differences in the way that individual TAs grade assignments.
Therefore, the professor will work with the TAs throughout the quarter to calibrate score
averages and ranges across sections. We will try to avoid it, but in some cases grades may
need to be adjusted somewhat at the end of the term to account for systematic differences.
Grading
Grades will be calculated according to the following scale:
100% - 93% = A
89% - 88% = B+
79% - 78% = C+
92% - 90% = A87% - 83% = B
77% - 73% = C
82% - 80% = B72% - 70% = C-

69% - 60% = D
50% or below = F

No student requests for grade changes will be entertained (by either the TAs or the
professor). Grades will be earned by showing mastery of course material via exams,
assignments and contributions to class discussions.
Extra Credit
You have the opportunity to earn up to 6 extra credit points by participating in
experiments through the Psychology Department Subject Pool. Serving as a subject in an
experiment provides students with direct exposure to psychological research. By
participating in experiments, you will have the opportunity to contribute to on-going
research at UCLA while getting an inside glimpse of how research studies are conducted.
For each hour you complete (up to three hours) you will have 2 points added to your
final grade at the end of the quarter. Students may participate in up to three
experiment hours, for a total of 6 extra credit points.
The posting and scheduling of experiments is handled via the Psychology Department
Subject Pool system at http://ucla.sona-systems.com/. More information on how to use
the system can be found at http://www.psych.ucla.edu/undergraduate/subject-poolexperiment-participation.

NOTE: Before signing up for experiments, you MUST select the course for which you
9

want your experiment credits to count. All experiments for Spring 2016 must be
completed by June 2, 2016 (Thursday of 10th Week).
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is of the utmost importance in this course, and in all of your courses
at UCLA. Dishonest or inappropriate behavior, including cheating and plagiarism, will
not be tolerated. All such conduct will be reported to the Deans Office immediately.
Course Schedule
Week

Date

Day

Topic

Assigned Reading

3/29

Tues

Introduction to
Developmental Psychology

3/31

Thurs

Developmental Theories

Chapter 1

4/5

Tues

Developmental Theories

Chapter 6

4/7

Thurs

Research in Child Development

Chapter 2

4/12

Tues

Prenatal Development & Birth

Chapter 3

4/14

Thurs

Physical Development

Chapter 5

4/19

Tues

Physical Development

4/21

Thurs

Infancy

4/26

Tues

Infancy

Chapter 4

10

4/28

Thurs

Exam 1

5/3

Tues

Cognitive Development

Chapter 7

5/5

Thurs

Cognitive Development

Chapter 8

5/10

Tues

Language Development

Chapter 9

5/12

Thurs

Social & Emotional

Development

Chapter 10

5/17

Tues

Social & Emotional

Development

Chapter 11 & 12

5/19

Thurs

Gender

Chapter 13

5/24

Tues

Contexts of Development

Chapter 14

5/26

Thurs

Contexts of Development

Chapter 15

10

5/31

Tues

Child Development Myths

10

6/2

Thurs

Exam 2

Finals
Week

6/10

FRI
11:30am

Optional Final Exam

11