COURSE SCHEDULE AVAILABLE HERE

 
GUIDE 1: ORIENTATION
GUIDE 2: INFANCY
GUIDE 3: EARLY CHILDHOOD
GUIDE 4: MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
GUIDE 5: ADOLESCENCE
GUIDE 6: EARLY ADULTHOOD
GUIDE 7: REVISITING CONTROVERSIES: MIDLIFE
GUIDE 8: LATE ADULTHOOD

DEP 5068-01
SPRING 2014
3203 Stone Building T-Th 12:30-1:45

 
LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT

Susan Carol Losh
Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
Florida State University

 
OVERVIEW
WEB-ASSISTED INFO
HOW TO REACH ME
ASSIGNMENTS
TOPICS AND TEXT
 
Dr. Susan Carol Losh
3204 Stone Building (EPLS Suite)
850-644-8778
850-644-4592 (EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY & 
LEARNING SYSTEMS)
slosh@fsu.edu
email is the best way to reach me
  OFFICE HOURS:
Spring 2014
Tuesday 2:00-4:00 P.M.
Wednesday 3:00-5:00 P.M.
  and by appointment

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IMMEDIATELY IF YOU REQUIRE ANY ASSISTANCE WITH DISABILITIES.
 
 

OVERVIEW

  Did you think human development stopped at age 3? At age 15 when you "got your identity"?
Perhaps (whenever) with your "midlife crisis"?

And "old age"? Nothin' left for it but dementia? 

Did you know?

In other words, social, psychological, and emotional developments literally span a lifetime. Although the pace of some elements of development (e.g., physical) may be more intense at some stages of the lifecycle than in others, development is an ongoing process.  This course introduces you to the many diverse perspectives used in this research area. As you might guess, when we expand the notion of human development from "womb" to "tomb" the field looks quite different from a course that concentrates solely on "children".

This complex area incorporates physical, psychological, and social components. In our introduction to the field, we will focus most intensively on the psychological and social dimensions of lifespan development. However, although we aren't biologists, it's impossible to ignore the impact of physical development and aging so those issues will be touched upon. The research in this area is varied. Please be patient as you encounter six separate terms for the same concept such as social learning, or you puzzle out "chicken and egg problems" in "nature" and "nuture".
 
 
WHAT'S YOUR MAJOR?

Students enter the Lifespan Development course from diverse backgrounds. Many are School Psychology majors. If that's you, you may (at this point) picture yourself working in the elementary, secondary or community college school systems, perhaps administering tests, coordinating individual education plans (IEPs), or working with parents. Career counsellors can work with all age groups, as do mental health counsellors. Other students are Learning and Cogniton majors, who may believe that learning can be most influential among children and youth. We also have had Early Childhood, Psychology, Sports Psychology, Sociology (and other social sciences), Human Sciences and other.majors. This diversity presents unique opportunities to learn from one another. It also means that some areas of the course will be highly familar to you and others will be totally new.
 
 


 
Why is this course is required for so many majors? When you enter a helping profession, it will be critical for your practice to disentangle what is "normal development" from what is heavily influenced by culture and what may be a developmental problem. Only then will you be able to create effective strategies for your clients. These same issues arise for education, behavioral and social science professionals and researchers.The decisions you make there often affect government and industry practice and policy. For example, confusing the developmental effects of aging with birth cohort experiences in information technology learning and implementation could needlessly--and incorrectly--disenfranchise many older workers. 

Regardless of major, I hope you will discover how learning and development last a lifetime, and that at least some choices that adults make for the very young may impact youth during adolescence or early adulthood. Adults often retrain, so "school psychology" really extends to adults of all ages at community colleges, four year colleges, and universities, as well as on the job.

Aspects of the perspectives we will study this semester "fade in" and "fade out". Forming and maintaining an identity, for example, is critical during times of rapid or dramatic physical change--but also at role disjunctures, such as entering college, forming a family, or undergoing divorce or widowhood. We can pinpoint approximate lifestages for some of these transitions, recognizing that lifestages can change over time (age at first marriage in the United States, for example, rose by over five years for men and women during the past 40 years and many now no longer formally marry at all) and by culture; Irish and Philippino adults, for example, once married far later than mainland Americans although this is no longer the case. Modeling approaches to social learning can evolve over an entire lifetime

My roles as Instructor are to facilitate and to coordinate the "big picture." For each major course section, I will discuss basic perspectives, postulated major processes, and particularly noteworthy empirical findings. After that, it's up to all of us, our discussions and short assignments, to make the material come alive.
 

COURSE GOALS

To become familiar with major and sometimes conflicting conceptual perspectives  in dimensions of human lifespan development, including:

To become familiar with applications of basic social and behavioral theories about development over a lifespan, in and out of "school".

This means developing a professional vocabulary so that you can knowledgeably converse with other professionals.

To be able to apply course material to diverse  written and presented projects: in-class quizzes and problem solving, video analysis, and reflective paper, and to present the essential ideas of a chosen individual project.
 
 

WE’RE ONLINE!

Our course is WEB assisted through the Blackboard and mailer  systems at FSU. You must be registered for EDP5068-01 to access our Blackboard site. To access our course on Blackboard, go online to:

http://campus.fsu.edu

Enter your FSU ID username and password to log in. For example, I would enter "slosh" ONLY. Then click on “Life-Span Dev” to enter our site. (You're probably already familiar with the Blackboard system.)

The mailer entry portal of our site is:

http://myweb.fsu.edu/slosh/LifespanOverview.html

I will use WEB-assist for several course features:


SPRING 2014: Here's how I can be reached:
 

3204 Stone Building
850-644-8778 Voice mail available
850-644-4592 Educational Psychology & Learning Systems
 

slosh@fsu.edu

   Back FSU Stone Building
Across from the Medical School on West Call and Murphree Street

Office Hours: Tuesday 2:00-4:00 P.M.
Wednesday 3:00-5:00 P.M.
Please see me about other times.
NOTE: If I have a conflict, I will announce that in class and on our Blackboard website.

I feel a personal commitment to this material. The more aware we become about how aging and development affect us, and how the accident of our birth generation affects our thinking and behavior, the more we can influence the directions that our lives take and the more readily we can understand others. All of us will age, many of us have or will have children and grandchildren.

One of my major research interests is disentangling the effects of aging from those of birth cohort on public understanding and use of science and technology among American adults. If you are interested to see more about this area, please see my resume.
 

ASSIGNMENTS

We have several assignments spread throughout the semester. For about half of the assignments we will participate in Larry Michaelsen's Team Based Learning (TBL), a mix of individual and team contributions. As part of these assignments, teams will evaluate the contributions of each member at the end of the semester. (See the syllabus and course projects pages for more detail about TBL.) For the other 45% of your grade, you will write a reflective paper and do a class (typically Power Point) presentation.

Some students are concerned about freeloaders on the team or that their grades will suffer in teamwork. I want to reassure you that in using this approach over a five year period, there weres only TWO cases where a student's individual and team average quiz scores were tied. In NO CASE was a student's individual average quiz score higher than their team's average score. Because team members bring diverse points of view to the same topic everyone benefits. Furthermore, since all TBL occurs during class, there is much  less opportunity for social loafing.
 
 
ASSIGNMENT
DATE(S) 
COURSE WEIGHT
3 QUIZZES: Each individual and team based scored

ONLY the TOP TWO QUIZZES in each case will count toward your grade. 

January 28

February 20

March 20

Quizzes are usually held at the beginning of a unit so readings should be completed prior to the quiz. A set of terms to know will be provided before each quiz.

Total = 25 percent

3 TEAM BASED SHORT COURSE PROJECTS

ONLY the TOP TWO SHORT PROJECTS will count toward your grade

Analysis of interaction video

February 13 Total = 25 percent
Learning theories application March 27  
Housing decision for elderly person April 17  
Team Assessment of Student Contributions Fall Semester   5 percent

Applying developmental stages to your area;  reflective paper
April 30 BY NOON
 20 percent
PRESENTATION Topic description due February 27. You'll also tell me whether you will do an individual or group presentation.

ONE completed during the April 10-24 period (approximately)

 25 percent

See the links for more information to be posted. The project and presentation links will be updated during the semester to provide more detail and format specifications.
 
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE

The reflective paper MUST be hard copy placed in my department mailbox.

Papers under my office door may or may not be placed on my desk--where I may not be able to find them! (No one who has seen my desk would ever do such a thing.)

I DO NOT OPEN OR ACCEPT EMAIL ATTACHMENTS (e.g., WORD documents) so please do not send them.

PLEASE DO NOT SLIDE PAPERS UNDER MY DOOR OR THE EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY & LEARNING SYSTEMS SUITE DOOR! There is a good chance I will never see them.

 

During the semester, I may ask for a digital copy of your work. For example, I upload all presentations into Blackboard .
.

PRESENTATION

The topic choice for your presentation is up to you as long as it is related to course materials in Lifespan Development. Here are some examples from prior classes:

(See our Blackboard presentations folder for more examples!)

MORE PRELIMINARY INFORMATION HERE ABOUT THE PRESENTATION.
 
 

I HOPE IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING
(but I will say it anyhow)
Your submitted assignments are expected to be your own original work (or that of your team). Please provide citations and bibliographic references when appropriate. All reflective papers will be run through SafeAssign or TurnItIn. Plagarism in one's submitted work receives a failing grade.

 
 
GRADING CONSIDERATIONS

I use plus and minus grading, throughout and for final grades.

Participation in class discussion and class attendance are a definite consideration, especially when a student is "between grades."

In addition, your participation in team projects is totally done in class, thus class attendence is critical for your grade. I count the top 2 out of 3 quiz scores and small assignment grades; if you miss a quiz or assignment, that option is not available.

Adherence to principles of essay organization, and the conventions of spelling and grammar is expected and understood on all written assignments. The course presentation MUST relate to the Lifespan in some way.

For more information about how I calculate final grades, please access the final grade website.


 
TOPICS AND REQUIRED COURSE TEXT

 
COURSE TOPICS

Please see the Course Syllabus for more information and due dates for quizzes and assignments.

REMEMBER: Please DO NOT USE websites with a construction sign at the top. They are under revision. Thanks!
 
APPROXIMATE DATE TOPIC OBJECTIVES
January 7-14 Basic Orientation: General Controversies and Issues, Methods
Introduction
WEB site navigation and course outline
What are some major orientations in lifespan development? What are some of the juxtaposed controversies?

Which methods are most commonly used?

January 16-23 Infancy First overall exposure to developmental and basic learning theories
What are key physical, psychological, and social developments in the early years?
What role does language play?
January 28-February 6 Early Childhood  
February 11-18 Middle Childhood Setting the stage
February 20-March 4 Adolescence
Earlier Maturation and its possible consequences
Physical and cognitive clashes
MARCH 10-14 SPRING BREAK NO CLASS
March 18-27 Early Adulthood  
March 27-April 8
Revisiting the Controversies: Midlife
Love and work: did Freud say it all?
Is there really a midlife crisis?
What are major physical, cognitive and social components for the middle years?
April 10-24 Late Adulthood Integrity versus Despair, and a little help from Social Security
What are major physical, cognitive, and social issues for the elderly?
APRIL 24 Our last day of class  
APRIL 30 BY NOON! Applying developmental stages to your area;  individual reflective paper LATE PAPERS ARE NOT ACCEPTED

 

REQUIRED TEXT
This basic "encyclopedia approach" text focuses on basic concepts. It is the most comprehensive and research-based of any of the texts I have examined. I like its concentration on issues of physical, cognitive, behavioral and social development. Used copies should be available.

When books go to a new edition, they often offer new topics and discard or rearrange the prior topics. Even when the chapter descriptive titles remain the same, new research is added. Please explore the outlets of your choice to obtain the CURRENT edition. Another possibility is for two students to share one text.
 
 
COURSE SCHEDULE AVAILABLE HERE

 

This page was built with Netscape Composer.
Susan Carol Losh  January 6 2014

Under construction as the semester progresses.