Syllabus - Introduction to Psychology

Course Subjects

Description

THIS COURSE WILL BE TAUGHT USING THE TEAM BASED LEARNING STRATEGY. ALL STUDENTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO WORK IN AND PARTICIPATE IN LEARNING ACTIVITIES WITH THEIR ASSIGNED TEAMS.

This is a survey course that will cover the field of psychology. Because it is a survey course, we will learn a little about a lot different topics dealing with the study of human behavior and mental processes. Some of the topics may seem controversial or of a sensitive nature. Many of the issues covered will challenge individual's long held beliefs. It is not the aim of this course to change individual's beliefs however; it is important that students understand the various perspectives and be able to demonstrate that understanding. Finally, since this is a course about human behavior, students are warned about "medical student syndrome". This is the tendency to assume that everything we study is describing you. Most students find psychology fun and interesting. It is my hope that you'll invest in this journey into the human condition to aid you on your voyage of self-discovery.

You will determine the weight of the grades as a class. During the first class, students working in teams will determine what percentage of the grade is determined by individual performance, team performance, and comprehensive assessment.

Course Requirements

Textbook

Wood, Ellen Green, Wood, Samuel E., and Boyd Denise The World of Psychology, 7thEdition, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2010.

Class Resources: HTTP://acconline.austincc.edu

To access Blackboard, you will need your ACC Online Services User ID.

All current ACC students will have an Online Services User ID. If you are not sure what your User ID is, you can click the “What’s my User ID” link located just above the User ID and Password boxes. Your User ID cannot be changed.

ACC Gmail-

All ACC students are provided with an ACC Gmail account. This is the College's official way of communicating with you through email. Please be sure to activate you’re account and check it before each class meeting.

When sending email please put "PSYC 2301" in the subject line. this will prevent it from being filtered out as spam. Also, within the body of the email please include your email address and your name (it's not always clear to me who "lovepuppy127@hotmail.com" is).

Student Learning Outcomes/Learning Objectives

Course Goals and Objectives:

Goal 1--After this course, students will have knowledge of the history and development of modern psychology and the current research practices in the field.

Objective 1A: Given a list of vocabulary terms related to the history and development of modern psychology and the current research practices, the student will match each term to its definition according to the textbook.(Voc 1)

Objective 1B: Without the use of resources, working alone then in teams the student will answer multiple choice questions on the history of the field of modern Western psychology from the mid 19th century to the present including key figures, their theories, and major trends as well as questions about the scientific procedures used in psychology according to the model discussed in class and covered in the text.(iRAT 1, T-RAT 1)

Goal 2-- After this course, students will have knowledge of the effects of biological phenomena on human psychology.

Objective 2A: Given a list of vocabulary terms of biological phenomena related to human psychology, the student will match each term to its definition according to the textbook. (Voc 2)

Objective 2B: Without the use of resources, working alone then in teams the student will answer multiple choice questions about key biological phenomena with important connections to psychology according to the model discussed in class and in the text. (iRAT 2, T-RAT 2)

Goal 3-- After this course, students will understand the development of the human organism and the psychological impact of the various stages of development.

Objective 3A: Given a list of vocabulary terms related to the development of the human organism, the student will match each term to its definition according to the textbook. (Voc 3)

Objective 3B: Without the use of resources, working alone then in teams the student will answer multiple choice questions about the development of the human being from gamete through late adulthood as well as questions about human sexuality and social psychology according to the model covered in class discussion. (iRAT 3, T-RAT 3)

Goal 4--After this course, students will have the ability to apply the standards of the current perspectives of psychology to human behavior.

Objective 4A: Given a list of vocabulary terms related to memory, creativity, cognition and motivation, the student will match each term to its definition according to the textbook. (Voc 4)

Objective 4B: Without the use of resources, working alone then in teams the student will answer multiple choice questions on memory, creativity, cognition and motivation according to the text and as covered in class (iRAT 4, T-RAT 4)

Objective 4C: Given a list of vocabulary terms related to abnormal psychology and the therapies used to deal with them, the student will match each term to its definition according to the textbook. (Voc 5).

Objective 4D: Without the use of resources, working alone then in teams the student will answer multiple choice questions on abnormal psychology and the therapies used to deal with them (iRAT 5, T-RAT 5)

Goal 5--After this course, students will be able to demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of basic psychological principles and theories.

Objective 5A: Without the use of resources, working alone, students will complete a mid-term and final exam covering the basic principles and theories of psychology

Objective 5B: Allowed the use of resources, students will complete 5 journals on topics related to the field of psychology.

Objective 5C: After each unit students will complete a unit evaluation of their own and their team's performance.

Objective 5D: After each unit students will complete an evaluation of each of their teammate’s performance according to the model presented in class.

Readings

Semester Plan:

The course is planned in 5 units. Each unit consists of 3-4 chapters of textbook material. Within each unit there will be vocabulary, journal, an iRAT, a T-RAT, a Team Decision, unit evaluation and a peer evaluation. This is the planned order of approach. However, if current events dictate, we may change the order of topics in order to deal with contemporary issues as they occur. The units covered will be:

Unit 1 Historyand Science--Covers the history and development of psychology as well as the research methods.

Ch.1 Science, History, perspectives

Ch. 5 Learning/Behavior

Ch. 13 Personality

Unit 2 TheBiology of Psychology--Looks at the way the human body controls and effects human behavior.

Ch. 2 Biology

Ch. 3 Sensation & perception

Ch. 4 Consciousness

Unit 3 HumanDevelopment-Covers the development of the human being from sex cell through death.

Ch. 8 Child development

Ch. 9 Adolescent and Adult development

Ch. 11 Sex & Gender

Ch. 16 Social Psychology

Unit 4 TheMind--Looks at the phenomena of mental processes that control and effect human behavior.

Ch. 6 Memory

Ch. 7 Cognition, Language and Intelligence

Ch. 10 Motivation

Unit 5 Problems--Abnormal behavior and therapies as well as issues related to stress.

Ch. 12 Stress

Ch. 15 Abnormal

Ch. 16 Therapy

Schedule

Calendar	Activities	Assignments	Chapter sequence
7/8/2009	Intro-TBL, grade weights, syllabus RAT	ch. 1, 5, 13; Journal 1 -Psychology; Voc 1	Unit 1
			1 Intro
7/13/2009	Study skills assessment I	Journal 2 -Alt Consciouness, Voc 2	5 Learning
	iRat 1, T-Rat 1	Ch. 2, 3, 4;	13 Personality

7/15/2009	Team Dec 1, Fishbowl 1	Peer & Unit Rvw	Unit 2
	Study skills assessment II	Journal 3 -learned sex, Voc 3	2 Biology
	iRat 2, T-Rat 2	Ch. 8, 9, 11, 16;	3 Sensation & Perception
			4 Consciousness
7/20/2009	Team Dec 2, Fishbowl 2	Peer & Unit Rvw.
	iRat 3, T-Rat 3		Unit 3
7/22/2009	Team Dec 3, Fishbowl 3 Study skills assessment III	Peer & Unit Rvw.	8 Child Development
			9 Adolescence & Adulthood
7/27/2009	Recap and mid term review		11 Human Sexuality & Gender
			16 Social Psychology
7/29/2009	Mid-Term	Ch. 6, 7, 10,
		Journal 4 -eye witness, Voc 4	Unit 4
			6 Memory
8/3/2009	iRat 4, T-Rat 4	Ch. 14, 15, 17, 12	7 Cognition, Language & Intelligence
		Jounral 5;-Insanity, voc 5	10 Motivation & Emotion

8/5/2009	Team Dec 4, Fishbowl 4	Peer & Unit Rvw.;	Unit 5
	iRat 5, T-Rat 5		12 Health & Stress
8/10/2009	Team Dec 5, Fishbowl 5	Peer & Unit Rvw.;	14 Psychological Disorders
	Recap and final review		15 Therapies

8/12/2009	Course eval and Final

Syllabus Sections

Publish Date

Introduction to Psychology

Course Information

Office Hours

Course Subjects

Course Requirements

Student Learning Outcomes/Learning Objectives

Readings

Schedule