Course Syllabus

Summer 2025 | PSY-1050-VT01 - Human Growth & Development

In Person Class

Standard courses meet in person at CCV centers, typically once each week for the duration of the semester.

Faculty

Erika Hashberger
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
Hiring Coordinator for this course: Philip Crossman

General Education Requirements

VSCS Social Sciences

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This course is a survey of human growth and development throughout the life cycle including physical, cognitive, linguistic, ethical, and psychosocial dimensions.

Essential Objectives

1. Compare and contrast two major theories of developmental psychology.
2. Identify and discuss issues in human growth and development arising from differences in gender, race, and socioeconomic status.
3. Select one theory and discuss the major aspects of each stage of growth according to physical, cognitive, language, and social dimensions.
4. Explain how both environmental and genetic factors influence growth and development.
5. Apply the main concepts and principles of one developmental theory to the development of an individual.
6. Describe the process of empirical and ethical research (both cross-sectional and longitudinal) as it is commonly practiced and applied in the field of developmental psychology, including how that research informs contemporary issues.
7. Distinguish between fact and opinion, recognize unstated assumptions, and evaluate arguments according to the quality of supporting evidence in the literature.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV computer recommendations Support page.

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

*** This is a no cost textbook or resource class. ***

PSY-1050-VT01 Link to Textbooks/Resources Information for this course in eCampus.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Methods

This course will use a flipped classroom model, in which students are asked to complete readings in order to prepare for Socratic-style classs sessions, where less emphasis is placed on a traditional lecture-and-powerpoint format, in favor of incorporating critical discussion and engagement.

Response Notes (80 points)

Students will be asked to bring response notes - essentially, informal prose organizing their thoughts on one or more of the week's readings - to class. Response notes are intended to give students an opportunity to engage directly with the week's readings, relate it to their wider academic and career interests, and prepare material ahead of time that can contribute to in-class discussion. Students are not expected to turn in response notes on days that exams are held (6/19 and 7/24).

Each response note is worth 10 points, and should be 250-500 words. Students are asked to turn in 8 response notes over the course of the semester. With two exam days and the first week of class, this leaves 9 weeks of classes, meaning that students are given the option to skip a written response with no penalty for one class/week over the course of the semester. Students are not required to notify the professor that they are using their response-free week. Late responses will be eligible for credit; please see late work policy for details.

Term Paper (150 points)

Students will choose a film and a developmental theory to apply to their analysis of the film's portrayal of the protagonist. A list of suggestions will be provided, but students may also request to use a film of their own choice. The paper will be a cumulative piece of work over the course of the semester, working through compositial elements in class, from developing a thesis argument and supporting outline, to incorporating academic sources, to peer-reviewed editing and revision, with the goal of building students' ability develop and support their ideas in a written format.

Students will be asked to submit their chosen film and theory on 6/12, via e-mail or Canvas (5 points).

Thesis statemets, academic sources, and outlines will be due on 7/3 (20 points)

Paper drafts will be due on 7/31, and used in class for peer review/editing (50 points)

Final papers will be due on 8/7 at 11:59 pm. Word count is used only as an approximation, not as a grading criteria; suggested paper length is ~2,000 words, or 5 pages. Students are asked to include works cited, consisting of 3-5 sources. (75 points)

Exams (100 points each)

Students will have two exams over the course of the semester. The first exam will be on 6/19/25, and will cover theories of human development, and prenatal development - middle childhood (age 12). The second exam will be on 7/24/25, and will cover adolescence - old age, common exceptions to "normative" development, and death and dying as a life and psychosocial stage. Exams will be due at 11:59pm, via Canvas or e-mail.

The exams will be presented in an essay question format, with a 6-8 question study guide distributed ahead of time. The exam will then choose 3-5 of the questions at random. Students are encouraged to approach exams with the goal of being able to explain complex academic work or theory in a manner that will be accessible to a friend, family member, or future client who does not have an existing background in the subject - in other words, do you understand the topic well enough to relay key aspects of it to someone who may not be familiar with it? Rather than emphasizing memorization and recitation, exams are designed to be an exercise in application and functional (but not perfect) recall of the concepts covered in this course. Students may be given a mix of questions and case studies, asked to critique a "sample story," or identify strengths and weaknesses of a sample case formulation.

Test corrections

Students are given the opportunity to research and turn in corrected answers to any items on an exam they did not receive full credit for, up to a grade of 100%. Test corrections will be due the week after the respective exam (6/26 and 7/31).

Side Note presentations (75 points)

Students will pick a population or topic relevant to human development (and ideally of interest to them!), but outside the scope of the regular curriculum of this course to give a 10-15 minute presentation on. This is an open-ended assignment; presentations may include a PowerPoint, video, photos, or other media, but are not required to. Students may choose to pick a topic related to their academic/career interests, or something else they are passionate about. For example, presentations could be about working with adults with intellectual disabilities, working with pre- and perinatal opioid use, sports and physical activity as a psychosocial intervention, or community/mental health needs of teen or young parents.

Presentations will be given during the last two weeks of class (7/31 and 8/7).

* If presenting in front of the class is a major barrier, alternate options are available.

Attendance & Participation

Students are encouraged to attend class, and to communicate with the instructor about scheduling conflicts in advance when possible. It is understood that unforeseen and extenuating circumstances arise; please do your best to communicate so that I can be more aware of what I can do to best support your learning.

Participation in class discussion is valuable as an academic exercise and a professional skill. That being said, it is understood that every student will have different comfort levels with speaking in class, and this is evaluated as a skill students are building individually and as a group over the course of the semester. Participation is measured in terms of students' thoughtfulness, engagement, and growth over the course of the semester, attentiveness to their own and their peers' ideas, and ways students incorporate class discussions into their work.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity

Apply Now for this semester.