Course time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:40 - 2:55pm

Location: Rm. 1-421

Office: MIC1-413

Phone: ext. 738

email: clahar@miyazaki-mic.ac.jp

COURSE DESCRIPTION FROM THE BULLETIN: This course examines theories related to adolescent and adult development and reviews the physical, cognitive, emotional, and personality development of these stages.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The theories and methods of human developmental psychology will be introduced early in the term. Then, we will apply our understanding of development to focus on contemporary issues facing adolescents and adults throughout the world.

The focus this semester will be to apply our understanding of developmental theories and methods in a cross cultural perspective. Specifically we will work with students in America on discussions and shared projects in order to directly view cross cultural perspectives on the aging process.

TEXTS: There will be short readings assigned by your instructor though out the term.

GRADES AND ASSIGNMENTS:

You will be required to report to the class two times during the semester. Watch for any interesting newspaper articles, TV commercials or short segments, advertisements, local stories, etc. that deal with Psychological Development, Aging, or any other issue we discuss in class. We will begin each class, starting on September 18th, with Watch and Reports. Please bring handouts and/or a good visual aid and prepare a 3-5 minute presentation.

Attendance and punctuality are both important requirements in this class. There will be times when it will be necessary for you to miss a class (due to illness or for other reasons). In order for an absence to be excused, a letter of explanation (in English) is required from you and a standard form is needed from your doctor. More than 5 unexcused absences will result in a required withdrawal from this class.

There will be some short quizzes and tests on core concepts and vocabulary. A final exam will be scheduled in the exam period in December.

You will have some graded homework assignments in this course.

There will be various group activities and individually paced workshops both in-class and in the computer classroom through the term. Computer workshops will be held in the classroom.

In this project, we will work with a class at Merrimack College in the USA to develop a Psychological Age Questionnaire and to study its merit. We will first work on the questionnaire, and then we will give it to people and explore whether it tells us anything important about aging.

We will also share other assignments and discussions with the students in America on WebBoard. You are expected to be an active participant in the WebBoard discussions.

There will be some short written assignments that are questions designed to give you practice thinking about issues of development and writing your responses. Each assignment should be 2 typed pages and submitted as an attachment via email to: clahar@miyazaki-mic.ac.jp

In each class meeting, time will be allotted in class to add to your writing journal. This journal is a place where you can write about your reactions to the class, and also provide a forum for your questions on class material. At times, you will be asked to respond to questions posed by your teacher.