Psychology of Adulthood – PSYC 235

CG • Section 8WK • 11/08/2019 to 04/16/2020 • Modified 09/05/2023

Course Description

This course focuses on viewing adult development as an integrative, dynamic, and continuous process terminated only at death. Theory and research will be applied to retirement and early to late adulthood.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Rationale

Based on personal experience with adults, most individuals have an idea about what happens in adulthood. Are these personal perceptions of adult development accurate? This course will seek to explain adult development and the process of aging so that students who interact with the adult population will have a solid theoretical and empirical foundation upon which to base their relationships and work.

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and presentations

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Life Line

Based on interviews with 2 family members, the student will construct 3 life lines including family members and himself/herself. The student will compare/contrast the timing of important life events and social roles. After completing the interviews and life lines, the student will write a brief 2-page summary. (CLO: A, D). 

Discussions (2)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, there will be 2 Discussions throughout the course. The purpose of Discussions is to generate interaction among students in regard to relevant, current course topics. The student is required to post 1 thread of at least 300 words and 2 replies of at least 150 words each. For threads and replies, the student must support his/her assertions with at least 1 citation (no more than 5 years old) in current APA format. Acceptable sources include the textbook and academic journal articles. An integrated biblical concept (cited) is also required in both the initial thread and each reply. (CLO: A, B, C, D). 

Critical Thinking Exercise (2)

Students will respond to questions/scenarios related to a specific topic from the assigned reading. Answers/responses should include citations as appropriate. The answers will be submitted in a typed Word document. An APA-formatted title page and reference page are required.

Research Paper: Topic and Outline Development

Using a template provided, students will show the progression of topic selection to purpose statement to basic outline. After completing this process, students will use the information to create an APA-formatted document with a title page, purpose statement, a reference list with at least 3 journal articles (that meet the specified criteria). The completed Topic and Outline Development template will be included after your references as an Appendix.

Research Paper: Final Paper

The student will complete a Research Paper in this course. This paper will provide a glimpse of the current state of knowledge in a specific subfield of adult development. The student will choose a research area in adult development, locate 3 articles (no more than 5 years old) from peer-reviewed, academic journals that examine that area, and write a 4-page paper synthesizing the articles and summarizing the findings. (CLO: A, B, C, D). 

Quizzes (8)

During this course, there will be 8 quizzes with 25 multiple-choice questions covering the textbook readings. Quizzes are open-book/open-notes and will have a 90-minute time limit. Students will have 2 attempts to complete each quiz and the highest score will be recorded. (CLO: A, B, C, D).