Child Psychology
David R. Cross, Ph.D.
"The child is father of the man." William Wordsworth
Child Psychology (PSYC 30323) is a first course in developmental psychology, emphasizing human development from conception through adolescence. The course satisfies requirements for the Major and Minor and Psychology, and for the Major and Minor in Child Development. The prerequisite for Child Psychology is an introductory course in psychology, such as General Psychology (PSYC 10213) or at least one semester of Principles of Behavior (PSYC 10514 and/or 10524). Child Psychology should be interesting and important for anyone who will be working with children, including parents and all sorts of professionals.
Course Objectives
The course objectives are:
- You will understand the fundamental themes of human development, from conception through adolescence.
- You will understand the major theoretical perspectives on human development, from conception through adolescence.
- You will experience various methods for gathering data abut human development.
These ideas are elaborated in Chapter 1 of the textbook.
Textbook
The textbook for the course is:
- Parke, R. D., & Gauvain, M. (2009). Child Psychology: A Contemporary Viewpoint (7th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Child Psychology is available in the TCU Bookstore. Otherwise, all of the information and materials you need are available here on my website.
Course Requirements
The course requirements include:
- There will be three midterm exams and a comprehensive final, each worth 50 points. The final exam is optional; you can take it if you want improve one of your midterm scores, or if you miss one of the midterm exams. There are no "make-up" exams in this course. You can earn up to 150 points for the exams.
- There will be ten laboratory activities, each worth 10–20 points. You can earn up to 100 points through the laboratory activities, which are listed below. You only need to do as many lab activities as is necessary to earn the number of points you want (up to 100).
Some of the activities will be done with a partner, and some will be done off campus. There will be a thorough overview during the first class meeting.
Grades
Grades will be based on 250 total possible points, and will be assigned as follows:
| Grade | Percent | Points |
| A | 90+ | 225+ |
| B | 80–89 | 200–224 |
| C | 70–79 | 175–199 |
| D | 60–69 | 150–174 |
| F | <60 | <150 |
We can discuss pluses or minuses.
Course Schedule
Here is the schedule of readings and exams:
- Part I: Infant Development
- Chapters: 1–6
- Exam: February 12th
- Part II: Cognitive Development
- Chapters: 7–10
- Exam: March 26th
- Part III: Social Development
- Chapters: 11–15, Epilogue
- Exam: April 28th
- Comprehensive Final Exam: May 7th
Laboratory Activities
Here is a list of ten laboratory activities, worth from ten to thirty points each. The titles are links to pdf documents describing each assignment. Deadlines will be announced in class.
- Carefrogs (20–30 points, off-campus)
- Infant Attachment (10 points, with a partner)
- Infant Play (10 points, with a partner)
- Scaffolding (10 points, with a partner)
- HOME Observation (10–20 points, off-campus)
- Parenting Style (10 points, with a partner)
- Child Care Quality (10–20 points, off-campus)
- Social Play (10 points, with a partner)
- Theraplay (10 points, with a partner)
- Scrapbook (10–20 points)
In addition to the individual activity descriptions, there is one other document that you should download and read, and that is Observational Methods. This document provides background for most of the laboratory activities, and is required reading for completing the assignments associated with each of those activities.
Class Photos