How Social Environments Shape Human Development

Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Overview of major theoretical, conceptual, and empirical traditions in study of human development. Exploration of how diverse cultural, social, socioeconomic, and historical contexts interact with biological, cognitive, and psychological processes to affect individuals during key developmental periods (such as early childhood, childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, and late adulthood). Topics may include historical changes in families, schools, neighborhoods, and workplace; economic conditions of families, schools, and neighborhoods; enduring effects of childhood on adult well-being; and impact of ascribed characteristics such as gender, race, and nationality on individuals? environments, pathways, and outcomes. Letter grading.

Review Summary

Clarity
10.0 / 10
Organization
10.0 / 10
Time
0-5 hrs/week
Overall
10.0 / 10

Reviews

    Quarter Taken: Winter 2024 In-Person
    Grade: A+

    Super easy class. In fact, it was my easiest class this quarter but I overheard from other classmates that your experience could vary depending on your TA. My TA (Stephanie) was amazing!! She was really approachable and very responsive to questions that we had. The discussion sections were comprised of breaking up into small groups to discuss one of the week's readings, and usually 1-2 people would share with the rest of the section what they discussed. Attendance is taken both in lecture and discussion (10%). You can only be up to 15 minutes late to lecture or else you cannot sign the attendance sheet.

    The course is very similar to AP Psychology but a lot of the concepts are applied to the different stages of life (adolescence, adulthood, etc.) I enjoyed learning the content and the assignments were really easy. There were only 3 writing assignments (30%), where you write a half to 1-page reflection based on a week's reading. You write one in a week of your choosing (you are limited to completing only one reflection each week), so I suggest knocking out all of them before midterms. They took me around 30 minutes to an hour each and they are essentially graded on completion. The midterm (30%) and final papers (30%) were both take-home and scenario-based essays that were around 3-4 pages each. They only took me about 2-3 hours to complete. During the final, she gives up to 5 points of extra credit (5%)

    Although I personally have not interacted with Professor Demko outside of class, many students felt comfortable approaching her after class. She seemed really sweet and understanding toward students. The pace and structure of the class felt right to me and I enjoyed how we got to focus on the different stages of life throughout the quarter.

Course

Instructor
Courtney Demko
Previously taught
25W 24W 23S

Grading Information

  • Has a group project

  • Attendance required

  • 1 midterm

  • 10th week final

  • 100% recommend the textbook

Previous Grades

Grade distributions not available.