An Applied, Experiential Approach to Cognitive Development

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  PSYC 3358
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a Psychology course for undergraduate students by Dr. Anahid Modrek at CSUSB. The open textbook provides cost-free, direct access to empirical reports that cover core theories of cognitive development. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to decrease the cost for students. Most student access the open textbook on canvas, via downloadable PDF links available to them on the home page.

Course Title and Number:  PSYC 3358 - An Applied, Experiential Approach to Cognitive Development  

Brief Description of course highlights:  This course provides a look at the lifespan development of human mental abilities in infants, children, and beyond. Lectures will presuppose some background and familiarity with introductory psychology material and perhaps developmental psychology.

On the course catalog site: https://catalog.csusb.edu/coursesaz/psyc/#:~:text=PSYC%203358.&text=Survey%20of%20the%20major%20theories,capacities%20from%20childhood%20through%20adulthood
PSYC 3358. Cognitive Development. Units: 3 
Semester Prerequisite: PSYC 2201 or PSYC/CD 2240.
Quarter Prerequisite: PSYC 100 and PSYC 201
Survey of the major theories, issues and research in the development of perceptual and cognitive capacities from childhood through adulthood. Formerly offered as PSYC 358.

Student population: Primary major is psychology, with typical incoming knowledge through common prerequisites such as introduction to psychology and/or introduction to developmental psychology.

Learning or student outcomes: By successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
• Identify basic theoretical models of cognitive and behavior change.
• Determine appropriate research methods used to test relations between behavior, psychology, and education.
• Distinguish various types of pedagogy and their effects on psychology, learning and life outcomes.
• Describe the role of individual differences, such as personality and perceived environment, in moderating the effects of parents on learning and cognitive development.
• Describe the matrix of individual, contextual, and socioeconomic factors that influence broader cognitive development and developmental trajectories.
• Explain why, and how, individuals might respond differently to environments.
• Critically evaluate current empirical literature in the field and consider its implications for cognitive development across the lifespan.
• Identify real-world applications of psychology, including the efficacy of interventions for addressing the achievement gap and addressing racial inequalities.  Course learning objectives are achieved through lecture, experiential learning, observation, reading, class discussion and self-directed learning

Key challenges faced and how resolved: A major challenge was students first assuming the readings were optional, and that there was no reading. This was immediately addressed by re-highlighting the syllabus and course requirements and stressing that all readings will be included on the exams.

Syllabus and Sample assignments: All the readings are made available from the Canvas website of the course. Some are reviews and some are journal articles. 

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: A No-Cost Approach to Experiential Learning of Cognitive Development

Brief Description: All of the readings are available from the Canvas website of the course. Some are reviews and some are journal articles. Students are responsible for material in the readings and the lectures. The exams tend to favor material present in both the readings and in the lectures. To do well, knowing and reading about both is definitely recommended. Ed Ted is commonly included which allows embedding of articles into videos.

Please provide a link to the resource:  One example of a resource is Ed Ted: https://ed.ted.com

Authors:  Anahid Modrek

Student access:  All of the readings are available from the Canvas website of the course. Some are reviews and some are journal articles. Students are responsible for material in the readings and the lectures. The exams tend to favor material present in both the readings and in the lectures. Ed Ted is included as a link on the home page which allows embedding of articles into videos.

Supplemental resources: Many empirical articles are accessed as PDFs via https://scholar.google.com, then then PDFs are uploaded onto the canvas site. 

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook. $125 per student.

License: Material is openly licensed. 

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process
Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. Students were so openly stressed about having to work and the cost of school/classes, and I felt obliged to support them in any way I can and this small adjustment seemed to have made a huge difference. Additionally, I found that this approach was much better than assigning the standard textbook and in fact improved their learning experience.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I went through the original textbook and identified core, referenced articles and delved deeper into them by offering them as assigned reading. This way it assured that they were not missing out on anything by not having the standard textbook.
Sharing Best Practices: Many of the empirical articles are accessed as PDFs via https://scholar.google.com, then then PDFs are uploaded onto the canvas site. Another example of a resource is Ed Ted: https://ed.ted.com 

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. A major challenge was students first assuming the readings were optional, and that there was no reading. This was immediately addressed by re-highlighting the syllabus and course requirements and stressing that all readings will be included on the exams.

Instructor Name:  Anahid Modrek, PhD
I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology at CSUSB. I teach Cognitive Development and Research Methods.

Please provide a link to your university page.
https://www.csusb.edu/profile/anahid.modrek

Please describe the courses you teach.
I primarily teach PSYC 3358 Cognitive Development and PSYC 6640 Research Methods. 3358 is with undergraduate students and 6640 is with graduate students.

I teach Cognitive Development and Research Methods which allow me to drive both theory and empirical approaches to unpacking the development of cognition across the lifespan. 

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.
I take a cultural approach in creating a sense of community within a classroom that values asking questions, debates, and open discussion. I actively employ classroom environments that not only foster self-directed problem-solving techniques, but also inquiry learning – learning to ask questions, and more importantly, knowing that questions are worth asking. Inquiry allows students to acquire new knowledge, but also helps develop their own independent learning skills, so they will be able and disposed to acquire the knowledge they will need. These are applied, interpersonal skills I learned, and employ, from teaching. 

Every class has a set of unique challenges. When I teach research methods, I focus on engaging students in discussions that opened a platform for discourse, question asking, and collaboration. When I noticed some students tended to dominate discussions, I asked others to voice their critical perspectives, to address one another’s claims, and to understand how others were able to draw different conclusions than them. What was most promising, is that I felt throughout the semester, more and more students were willing to raise their hands and respond to one another’s comments.