Course Description (University Bulletin)

An in-depth examination of theory, research and personal attitudes concerning gender development over the lifespan. Interaction of gender and effective personal functioning in family, educational, and work-related settings.

Course Objectives:

In recent years, scholars in the area of the psychology of women have worked toward "engendering" psychology. This means cultivating a psychology that is sensitive to issues of sex, gender, and diversity. In this course, we will examine how scholars, practitioners and advocates have engendered many areas of psychology from research design to developmental psychology to the psychology of violence and victimization.

This course will be taught from a feminist perspective. The major goal of feminism is the pursuit of equality for women and men and the creation of a society that is free of the oppression and marginalization of certain groups. This perspective assumes that sexism, racism, classism, ageism, heterosexism, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination all share common roots. Thus, attention will be given to understanding how social categories shape our individual experiences and how institutionalized power and privilege serve to "silence" some experiences, voices, stories, and discourses. The primary focus of this course will be a critical examination of this process in the traditional scientific discourse related to gender and gender development. Students will be challenged to actively search out and critically examine underlying assumptions that leave behind both "unasked questions" and "unquestioned answers" in the privileged discourse.

A major feminist value is to respect diversity in cultures and in individual identities. The "classroom climate" of this course is intended to reflect these values. That is, it is expected that learning will take place through actively listening, reflecting, thinking, and interacting with others. Each student (and the instructor) is expected to take responsibility for establishing his/her own learning goals, devising a plan for meeting those goals, and evaluating progress toward those goals.

Each class member (and the instructor) is expected to contribute to the establishment of a positive "learning community" by preparing for class, participating in classroom discussions, asking questions, responding respectfully to classmates, and respecting individual differences.

Additionally, at the completion of this course, students should be able to:
· demonstrate knowledge of psychological theories and research related to gender.
· connect knowledge of theory and research to personal experiences.
· demonstrate critical thinking skills in evaluating research processes and findings.
· discuss examples of biases in traditional psychological research and in American culture.
· Appreciate how gender, culture, and ethnicity interact in complex ways to affect persons' experiences.

Attendance and Class Preparation Policy: This class will operate as a collaborative graduate seminar. Each student is expected to attend all class meetings, bring textbooks and written assignments on the readings, and prepare notes, questions, and comments. As with other graduate-level seminars, between class meetings you should plan to spend a minimum of nine hours per week reading, studying, completing your research projects and written assignments. See the University Bulletin for the definition of an unexcused absence. More than one unexcused absence will negatively affect the final grade for the course.

Grading Policy: 90-100 = A; 80-89 = B; 70-79 = C.

Late papers: Papers are due at the beginning of class. The penalty for turning in a paper late is 10% of the point value and another 10% for every 24 hour period thereafter.

Required Learning Activities

1. Required Reading:

QUESTIONS: Anselmi, D.L, & Law, A.L. (1998). Questions of Gender: Perspectives & Paradoxes. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

GCE: Peplau, L.A., DeBro, S.C., Veniegas, R.C., & Taylor, P.L. (1999). Gender, culture, and ethnicity: Current research about women and men. London: Mayfield.

Supplemental Texts (On Reserve in Education Library)

Caplan, P. J. & Caplan, J.B. (1999). Thinking critically about research on sex and gender (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.

Johnson, N.G., Roberts, M.C., & Worell, J. P. (Eds). (1999). Beyond Appearances: A New Look at Adolescent Girls. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Rostosky, S. S. & Travis, C. (2000). Menopause and sexuality: Ageism and sexism unite. In C.B. Travis and J.W. White (Eds), Sexuality, Society, and Feminism (pp. 181-209). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

2. Individual Learning Contract: The purpose of this assignment is to document your plan for achieving your specific learning goals for this course. Give it careful consideration. Two copies of the contract are to be turned in to Dr. R on Jan 23. One will be returned the following week with suggestions and/or feedback.

3. Reflection Papers: Six written assignments based on the readings will be used as the basis for group discussion. The purpose of these journal assignments is to help you: 1) focus your reading of the course material; 2) develop your critical thinking skills; 3) apply theoretical constructs to your personal experiences; and 4) prepare for meaningful class discussion. These assignments should be the equivalent of approximately 4 typed double-spaced pages. 6 points each: Total: 30 points toward final grade. (Note that you may elect to skip ONE during the semester with no penalty)

4. Gender Psychobiography Report: One assumption underlying this course is that society constructs gender, which means that being male or female is defined by society in a particular way within a given place and time. To gain an appreciation of this, students choosing this project will study scholarly biographical and/or autobiographical materials about an eminent person in history and write an essay that integrates what they have learned with other course and/or supplementary readings on lifespan gender development.

Length should be approximately 10 pages plus references. Use APA style and submit a "Quality Assurance Contract" (See additional guidelines in handout). Due dates: 2 copies for peer review are due Feb 6. Final revised paper, first draft, and peer-review of your paper are due: March. 20 (20 points).

5. Peer review: You will be asked to review drafts of two papers and provide typed feedback on how to improve the final paper. Approximately 45 minutes of class time will be provided on Feb 20th for compiling the feedback. (Total: 6 points toward final grade).

6. Project: Select one of the available projects that interests you. Complete the project and share your findings with the class in a short (NOT MORE THAN 14 minute) presentation. Total: 14 points toward final grade.

7. Group presentation: Select a topic that is of particular interest to you from the second or third 'module' of the class. You will work with a small group in creating a powerpoint presentation on some aspect of this topic that goes beyond the coverage provided by the class readings. Each group will be given 45-50 minutes to present what they have learned on the day that we discuss that general topic. Each group will also be expected to supply the class members with a one-page annotated bibliography of THE MOST USEFUL current research/scholarship related to the topic (20 points).

8. Class participation: This is a graduate course. Therefore, you are expected to be an ACTIVE participant, to take responsibility for your own learning experience, and to positively contribute to our learning community. This means that you should come to class ready to share ideas, pose questions, raise issues, and dialogue about the course content and current applications. (10 points toward final grade).

GRADING CRITERIA

Grading criteria for Gender Psychobiography

Late Papers are penalized 10% starting at 1:05 on the day the paper is due and an additional 10% each 24 hours thereafter.

Quality of Ideas: (12 points)
Integrates ideas from reading and displays critical analysis/evaluative skills in a way that communicates a range and depth of understanding of the scholarly literature on the lifespan gender development issues addressed in this course.

Organization and development: (3 points)
Has an effective title, a logical and clear arrangement of ideas, effective transitions, unified and coherent paragraphs, and good development of ideas through use of supporting details and examples.

Clarity and Style: (3 points)
Sentences are clear and understandable. Sentence structure is varied, mature, and even graceful J APA style is flawlessly applied in formating references and citations. Longs strings of direct quotes are conscientiously avoided!

Writing Mechanics (2 points)
Absence of usage and grammatical errors; accurate spelling; careful proofreading; attractive and appropriate manuscript form.

Grading criteria for Reflection papers

5-6 points: Critical thinking/reflection on content is integrated with personal experience.
Highly readable.
3-4 points: Some evidence of critical thinking and adequately articulated.
1-2 points: Evidences that the reading has been done.
Minimal attempt at addressing issues posed.
0 points: no submission.

Grading criteria for Presentations

Quality of Ideas and Contribution to course objectives: 50%
Organization and logical presentation of points and conclusion: @30%
Professional presentation style: @20%