Interactive Syllabus

Place and time: Faculty of social studies, Joštova 10, Room U33, 16,00 - 17,45

This course is for foreign students only who are visiting Masaryk University (foreigners pursuing the degree at MU, Erasmus, ISEP, and other exchange programs). The course is not intended for the standard students pursuing a degree in the Czech language. The course requires basic knowledge in the field of psychology and social sciences, an interest in developmental and social psychology of youth. 

Supervisor:                            prof. PhDr. Petr Macek,  CSc.
Office:                                    2.45,  FSS MU, Joštova 10
Office Hours:                        by appointment
E-mail:                                   macek@fss.muni.cz

Contact person for students, teaching assistant:  Mgr. Lucia Kvasková    lucia.kvitkovicova@gmail.com

Course Format: Course will be conducted in the combined form of lectures and seminars. Participation of students on lectures and discussions is required (seven lectures as minimum); thus, class participation is important. Students are expected to come to class prepared and following updates in IS (e-learning system).

Class web: be familiar with use of on-line Information System (IS). Check PSYb0273 and look for the course study materials and organization updates regularly, check your student e-mail account. You will be required to submit your papers online. 

Evaluation:

 (1) Exam

·         There will be one exam (multichoice answer quiz) at the end of the semester covering the lectures and assigned readings (class presentations and reading materials, which will be available online as well).

·         The exam accounts for 50% of the final grade

·         Preparing for exam should be a process that is spaced out over time.

(2) Assignments

·         The remaining 50% of your grade is collected through assignments and class presentations.

Review Paper Assignment

·         The major assignment in this course is a brief research (review paper) on a specific topic about youth development.

·         First, students will choose a relevant topic about youth development. The topic selected will be proposed to the teaching assistant (Lucia Kvaskova, lucia.kvitkovicova@gmail.com ), before March 31st.

·         Second, if the selected topic is accepted, students will prepare the review paper (no more than 10 pages long, and at least 5 pages), and a Microsoft Power Point presentation. This brief research has to include relevant and, but not necessarily exclusively, new literature about the topic. For better results, we encourage students to give a cultural perspective, to propose new ideas, and to use the knowledge acquired during the lectures and seminars.

Paper presentation

·           Students will present their papers in a 5-10 minutes presentation using Microsoft Power Point. Each presentation should include the general information about the selected study (studies), which include title, names of authors, year and journal published. Also, in your presentation, state the main goal of the study (studies, how they overlap), theoretical background and rationale of the study (studies), and hypotheses. Introduce the sample and method to your audience. Present the results in clear way, so people in the audience understand them and state why are the results important, what do they actually mean. The overall impression, formal aspect, and content (how well was the research understood and presented) will be graded.

·         The evaluation of the present assignment will consider creativity, novelty, extent of the research, critical analysis of the data, and general quality of the paper and presentation.

·           Consider the following journals covering studies on adolescence: International Journal of Behavioral Development, Journal of Adolescence, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of Adolescent Research, Journal of Early Adolescence, Journal of Research on Adolescence, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, additionally also Child Development, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Developmental Psychology, Applied Developmental Science.

Grading Scale:

Your performance will be evaluated using the following criteria (subject to change):

Review Paper:                                                                               35%

Oral presentation:                                                                       15%

 Exam:                                                                                              50%

Grades will be assigned based on the following final average score:

Lecturers: