Intended for Psychology and Education students. Introduction to Psychology. This course examines the meaning of community and the ways in which communities change. Students will read some of the classical approaches to community studies in sociology as well as the use of new methodologies to document community activism and participatory research. This course is designed to give students an understanding of the formation of social policy at the local, state, and federal levels.
Attention is directed towards the socio-economic forces that impact on social policy formation.
Each student will prepare a written policy case study and make an oral presentation. This course is required for Social Work majors. Students will be expected to interpret a selection of primarily non-fiction texts and to demonstrate logic, clarity, organization, and support in expository essays which reflect on these readings. There will be a focus on the writing process, on revisions, peer critiquing and individual conferences. A portion of the course will be devoted to research techniques and to conventional MLA formatting and the development of a research paper.