Spring, 2012Psychology 320-01 11:00 TTh location: Russell 033Dr. Hall Office: Russell 238 email: [email protected]: www.radford.edu/dhall Office Hours: Mon. & Wed. 8:00-9:00; Tue. 9:30-10:30Texts: Matlin, Cognition, 7th ed. Lehrer, How We Decide There will be 4 tests, all multiple choice, and each will count 25% of your grade. One and only one missed test can be made up by taking a closed book (i.e., no cheat sheet) essay test before the next scheduled test. Any test taken early also will be an essay test. You are expected to know material in the texts, whether I go over it in class or not (unless I specifically rule it out). You also are expected to know for the tests any supplementary information presented in class even if it is not in the text. To calculate your grade, I will add the 4 test grades together and divide by 4. Then I will add any extra credit (or deduct penalty points for poorattendance) to this final average.I use a 10 point scale to determine letter grades. You will be allowed to use a HANDWRITTEN “cheat sheet” for all tests. Specifically, you will be allowed1 standard size (8.5” X 11”) sheet of paper, and you may use both sides of it to HAND WRITE notes to use during the test. If you have a printed cheat sheet, you will lose 20 points from your test grade. If you use a cheat sheet, you will put your name on it and turn it in with your test. Write your own cheat sheet; do not collaborate.Attendance: 1. Starting the second week of classes, I will begin taking roll. 2. Effect of attendance on final average in course: No. of absences effect on average 0-2 + 3 points extra credit 3-6 no effect 7-10 lose one letter grade more than 10 absences automatically fail course, regardless of averageNote that you get several “free” absences. This is because ALL ABSENCES COUNT AS ABSENCES, REGARDLESS OF WHY YOU ARE ABSENT!!!!! There are no “excused” absences. Thus, you need not bother with doctor’s notes, emails explaining why you missed class, athletic schedules, etc. etc. because you already are getting the absences you need. Anyway, if you do lose points for excessive absences, you can always add points back to (and beyond) the points lost by doing additional extra credit. Note that if you miss more than 10 classes, you will fail regardless of test scores or any other extra credit. If you come to class too late, or leave too early, you should not sign (or have signed) the attendance sheet. Any day on which you are in class less than half of the class duration will be counted as an absence.Attendance will be taken by passing around a sheet on which you will sign your name (first and last, not justone or the other or your initials). Sign it the same way every time, as I do look at the signatures to be sure no one else has signed for you. The attendance sheet is the OFFICIAL record of your attendance, and it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO SIGN IT. If you do not sign it, you are counted as absent. Your memory of how many absences you think you have will not replace or modify the official attendance sheet record.If you come in a bit late, it is STILL YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to sign the attendance sheet after class.I will not keep a running total of your absences; if you are wanting to know how many absences you have, you will need to come to my office during my office hours and look through the attendance sheets. I will notrespond to emails asking how many absences you have. Additional extra credit:You may summarize, COMPLETELY IN YOUR OWN WORDS, recent scientific articles RELATED TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY (i.e., not just related to psychology in general). Find these online at such sites as sciencedaily.com, newscientist.com, and others (search for science news websites in a search engine to find some). Each summary will be one double-spaced page long (minimum), and source information must be listed, sufficient so that I could find the article if I choose (copy and paste the link in most cases). Turn these in stapled in groups of 5 summaries, with psyc320 extra credit written at the top, along with your name. For each bundle of 5 summaries, I will add 1 point to your FINAL AVERAGE IN THE CLASS.You do not need to turn in the articles themselves.ABSOLUTE DEADLINE: 5 P.M. FRIDAY, LAST DAY OF CLASSES.Both sources of extra credit (i.e., attendance & article summaries) will be added together, and you can do a maximum of 10 total points of extra credit combined (+3 and +7, or +10 for articles alone, for example). Note that I will not count any article for extra credit if it is not sufficiently about a cognitive psychology topic or if the summary is not at least one page long.CLASSROOM RULESThe primary purpose of classroom rules is to ensure an environment in which you will have the opportunity to learn the information in the course. I want you to be “in the moment” by paying attention to what is happening in class, thinking about it, and formulating questions to ask during class. Thus, behaviors that make it harder for you or others in the class to focus on the information being presented will be considered inappropriate and will not be tolerated.It is expected that your focus will be on the material being presented during class, not reading a book for another class, studying for another class, copying someone else’s notes, writing a letter to someone, sleeping, etc. Electronic devices will not be used during class, with the one exception being a computer for taking notes. If you do use a computer to take notes, I may ask you to email me those notes at the end of theclass. If I do not receive such notes, your computer privileges will be taken away. If you have a cellphone, turn it off, do not answer it if it does ring, do not leave the class to answer it, and do not text message during class. If I do suspect someone of using a computer to surf the web, email, instant message, etc. or see someone text messaging during class, I will call attention to your inappropriate behavior during class. Be aware that professors do have the right to have students removed from class (i.e., dropped from the course) for repeated violations of class rules. I also reserve the right to count you as absent if you are