Research and Inquiry Skills

In this unit students will look at certain research skills, as follows:
Exploration - finding relevant topics in anthropology, psychology, and sociology, and formulate questions appropriate to each discipline to guide their research
Investigating: They will be taught how to create research plans, and locate and select information relevant to their chosen topics, using appropriate social science research and inquiry methods
Processing Information: They will learn how to assess, record, analyse, and synthesize information gathered through research and inquiry.
Communicating and Reflecting: They will learn to communicate the results of their research and inquiry clearly and effectively, and reflect on and evaluate their research, inquiry, and communication skills.

Expected Hours of Instructions: 12 hours

Anthropology

Students will be introduced to major theories, perspectives, and research methods in anthropology. They will explore the contributions of notables in the area such as Noam Chomsky, Charles Darwin, Jane Goodall, the Leakeys, Margaret Mead, Edward Sapir, Marvin Harris, Richard Lee, Biruté Galdikas, Sherry Ortner. Students will be introduced to ideas of the major anthropological schools of thought (e.g., functionalism, structuralism, cultural materialism, feminist anthropology, postmodern or postcolonial anthropology) and explain how they can be used to analyse features of cultural systems. They will investigate how, from an anthropological perspective, how factors such as pandemic, environment, and globalization influence and shape human behaviour and culture. Students will look, from an anthropological perspective, the effects that diffusion, assimilation, and multiculturalism have on culture and how studying cultural systems of different times, places, and groups helps anthropologists understand human behaviour and culture in the present. They will look at how culture produced diverse forms of behavior and explore ways in which culture is an agent of socialization

Expected Hours of Instructions: 31 hours

Psychology

Students will explore the significance of contributions of influential psychologists (e.g., Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, Ivan Pavlov, Carl Rogers, B. F. Skinner, Thomas Bouchard, Mary Ainsworth, Leta Stetter Hollingworth, Carol Gilligan). They will be introduced to major theories in psychology and investigate how those theories (e.g., psychodynamic theory, behaviourism, cognitive theory, humanistic theory, feminist psychology theory), can be used to explain and understand human behaviour. They will look at the contribution of different psychological approaches to understanding human behavior, for instance, clinical, experimental, personality, abnormal, and developmental psychology. Students will look from a psychological perspective, how various influences (e.g., heredity, environment, personality, identity, developmental stage, attachment) contribute to an individual’s psychological development. Students will look at how ‘context’, from a psychological perspective can influence behavior. They will look at how diverse psychological factors (e.g., motivation, perception, attitudes, mental health, temperament) influence individual behaviour. identify and describe the role of socialization in the psychological development of the individual (e.g., effects of social isolation on language development, effects of group play experiences on emotional development). Students will assess how diverse personality traits (e.g., introversion, openness to experience, perfectionism) shape human behaviour and interaction in a variety of environments. They will also analyse the procedures of and ethical problems associated with major psychological experiments in socialization

Expected Hours of Instructions: 35 hours

Sociology

In this unit students will be introduced to various theories, perspectives, and research methods in sociology. They will look at how individual and social behavior is shaped from a sociological perspective. They will also look, from a sociological perspective, patterns of socialization. More specifically, students will look at contributions from various theorists to the field of sociology (e.g., Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Edward Said, Max Weber, Dorothy Smith, Charles Wright-Mills, Reginald Bibby, Gordon Allport, George Dei, Ibn Khaldun). Students will delve, from a sociological perspective, how diverse factors (e.g., social norms and expectations, social structures, social distinctions, socio-economic status, geographic location, physical environment, media coverage) influence and shape individual and group behaviour. They will also explore, from a sociological perspective, the relationship between prejudice and individual and systemic discrimination. STudents will look from a sociological perspective, how diverse influences (e.g., culture, religion, economics, media, technology) shape social behaviour (e.g., dating and courtship, social networking, bullying, following trends and fads). Students will explore how structural changes take place in social institutions (e.g., family; religious institutions; legal, political, educational, and health systems; the military) in response to diverse influences (e.g., demographic or economic change, introduction of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, social movements). They will look at how class influences social behavior. Students will look at the relative influence of primary agents of socialization (e.g., family, peers) and secondary agents of socialization (e.g., media, religion) on the socialization of the individual

Expected Hours of Instructions: 30 hours

FINAL EXAM

This is a proctored exam worth 30% of your final grade.

Expected Hours of Instructions:2 hours

Total 110 hours