psychology discussion

Curriculum

Instructions, Examples, Specifications, and Grading

This section requires you to review your upper-level course work 3000-level and above. Think about what classes you took and what accomplished in them. The successful Curriculum section is about showing rather than just telling. This is your time to show off your best work, focusing on particular skills. For example, pick an assignment (project or paper) where you did a particularly strong job. Fully describe your work. Prove that you can do what you say you can do. This involves making the important distinction AWAY from just a list of your courses and what you did in them—to who you are as a professional and a creative problem solver.

As you list and discuss your advanced course work, you’ll give your readers a glimpse into (1) what you know, as well as what skills you have developed (2) how you have met (or can meet) challenges, (3) how you can help others. 

EXAMPLES

Mark

In my American Government Class, I was assigned to analyze an issue within an area of environmental policy and propose a solution. This project required research and writing skills, policy analysis, and critical thinking. I chose to write about the environmental policies and problems associated with the practice of industrial agriculture. This particular area of environmental policy is one that I continue to independently research, and I am passionate about educating others on the existence of this problem. In my appendix, I have uploaded my Environmental Policy paper “Industrial Farms and Florida’s Algae Crisis: Myths and Facts We All Need to Understand.” In that paper, my research helped me to explain how some of the information about algae blooms is hype and hysteria, but other information matters a lot, if we are going to have government policies and regulations that protect drinking water and tourism. Outside of class, I have written two letters to the editor about this issue. I sent one letter to the Miami Herald (It wasn’t published but I think I raised important points) and I sent another letter to The Beacon, FIU’s student-run newspaper. That editorial letter was published in June 2019. Copies of both letters are in the appendix to this report.

In my Environmental Engineering class, one main assignment had us analyze how climate change affects a topic of my choice, then write and send a letter to a politician about my findings and make educated policy recommendations. I chose to research how climate change effects cities and the strategies that are being used now to develop climate-friendly cities. I wrote my letter to the governor of Florida. For the purposes of this report, I have attached my annotated bibliography for the assignment to showcase the research that went into the letter. I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment, and it is one of the reasons that I got interested in incorporating sustainability in my future career path.

In my Business Writing class ENC3213, our final independent project was to write a technical report on a topic of our choosing. My team and I chose to research and write about zero waste policies around the world to incorporate both of my fields of study into the project. This project required academic research, critical thinking and analysis, team work, and technical writing skills. This project also required primary research, so I chose to interview the leader of FIU’s Zero Waste club. This was a great way to learn more about environmental issues and environmental activism on campus. I am also proud that I was a strong team member. I kept our team focused and made sure that we turned in our work on time; when one team member couldn’t deliver her part on time because of illness, I stepped in and made sure that my team’s submission was complete.

Ana Maria

Accounting Information Systems Group Paper

My College of Business courses exposed me to topics that affect the business side of healthcare. The first document below was from a group presentation on information security in my Accounting Information Systems (AIS) course. Information security and data protection are relevant to nearly all fields, but especially in healthcare, where every patient's personal information and records must be protected. Additionally, several years ago, most healthcare organizations started making the transition from paper to automated charting and systems and accounting information systems have truly changed the way healthcare entities save and process this massive amount of data. Most significantly, accounting information systems provide management with information that helps protect the entity's assets and aids in better decision making. As someone who wants to have a role in healthcare management, this course provided an excellent introduction to the relevant AIS tools that can help improve the decision-making process.

Affordable Care Act- Court Case Analysis

In my Contemporary Issues in Social Science- Supreme Court course, I chose to write a paper on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Currently, the United States system of health care performs inefficiently with increased health care costs and more costs shifting to consumers. The ACA presents more taxes and government interference than most Americans are ready to handle but given the amount of waste that is currently occurring in healthcare, change was and is desperately needed. The Affordable Care Act is growing in significance in the United States and many changes in healthcare will continue to develop because of this policy. The research for this paper helped me become familiar with the Affordable Care Act, examining both the pros and cons of a decision that affects all Americans. Also, I am now a voter and this class and my work in it helped me to think about which policies and politicians to support. I don’t have all the answers but now I think that I am asked better (deeper) questions.

Bus 3350- Ethics Case Study

The last document listed in my appendix is a paper I wrote for my Legal Environment of Business course on ethics. I analyzed a case relating to a small business owner facing an ethical dilemma. Even though there are many factors that influence our economic environment, such as unemployment, political relations, or slow growth, the lack of ethics in the business world causes many of the problems that we face today. For instance, in regards to the financial crash of 2008 in the United States, mortgage companies were practically throwing mortgages at people, which can be boiled down to a loan officer making a decision to meet loan issuance goals and in turn, skip steps in order to meet those goals. Soon there were investment companies and other businesses relying on the payment of loans that could not be paid, all due to the unethical, but profitable “oversight” of the mortgage loan processor. Ethics extend to all fields, business and medicine alike. The scenarios may be different, but there are personal, underlying moral principles that determine and define how we act.

Jackie

PSY 2210 Cognitive Development Theories

Throughout many of my artifact reflections here, you will see the mention of psychological theories of cognition as well as sociocultural theory. The reasons why I predominantly include these theories is because I believe they are the most related to medicine. For PSY 2210, I completed several homework assignments that demonstrate my understanding of two theories of cognitive development: Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory. These assignments are attached in my appendix. In them I was tasked with comparing the two theories as well as demonstrating their benefits as they relate to children. In my reflections and connections to medicine, I tend to apply Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory often. With regard to the treatment and management of a disease, sociocultural theory can be a strong component when it comes to analyzing, treating, and caring for a patient. In other words, sociocultural theory can be integrated into the treatment protocol for a patient. Analyzing an individuals' sociocultural upbringing in addition to the standard patient history allows the physician to examine the whole patient; it can aid in creating a more holistic view. The idea that humans in general are products of their culture represents what they have been exposed to throughout their life thus far. Therefore, if I were to become a physician, I would want a specific treatment protocol consisting of three components: a biochemical analysis, a genetic analysis, and a sociocultural analysis. This could be an innovative way to investigate sources of problems when it comes to diagnosing and treating a particular disease, or affliction. This may sound highly optimistic, time consuming, and costly, but I believe if one were able to develop a three factor component analysis focused on nature and nurture, which is in essence a highly structured patient history, one will have the opportunity to create better treatment protocols for patients. These protocols do not only include medications, but they also include resources that may facilitate the patient in bettering themselves and their environment because as a physician, one is not simply treating disease, but one is treating the person as well. In other words, analyzing a patient biochemically, genetically, and socioculturally, provides a novel way of thinking about patient care.

PSY 2020 Laboratory (PSY 2020L) Annotated Bibliographies on 2 sources

This particular assignment is related to my methods paper on spatial ability and organic chemistry. In my PSY 2020L, I was required to write annotated bibliographies (AB's) for each of my sources. This was a difficult process at first because my AB’s were entirely too long. Typically, AB’s are supposed to be one page, a page and a half at the max; unfortunately, at the beginning of the course, my first AB was 4 pages long because I thought I had to include everything about a source. However, as the course progressed I learned and realized that only the significant aspects of a study should be included in the AB. The annotated bibliographies I have attached represent 2 sources I wrote upon, each a page in length. Another reason why I included this assignment is because it gives you insight into the writing process of a complex psychological research proposal. Although AB’s are not as stringent as article analyses, they can still be challenging.

Spatial Ability and OCHEM Research Presentation

The main reason I chose to include the PowerPoint presentation from this class in my appendix is because it was an assignment directly associated with my methods paper completed and presented in my PSY 2020L. In the presentation, I had to reflect briefly on why I chose to pursue this topic and I had about 7-9 minutes to present on my topic. Overall, an important aspect I learned from this presentation was the ability to condense my 12-page paper into a presentation done in a timely fashion. In addition, I learned that I could be specific, yet brief at the same time. In the past with my research papers, I have been very specific, but not in a brief manner. I think that with this paper and presentation I really improved upon my specificity as well as my brevity. This presentation represents my interdisciplinary degree in the same way the paper does and although not directly related to a particular theory, the cognitive perspective would be the indirect relation. To expand more on this indirect integration and application of the cognitive perspective, or perhaps even cognitive-behavioral theory, one can focus on the whole concept of cognitivism. As learned in my Cognitive Science course, the principle of cognitivism is the study of mental processes, such as how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems; unlike behaviorism, cognitive researchers acknowledge the existence of complex mental states (Shelton, 2016). There happens to be an experiment that was performed by Tolman in 1948, which supports this perspective and is also related to spatial ability. In the experiment, mice were to take one of three routes in order to get to the food; however, when the experimenter blocked two of the routes to observe what the mice would do, the mice figured out on their own that they should follow the route that was not blocked. The mice did this without ever being taught, which goes against the behaviorists' notions that everything has to be learned. Therefore, Tolman concluded that the mice were using complex cognitive, or spatial maps in order to figure out which routes to take when others were blocked. Experiments such as these provide significant evidence that thoughts do influence

How to get started writing your Curriculum section

STEP 1.

You may be able to recall the classes you want to discuss from memory. But most students benefit from looking at a copy of their transcript.

STEP 2.

Consider the differences in tone, style, level of detail etc. Your own statement of purpose may resemble one of these. Indeed, writing a first draft based on an example or combination of examples is a good idea. BUT don’t let these examples limit your thinking or personal expression. You may want to begin with a quote from a famous person, use a quote from your mom, or skip the quote. You may want to discuss your personal motivations or get right down to the facts. You may want to list your classes or discuss how your work life lead you to this path.

STEP 3.

Write a rough draft – let’s call that Statement of Purpose 1.0. Write Statement of Purpose 1.0 as quickly as you can and then put it away until after you have completed most of the report. Forget about Statement of Purpose 1.0 until most of your report is at least in draft form.

STEP 4. Once your have a draft of all sections of your report, you are in a good position to revise Statement of Purpose 1. You are ready for Step 4. Take Statement of Purpose 1.0 out its dusty vault and hold it up to the sun. Ah. Now read your report draft and compare it to the claims you made in Statement of Purpose 1.0. Ask yourself these questions:

· Does Statement of Purpose 1.0. accurately introduce my report?

· Are there important ideas or representative experiences in the report that should be highlighted in the Statement of Purpose but aren’t? Remember this isn’t a treasure hunt where its your reader’s job to figure out what matters. It’s your job to show the reader what matters.

· If Statement of Purpose 1.0. isn’t the best map it can be for the treasures sprinkled throughout in your report, why not? How can you revise toward this goal?

· Does your Statement of Purpose 1.0 share any Big Ideas or Themes about you and your life? It should. Your reader should understand you (and maybe even like you) and your report better because they read your Statement of purpose. That is the work of a Statement of Purpose.

Pro Tip: Collaborating isn’t cheating. You may want to exchange reports with a writing buddy or two from class and then you and your buddies can help each other to make sure that each of you has a Statement of Purpose that gets the job done.

1.

My name is Marie Joseph. I am a Miami native and student at FIU. This report tracks the process and the time spent in specific concentrations in order to achieve my degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. Much of my time and project completion will be illustrated throughout Report to give an explanation of how my concentrations of Interior Architecture and Early Childhood Education being combined will help me to reach my goals of designing and building areas specifically for younger children. From looking at the surface of these two concentrations, there is no related content that could be understood. However, when digging into the information of each, we see that children can succeed, learn, and grow more effectively when in certain environments. These environments are those that relax and present the best possible structures, colors, and angles so that younger children can better reach their maximum potential. For these reasons, society needs people who think about design in terms of young children’s needs and growth and I want to be one of those experts. I will be reflecting on specific projects in Interior Architecture to present the design aspect, while also including materials from my Early Childhood Education courses to show how children learn. This way, I can prepare myself to share the usefulness of my education with graduate schools and employers. (221 words)

2.

"In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take." -- Lewis Carroll

Acquiring my degree in Liberal Studies is a culmination of more than 20 years of education, life, and work experience. Combining the disciplines of Business and Communication allows me to sharpen the skill set I have acquired in my years of work as well as the education I have received over time at Florida International University. Having begun my studies at FIU in 2007 and restarted 10 years later, much has changed in the world and the workplace. While my path to this degree may not have been the most traditional one, I feel my education and experience make me uniquely qualified for a variety of career paths.

Effective communication is an important part of any job. The tools used in business before the digital revolution really took off have changed remarkably. The classes I have taken upon my return to school deal with a business world and communication methods that were relatively unknown, even non-existent. My education has allowed me to explore new concepts in business and communication within. This report reflects my ability to communicate professionally, highlight my organizational skills and be a testament to the well-rounded skill-set I have acquired.

Education comes in many forms: lectures, books, hands-on learning, life experience, exploration and even from failure. This portfolio will include a brief introduction to me, overview of my curriculum with the detail of my coursework and artifacts that show my skills and abilities. While I have not chosen a new career path at this time, I truly believe the diverse coursework is an asset in my everyday life, as well as to my future career and future employers. (271 words, not including quote)

3.

I began studying Communication and Business Administration because of my love for writing and interacting with people. After entering the second Media Writing course, I started shooting and editing video. I fell in love from the very moment I started. I’ve always loved technology and my Interdisciplinary Studies degree combines my love for technology with writing, another thing I’ve always loved.

In this Report, I have combined different aspects of each of the two disciplines as well as different projects, tests, and assignments that represent what I have learned. I am particularly proud of the video that I wrote, produced, and shot for my fraternity that highlights our volunteer efforts. It started out as a class assignment, but I kept working on it on my own time and the final product is linked to our Facebook page. The report is about the journey that video represents and about the different skills and categories I have learned including: writing for news, creative writing, research, photography, videography, video editing, and many aspects of business. I intend to use the information assembled in this report to prepare for future interviews to demonstrate my skills to employers. The Report is representative of video projects both within classes as well as projects done outside of school. I hope this Report serves not only as an example to other IDS students and those seeking to be, but also as a reminder that everyone can find and do what they love. (224 words)

4.

This Report shows how I chose to integrate Accounting, Biology, and Pre-Medicine into a cohesive degree that prepares me for competitive graduate programs, such as MD/MBA joint degree programs or MD/Ph.D. programs. I realize this combination may seem unusual, even unconventional to some, but it cannot be ignored that medicine and business are becoming increasingly integrated in our healthcare system. As our society and our economy change, I believe this integration will grow in significance.

The Curriculum: Research and Lab Experience section of my Report shows various projects and lab work from my core classes- Cellular Biology, Molecular Genetics, Genetics, Anatomy, Physiology, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biomedical Ethics, and the Development of Scientific Thought. Through the process of spending extensive hours in the lab for my departmental honors thesis, I found myself developing a real love for research and its process. The Business of Medicine section of my report showcases various presentations and projects I worked on during my time at FIU that are applicable to medicine. My core business coursework was both technical and conceptual with courses in Intermediate Accounting, Governmental Accounting, the Legal Environment of Business, Accounting Information Systems, International Markets, Intercultural Management, International Project Management, and Personnel Diagnostics and Development Tools.

When I first started looking into medical school and graduate programs, the MD/MBA dual program caught my eye, because there seems to be a lot of controversy/concern about how healthcare companies are managed. The accounting aspect of my degree established a foundation in business that I will be able to build upon as I pursue higher education in healthcare. Because my approach to medicine and business is unorthodox, I will use this report to help support and clearly explain my undergraduate degree to potential employers, research programs, as well as graduate schools. (294 words)

Specifications Checklist

To earn all available points, your Statement of Purpose section must include all elements listed below. If your goal for this course is to earn an A, be sure to check off your completion of each element.

Content

☐ expresses ideas clearly and in your own words

☐ accurately introduces your report

☐ shares big idea and themes AND provides supporting details

☐ reflects a careful reading of each step in the instructions and of the examples

Document Formatting and Length

☐ consists of 200-400 words

☐ word count identified after last sentence

☐ follows standard professional document formatting (1" margins on all sides, double spacing, professional font such as Times New Roman or Calibri, 12pt font)

Proofreading

☐ demonstrates sufficient self-review to avoid careless errors like typos, misspellings, missing words, sentences without standard capitalization or punctuation.

Resources

For writing: make an appointment with the Center for Excellence in Writing

Statement of Purpose

Grading Rubric

	Excellent work 50 points	Almost there 30-40 points	Insufficient investment of time 0-30 points
Content	Satisfies each element on the specifications check list AND appears to be the product of at least two drafts.	Satisfies each element on the specifications check list but may have been hastily written. Reads like a first draft: Choppy organization, rather than a series of careful ideas, flowing one to the next. Repetition or vagueness undermine the submission’s power.	Misses one or more elements from the specifications check list. Reads like a first draft: Choppy organization, rather than a series of careful ideas, flowing one to the next. Repetition or vagueness undermine the submission’s power.
Document specs	Satisfies each element on the specifications check list.	Misses one element on the specifications check list.	Misses more than one element on the specifications check list.
Proofreading	Demonstrates sufficient self-review to avoid careless errors	Contains one or two careless errors that the writer could have caught by reviewing the work more carefully	Contains more than two errors that the writer could have caught by reviewing the work more carefully. Work that sacrifices points here often contains misspelling that Spellcheck flagged, sentences that don’t make sense because of missing words, proper nouns that haven’t been capitalized. (Ex: florida International University).