PSYCH 3210
Developmental Psychology
This course concentrates on the cognitive and social development of the person from conception to adoldscence. Topics covered include: infant perception, attachment, cognitive development from Piagetian and information processing perspectives, aggression and biological bases of behavior. PREREQ: Psych 100B.
Instructors
Reviews
Only midterms and final project are counted for grade, so there is no redemption opportunity. The test is very specific and memory-based; but Professor Hale uses anecdote in her lecture, so it is very difficult to know what to study for. She is a nice professor, but overall, I would not recommend taking this class for credits.
4/18/2025
2 or less hrs/week
Easy class material and interesting topic. Professor likes to go on tangents that are not relevant to the rest of the class but most material is found in slides for tests.
5/20/2024
Personally, I love Dr. Hale as a professor. I think she's super sweet, her lectures are funny, and our conversations have always been super interesting. But, her class structure does make it difficult to do well. It's hard to tell what is going to be important and what is a tangent. But, once you get used to her style, it gets much easier.
10/12/2022
Dr. Hale is clearly a knowledgeable researcher. She's also very kind and tells great stories. That being said, class was pretty disorganized. The textbook material was incorporated into lectures seemingly on a whim & the slides were hard to read. Preparing for exams (on which almost your entire grade is based) was consequently an absolute gamble.
12/24/2021
Great professor and researcher, less great lecturer. Although she is greatly respected and I enjoyed her class a lot, she goes on a lot of tangents. Her grading was not hard and based almost entirely on midterms, with one major essay for our final.
12/11/2021
A kind, warm-hearted, and talkative grandma-like professor. But too old to teach. Incessantly got stuck on technical issues. Gave random off-topic interesting anecdotes but have no use on the exam. WashU should make sure professors are technology savvy to a certain extent.
11/20/2021
1) professor clearly communicates her expectations for students, including when they should refer to the textbook, what types of essay questions to be prepared to answer on exams, etc. 2) professor will accommodate your needs (empathetic)! 3) AMAZING powerpointsthey are organized, illustrated, and highlight key points 4) TIP: attend Q&As!
11/25/2020
Professor Duchek is simply amazing and gives incredible lectures. I always look forward to coming to her class because of the high energy she has and her genuine love for developmental psychology.
4/17/2020
definitely the most difficult class I've taken at wash u. not an easy a, but definitely the most I have learned by FAR in a psych course. she is adorable and obviously very passionate about teaching. the averages on our tests were low B's - high C's, but you CAN do well if you go to class, pay attention, and do a bit of memorizing. def recommend.
12/4/2019
One of the sweetest professors I have had and definitely an expert in Dev Psych. That said, lectures are very fast paced (even hard to keep up with notes if typing on the computer) and you have to memorize a boatload of psych studies for the tests (# of participants, type of study, etc) which is time consuming. If you study a lot, you can do well.
4/5/2019
She is definitely a very nice person, and she is definitely passionate about what she is teaching, but she wasn't the best at conveying the information to everyone. She does tell a lot of good stories though that pertain to what we are learning, which kept class entertaining. Tests were very hard and a little unpredictable.
12/21/2018
LOVE her and her lectures are so interesting. You HAVE to go to class because her lecture slides are pretty bare, so take notes on what she says in lecture. Tests are kind of tricky, but once you get the hang of it they aren't too bad. If you can take a class with Duchek, DO IT. She cares so much about her students and is such a funny, warm person.
5/12/2018
Professor Duchek is great! She is genuinely nice person who wants her students to understand the concepts she is teaching. However a lot of people go into dev psych thinking they won't have to work and quickly find out this class involves a fair amount of studying. If you are willing to do the work, I 10/10 recommend Duchek!
5/7/2018
Amazing professor! Would definitely recommend taking one of her classes soon if you can!
4/26/2018
Duchek is sweet and a great professor. Had her for 321 & Intro. She definitely cares about her students. Tests are heavily based on lecture, so showing up to class is worth it. If there is something on the test that was not covered in lecture, she will be specific about it. Tests are pretty hard and require lots of memorization & studying to pass.
3/31/2018
I can't speak highly enough of her... a truly phenomenal professor. Easily one of WashU's best.
2/14/2018
I wish I could take every psychology class with Professor Duchek, she is a real gem. Best psychology class I have ever had at WashU! I can't rave about her enough.
4/26/2017
Prof. Duchek is a fantastic professor! She is engaging and takes care to try and learn as many names as possible in 200-300 person classes. She's incredibly kind and her lectures are fun too! She even brought in multiple times (for developmental psych) some colleague's children for us to play cognitive games with in front of the class!
1/17/2017
Professor Duchek is by far the best professor I have ever had. Her class was my favorite throughout my college experience thus far and if I could take it again I would. She is a great lecturer and her tests are extremely straight forward. If you pay attention (which isn't hard in her class) you will be just fine! Love love love Jan Duchek
4/27/2016