Curriculum for Psychology Major

Your career in psychology begins now with Champlain’s Upside-Down Curriculum. Discover the difference that doing on day one has on your success.

Psychology Curriculum

Our Upside-Down Curriculum is designed to prepare psychology students like you with a comprehensive understanding of the human mind, behavior, and the scientific study of psychology. It offers a strong foundation in psychological theories, research methods, and practical skills necessary for success in the psych field.

The curriculum covers a wide range of topics, including cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, abnormal psychology, social psychology, and neuroscience. Students gain a deep understanding of human behavior and the factors that influence it. Plus, it emphasizes a hands-on approach to learning, giving you opportunities to engage in research projects, internships, and field experiences that provide practical applications of psychological theories and concepts.

Interested in studying abroad for a semester? We’ve designed the curriculum so you can take a semester studying abroad without getting behind on required courses for your major.

Learning Outcomes for Psychology

First Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
Second Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
Third Year
Fall Semester
- PSY 340 Behavioral Neuroscience (Take either Fall or Spring of 3rd year; SCI115 Pre or Coreq to PSY340)
- SCI 115 Human Biology, Introduction to (Take either Fall or Spring of 3rd year)
- XXX Concentration, Minor and/or Elective Courses
- COR 301 Core Foundations: Connecting Place and Identity
- COR 302 Field Methods
Spring Semester
- PSY 340 Behavioral Neuroscience (Take either Fall or Spring of 3rd year; SCI115 Pre or Coreq to PSY340)
- SCI 115 Human Biology, Introduction to (Take either Fall or Spring of 3rd year)
- XXX Concentration, Minor, and/or Elective Courses
- COR 303 Core Foundations: Connecting Past and Present
- COR 304 Digital Methods
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
- PSY 400 Career Launch Senior Seminar
- PSY 490 Applied Psych Internship I
- XXX Concentration, Minor, and/or Elective Courses
Spring Semester
- CCC 410PSY Psychology College Capstone
- XXX Concentration, Minor, and/or Elective Courses

Students will meet together in an interdisciplinary, seminar-style setting to build a foundational understanding of integrative thinking and learning and to begin to make connections among the various elements of the Champlain College student-experiences and competencies. Students will take part in a real-world community awareness or service experience as a class and then examine the experience from the perspectives of social work, criminal justice, the law, environmental policy, education, and psychology.

Prerequisites
Credits	1

A survey of the science of psychology, including an overview of human behavior in various areas such as physiopsychology, development, learning social psychology, personality and abnormal behavior.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course provides students with early exposure to how psychology applies to a huge range of job sectors and career choices. Students will explore various career pathways and identify the requirements for each pathway. In addition, students will build foundational competencies for Capstone-level work by completing a multistage cornerstone project.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course provides an opportunity for non-psych majors to learn about positive psychology and the importance of well-being in a hands-on, project-based manner. This course covers knowledge and skills that are directly applicable to students' own mental health, as well as for future academic and professional success, high-lighting happiness as the precursor to success. The ability to understand how thoughts influence emotions, which in turn affect behavior, will provide insight into how changing our thinking can change our lives.

Prerequisites	Open to Non-Psychology Majors
Credits	3

Why go to college? What does it mean to be educated? In this course you'll begin to answer these questions. We'll explore the academic expectations of higher education, college as a diverse community, and the significance of education around the world. By examining how these issues are negotiated and implemented at Champlain and elsewhere, you'll gain perspective on your own education and a deeper understanding of the ways that the college experience can be both liberating and transformative.

Prerequisites	Take Cor-102 concurrently.
Credits	3

Inquiry is about learning how to ask the right kinds of questions, and figuring out how to answer those questions through discussion and reflection. This course introduces you to the types of inquiry necessary to succeed at Champlain and beyond. You will explore the intersections of reading, writing, and thinking by focusing on a specific topic or theme. You will approach that focus through the interrogation of relevant texts and analysis that draws upon multiple analytical frameworks. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take COR-101 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course explores the nature of human cognitive processing by examining cognition (perception, learning, memory) and metacognition (knowledge thinking, problem solving). A combination of current research in the area, classic demonstrations, and related materials will be used to promote self-awareness of students as thinkers and learners.

Prerequisites	PSY-100 or 100-level COR class.
Credits	3

A study of the physiological, cognitive, social and emotional development of individuals from infancy through old age. Important milestones during the years of infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and aging are explored. (Spring only)

Prerequisites	PSY-100 or COR-110.
Credits	3

Utilizing an application-driven approach, students will learn and practice mathematical thinking and concepts through discussing, exploring and resolving current topics. Students will explore how mathematical skills can be utilized throughout both their personal and professional lives to better understand and possibly solve issues that surround them and that impact the world around them. Students will see a variety of topics including math for personal finance and an introduction to probability and statistics.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Teaches a statistical approach to decision making under uncertainty. Topics are descriptive statistics, probability distributions, inferential statistics, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, linear regression and correlation.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

What makes an argument good or bad? What counts as evidence in our post-truth world? How can you understand and assess the truth value of a claim when you're not an expert? In this course you'll learn rhetorical strategies about how to examine arguments and types of evidence in different disciplines and fields of study. To help learn these strategies, you will do close readings of texts from a variety of disciplines in the liberal arts and sciences, popular culture, and social media.

Prerequisites	Take COR-104 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course introduces you to interdisciplinary inquiry using applied, project-based, and/or experiential methods. Regardless of the specific course focus, you'll have opportunities for making and doing interdisciplinary knowledge creation through a variety of approaches and activities. You will collaborate with other students, iterate on ideas, and work to develop a project. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take Cor-103 concurrently.
Credits	3

Students will evaluate a variety of quantitative and qualitative research methods through examination, study, and use of scholarly research. In small groups, students will practice applying basic research techniques. Students will explore how statistical procedures and software aid in organizing, analyzing and describing data.

Prerequisites	24 completed credits and MTH-180 co-requisite or?pre-requisite. Take MTH-180
Credits	3

The course examines the prevalence of mental and emotional problems and provides an overview of the many forms that psychological disorders can take. There will also be some discussion of assessment and therapy. The course will cover assessment and treatment of psychological problems from psychodynamic, behavioral and humanistic perspectives.

Prerequisites	PSY-100
Credits	3

Students will explore human behavior in the social context. They will consider such topics as the way people influence the behavior, thoughts, and attitudes of others and the way individuals process information about themselves and other people.

Prerequisites	PSY-100 or COR-1XX
Credits	3

Science holds an elevated place in society. The knowledge and meaning that science makes are seen as having a particular and special value. This course explores knowledge and meaning making in order to allow a thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, science as a way of knowing, and then engages with the methods and theories of the sciences themselves, to understand the analytical, creative, and generative possibilities of science.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

While each section of COR 202 addresses a different problem, issue, or topic, they all focus on interdisciplinary research. You will collect, analyze, and assess information from different disciplines in order to recognize patterns, contextualize arguments and synthesize ideas while collaborating on a project. Emphasis will be placed on helping you translate and apply what you learn about interdisciplinary research to other professional contexts. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Students will meet together in an interdisciplinary, seminar-style setting to build a greater understanding of integrative thinking and learning and to add a focus within a social justice context. Students will participate in an off-campus service learning project and critically examine the experience from the perspectives of social work, criminal justice, the law, environmental policy, education, psychology, and additionally consider their experiences in Core, and LEAD.

Prerequisites	EHS 100 is a prerequisite for EHS 210, except for the following circumstances: 1) Student taking EHS 210 is a non-EHS student. OR 2) Student taking EHS 210 is a transfer student who came in as a sophomore or junior.
Credits	1

Students will explore psychological theories and concepts by applying parametric and nonparametric approaches. A thorough examination of these approaches and how they relate to the field of psychology will be discussed. Students will learn how to use a statistical software program for answering psychology-related research questions. This course will be taught in conjunction with PSY-202 (Research Methods II).

Prerequisites	Take PSY-201 Take PSY-202
Credits	3

Students will expand their knowledge and skills by conducting individual quantitative research projects using the scientific method and appropriate statistical procedures and software. Students will report their findings in a formal written report and presentation to an audience of faculty members and peers.

Prerequisites	PSY-201 and MTH-180.
Credits	3

This course is a supervised professional internship linked to a project proposed by an approved business, non-profit, or government setting. Students will be able to apply what they are learning in the classes in a real-world setting, with direct supervision provided by a faculty member. This experience will prepare students for their second more advanced internship, which they will take in their senior year, as well for work after graduation from college.

Prerequisites	Complete PSY-115
Credits	2

Culture impacts everything we do, experience, and learn, but what is culture? Where does it come from, how does it form, and why does it have such a wide and deep impact on people's lives? This course explores culture as a system of meaning and meaning-making in order to allow for a more thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, cultural texts and media using different methodological approaches.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

In this course, you will go in depth about a theoretical perspective that asks you to interrogate systems of power and power relationships. You will learn about the history of that perspective, including how it too was shaped by multiple contexts and compares with other viewpoints. You will use that perspective to analyze a specific topic, collection of texts, or cultural phenomena. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Students will learn to understand the structural and functional organization of the nervous system in health and disease, and will gain awareness of the research and technological advances in the field of neuroscience. Students will gain knowledge they can apply to other areas of psychology.

Prerequisites	Complete SCI-115 and 60 credits. Complete 3 credits from subject PSY Complete 3 credits from subject PSY, level 200
Credits	4

Explanation of the basic principles of medically oriented human biology. The course investigates basic biology, cell biology and biochemistry as they pertain to human body systems and diseases such as AIDS, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, as well as other selected topics. Current research topics are also discussed. Laboratory sessions are designed to reinforce, by a hands-on approach, the principles discussed in lecture. Course includes two laboratory hours per week.

Prerequisites
Credits	4

Where we are shapes how we understand ourselves and each other. In this course, we will dig into the relationship between place and identity. We will learn how to think spatially, recognizing how one's identity is situated within and constructed through movement through different spaces--be they natural and built environments, rural and urban, or actual and virtual. COR 301 will help us understand the complex meanings of identity in a world defined by movement and change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Field methods are a collection of practices used in the sciences, arts, and humanities to understand phenomena in situ or as it is happening in a specific time and place. In this course, we will apply one or more field methods to research a topic, theme, or question that varies by section. We will learn practices associated with research in the field including but not limited to participant observation, data collection, and experimentation in order to navigate an uncontrolled environment. We will also examine the power dynamics between the researcher, informant, and subject matter to help us understand how, if not practiced ethically, field methods can create or reinforce biases rather than helping us learn with and make sense of the world around us. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Prerequisites	Complete SCI-115 and 60 credits. Complete 3 credits from subject PSY Complete 3 credits from subject PSY, level 200
Credits	4

Prerequisites
Credits	4

By learning from the past, we can make sense of the present and prepare for the future. In this course, we will learn how the 21st century has been and continues to be shaped by past social practices, ethical frameworks, power relations, and discourses. COR 303 is a course about how we know what we know about the past, and the ways different narratives about the past shape the present. Making connections between past and present will help us better understand how to live and make decisions in a globalized world defined by constant change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Digital methods are widely used forms of inquiry that employ technological tools to interrogate research questions important to the humanities and sciences (including the social sciences). Some examples include digital archiving, data mining, and story mapping. In this course, we will use one or more digital methods or tools to research a topic, theme or question that varies by section, with the express purpose of critiquing and reflecting on its application. This includes an examination of the values, flaws, and impacts of the methods or tools we are using, paying particular attention to their ethical implications and power dynamics. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course is a supervised professional internship in an approved business, non-profit, or government setting. Students will be able to apply and integrate theory and course experience from both psychology and business course-work in a real-world setting. Students have an opportunity to immerse themselves in work experience and use course knowledge to solve work-related problems. This experience will prepare students for work after graduation from college and aid in the transition from college to the workplace. Internship II and Internship II I may be taken concurrently or sequentially.

Prerequisites	PSY-110 and PSY-202. Must complete 75 credits before taking this course.
Credits	3

The college capstone is an opportunity for students to pursue a self-directed experience in their professional program that intentionally integrates their liberal learning in the Core curriculum with their program learning. In addition to the substantive professional-based hands-on project in this class, the capstone will include a professional ethics component and a self-evaluation/self-reflection component.

Prerequisites	Must complete COR-310, COR-320, and two sections of COR-330 All Game majors (EGPR.BS, GDES.BS, GART.BS must also complete EGD-320 with a minimum grade of C.
Credits	3

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