Professor

Barbara Knowlton

AD
2.1
Overall Ratings
Based on 74 Users
Easiness 1.9 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 2.0 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 2.8 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 2.9 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (74)

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CLUSTER 73A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Aug. 1, 2021
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A

Im selling the textbook for this class for $20 plus shipping, or you can offer something lower, if it hasn't sold yet, I might take it! email me: *************

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Sept. 28, 2017
Quarter: Fall 2017
Grade: A+

I have the textbook, it's new and I just bought it but my schedule changed. If anyone needs it just contact me at **********.

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July 20, 2017
Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: A

The course is fun but a challenge, it's doable. The cluster is taught by professors from the subjects: sciences but also humanities. It was a lot of fun. Make sure to form a study group, they help a lot. It's a good intro to life here at UCLA.

I am selling the course textbooks for cheap; the price is negotiable. text me at **********

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Aug. 6, 2013
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A

Took her for Psych 10. The class was divided into 3 different modules, with Knowlton as the teacher for my third module (approx. 3 weeks). She's an average lecturer. The only thing I can really give her plus points on is not having an accent. She seems like a very nice lady but maybe not the most inspiring teacher. Definitely not a bad teacher though.

Btw, selling the book for this class, Psychology: The Science of Behavior, Carlson et al. 7th edition. Message me at ************* if you're interested.

Ended up with a B+ cause I didn't take the class as seriously as I should've. The grade was entirely based on 3, 30 question multiple choice tests which weren't super hard but it had it's tricky, strangely-worded questions. The cool thing was even the discussion section was lecture style and podcasted. Soooo convenient. Especially for people who like to sleep in like me.

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June 24, 2023
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A+

I was really scared to take this class at first, but it ended up being one of my favorite psychobio electives! Professor Knowlton is very kind and keeps her lectures very concise and clear. She also took the time to learn most/all of our names which was the first time I've ever had a professor go out of their way to do that. The lectures are easy to follow, and if you have any questions, Professor Knowlton welcomes them both during lecture and in office hours. The textbook is also a great resource for this class, it's an easy and engaging read if you want a little more elaboration on the concepts being discussed in lecture, but honestly isn't a requirement for success in the class.

The class was on a 300 point scale. There were 3 exams. The first midterm was 15 questions and free response, worth 75 points. The second midterm and final were both 20 questions and free response, each being worth 100 points. The exams are not cumulative so there were only about 4 lectures worth of content on each exam, making it very manageable. The other 25 points came from attendance which you only needed to attend 6 lectures in order to get full points. There was also 16 points of extra credit offered, 10 for completing 2 SONA studies, 5 for completing pre & post test surveys, and 1 for getting 80% of responses on evals.

Overall, this class was very fair. You definitely need to study for the exams, but as long as you attend lecture and review, the class is doable and it's a great chance to have a small, intimate class!

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June 12, 2023
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A

Wow, wow, wow. If someone would have told me last year that I would be taking anything remotely similar to a philosophy course, I would have not even looked their way. I would have thought they were joking! But here I was at UCLA starting my journey with my very first philosophy experience. I won't lie, some of the conversations and topics that we learned about in class were not the easiest to understand, but upon having experienced college, really digging into the readings and having profound conversations with individuals outside of this course, I realized how important, deep, and applicable the topics really were.

I never in a million years would have thought about how deep and extremely flawed certain systems like the mental health system is in this country, but through the amazing philosophy articles, literary readings and even films, really connecting these pieces to the other topics (ie. neuroscience, theater, disability studies), my goodness you are really able to see how connected everything truly is!!

I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Gibbons' lectures because not only was she a profound lecturer that goes into detail about our readings the best, but the philosophical conversations that she allowed in class and in our discussion sections were so amazing. I can't even begin to explain the impact this class has had on my life and my experience here at UCLA.

Professor Kristal!! How amazing were his lectures!! His passion for literature was seeping through his veins and was just reflected so beautifully during his lectures. Though the books we read were difficult, I can't explain how his passion and deep understanding of these novels made me absolutely fall in love with this portion of our class. King Lear!! Oh the lessons I personally have learned from this novel and the connections I've been able to make within psychology and philosophy. His paper assignment was my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE to write!!! Though it was during the TA strike, I really wished I could have had access to his feedback to my paper on what I could have improved and what I did well. Even so, I got a 100 percent on the assignment which made me so happy! I hope he continues to exuberate his beautiful passion for literature because it is truly, truly such a RICH subject! The only minor suggestion I wish is that on the lecture slides, sometimes the pacing was a little bit too fast and there was sometimes a lot of material to write down, but if that aspect gets altered, then his lectures are chef's kiss!

Rebecca Smith is hands down one of the best TAs! As a doctoral student, she gave some of the best advice and really made sure you were learning. She gave the best feedback on our paper assignments and has held some of the most productive, deep and profound conversations during section. The discussions and conversations truly helped me with understanding for the exams. Not to talk of organization!!!! Preparation??!! Oh my, Rebecca's organization of the study materials needed for us to study for the exams are the best! Words can't even begin to describe how her willingness to take time out of her day to create those study guides/presentations for studying have helped me not only fare well during exams, but also feel less anxious!! This is something that I currently have issues with in my stem courses/discussions/labs and I can truly say I am appreciative of this amazing woman! She is so knowledgeable and she knows what she is teaching! Her passion is so beautiful to watch and I have had some of the most intellectual and profound conversations with her. She has helped me prepare for my papers and even when I was writing out of the conventional way of writing for my paper assignments, she was so accommodating and accepting of my curiosity and creativity!

Disclaimer: The readings!! Gosh the amount of readings we had to do in this class was UNREAL. It was WAY WAY WAY too much. If you are a student who is more engaged in the arts as a major, it may not be too difficult, but if you are a STEM major who does not like to read, please do reconsider. The thing I can really appreciate though about this course is that the discussion section was super super helpful. If not for the discussion sections, the cluster would be really difficult. However, if the amount of readings can be modified, then this class is worth a shot.

Overall though, I loved this cluster with everything in me. Hands down taking this cluster was one of the best decisions I made as a freshman. Not only am I qualifying multiple GEs WITH Writing II through one course (alleviates stress), but goodness was the material, discussions and and overall just topics of this class truly profound and interesting. There's not one distinct topic that we went over in this class that I didn't like. Each and every single topic was so applicable to what we were learning and I found it so beautiful to make connections. Who knew that film and literature could be associated with philosophy and psychobiology? Who knew? It was a beautiful class. To this day, some of the material I have learned are still applicable to my life and have helped me to have deep, intellectual conversations with my peers. If not for this class, I wouldn't have been able to adjust to college in the best way. One class where you worked with the same students for the whole year. How convenient!! It is so necessary for freshmen to engage in clusters especially because the transition from high school to college can be so daunting but these clusters really helped balance that.

Amazing instructors, Amazing TAs! Keep them all! They absolutely did a beautiful job of connecting all the topics. I truly was able to see the diverse perspectives through the different lectures. My absolute favorite was the film component! I never saw studying film as something that could be interesting, but when you really take the time to see how people experienced in the subject are able to take one single scene and come up with such profound findings, especially in relation to the deep topics of mental health we had in the class, it was amazing. Truly amazing. I loved the interdisciplinary components of combining the arts and psychology. It's so funny because these two subjects are things that I am SO passionate about. I plan on majoring in psychology and minoring in theater so this class was truly a dream come true

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Jan. 3, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2022
Grade: A+

Professor Knowlton is an engaging lecturer and kind teacher who presents the neuroscience/psychology segment of this cluster. Her material is very interesting but obviously more appealing and foundational to STEM majors. In this cluster, she taught about neurons, synaptic connections, neurotransmitters, psychology of learning, and clinical conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, MS, and Lewy-Body Dementia. In Fall quarter, she taught for about 4 weeks and her material comprised a large part of the midterm. Her exam questions are very detail-oriented, so study her material by grasping the content and memorizing the slide content. Overall, her material, although somewhat basic in the field, provides a good foundation and is especially good to know in a class about the activities of the brain.

Now, a comprehensive review for this cluster. This cluster is referred to as a bridge cluster, because it bridges the gap between north (humanities) and south (STEM) campus. The material covered all relates to the central idea of our brain and how it works. However, it takes a very interdisciplinary approach to this learning, with sections on neuroscience, philosophy, and literature during the fall quarter. In terms of GE's, you receive 1 life science without lab, 1 literary analysis, 1 social analysis, and 1 philosophical analysis (along with Writing 2, given by all clusters). This means that even if you are a life science/STEM major, taking this class can still be worth taking, but you have to stick it out through the whole year. Another thing to remember is that clusters count for 6 units, which can be both a blessing or a curse. You don't have to worry about enrolling in your cluster for winter/spring, because your spot is automatically saved. This means you can prioritize the classes you need for your major without worrying about this course. However, 6 units is a lot, and can prevent you from enrolling in classes you want due to the unit cap. But there are a lot of other nice benefits to taking a cluster (not just this one but clusters in general). They give priority enrollment for writing 1 courses and are a necessary requirement for the college scholars honor program. If you're willing to stick it out for a whole year then I would highly recommend taking a cluster due to the amount of requirements you can knock out. If you're interested in the way we think and how our brain develops and responds to our conditions, then I would highly recommend taking this cluster, no matter your major.

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Dec. 11, 2022
Quarter: Fall 2022
Grade: A

cluster 73a was pretty easy overall. it's a mix of philosophy, neuroscience, and literature. professor knowlton teaches the neuroscience part which is interesting but the most challenging for memorization. this class overall is pretty easy to pass though if you just pay attention in lectures.

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June 14, 2022
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A

I actually had a really good time in this class! Professor Knowlton was extremely helpful in office hours (she spent 20 minutes explaining one thing to me that I didn't understand, until I understood it) and she obviously knows what she's talking about in the material. I have NEVER liked any academic textbook, but the Cognitive Neuroscience textbook listed for this class was actually very interesting. I truly enjoyed learning about the neurological pathways and very interesting experiments!

Course out of 300 points
Exams: 80/100/100, non-cumulative (so you can really focus on 2-3 weeks of content! How I studied for this class successfully was to focus on ONE lecture a day, leading up to the exam). Short answer, plenty of time to take it. She also "curves" the grading, boosting by around 5-10%
Homework: None
Extra credit: 15 points! 5% of grade taking a short pre-post- exam survey + SONA credit

The only downside is that this class is not recorded/podcasted, although Knowlton encouraged us to record for our peers. You have to attend 10 out of 15 lectures for participation/extra credit.

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June 8, 2012
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A

Prof Knowlton's teaching was fine; she was clear, the material seemed simple enough, etc. On the exam (which was mainly short answer questions with some multiple choice), the questions also seemed very straightforward, albeit at times vague. In reality, that midterm was a mess. She expected very specific answers which were not addressed in the questions, or deviated from what the questions were asking. The whole class was upset about this. I really do not like when teachers try to be conniving this way, when we clearly demonstrated our knowledge of the material on the exam.

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CLUSTER 73A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
Aug. 1, 2021

Im selling the textbook for this class for $20 plus shipping, or you can offer something lower, if it hasn't sold yet, I might take it! email me: *************

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CLUSTER 73A
Quarter: Fall 2017
Grade: A+
Sept. 28, 2017

I have the textbook, it's new and I just bought it but my schedule changed. If anyone needs it just contact me at **********.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CLUSTER 73A
Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: A
July 20, 2017

The course is fun but a challenge, it's doable. The cluster is taught by professors from the subjects: sciences but also humanities. It was a lot of fun. Make sure to form a study group, they help a lot. It's a good intro to life here at UCLA.

I am selling the course textbooks for cheap; the price is negotiable. text me at **********

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PSYCH 10
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Aug. 6, 2013

Took her for Psych 10. The class was divided into 3 different modules, with Knowlton as the teacher for my third module (approx. 3 weeks). She's an average lecturer. The only thing I can really give her plus points on is not having an accent. She seems like a very nice lady but maybe not the most inspiring teacher. Definitely not a bad teacher though.

Btw, selling the book for this class, Psychology: The Science of Behavior, Carlson et al. 7th edition. Message me at ************* if you're interested.

Ended up with a B+ cause I didn't take the class as seriously as I should've. The grade was entirely based on 3, 30 question multiple choice tests which weren't super hard but it had it's tricky, strangely-worded questions. The cool thing was even the discussion section was lecture style and podcasted. Soooo convenient. Especially for people who like to sleep in like me.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PSYCH 119C
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A+
June 24, 2023

I was really scared to take this class at first, but it ended up being one of my favorite psychobio electives! Professor Knowlton is very kind and keeps her lectures very concise and clear. She also took the time to learn most/all of our names which was the first time I've ever had a professor go out of their way to do that. The lectures are easy to follow, and if you have any questions, Professor Knowlton welcomes them both during lecture and in office hours. The textbook is also a great resource for this class, it's an easy and engaging read if you want a little more elaboration on the concepts being discussed in lecture, but honestly isn't a requirement for success in the class.

The class was on a 300 point scale. There were 3 exams. The first midterm was 15 questions and free response, worth 75 points. The second midterm and final were both 20 questions and free response, each being worth 100 points. The exams are not cumulative so there were only about 4 lectures worth of content on each exam, making it very manageable. The other 25 points came from attendance which you only needed to attend 6 lectures in order to get full points. There was also 16 points of extra credit offered, 10 for completing 2 SONA studies, 5 for completing pre & post test surveys, and 1 for getting 80% of responses on evals.

Overall, this class was very fair. You definitely need to study for the exams, but as long as you attend lecture and review, the class is doable and it's a great chance to have a small, intimate class!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CLUSTER 73B
Quarter: Winter 2023
Grade: A
June 12, 2023

Wow, wow, wow. If someone would have told me last year that I would be taking anything remotely similar to a philosophy course, I would have not even looked their way. I would have thought they were joking! But here I was at UCLA starting my journey with my very first philosophy experience. I won't lie, some of the conversations and topics that we learned about in class were not the easiest to understand, but upon having experienced college, really digging into the readings and having profound conversations with individuals outside of this course, I realized how important, deep, and applicable the topics really were.

I never in a million years would have thought about how deep and extremely flawed certain systems like the mental health system is in this country, but through the amazing philosophy articles, literary readings and even films, really connecting these pieces to the other topics (ie. neuroscience, theater, disability studies), my goodness you are really able to see how connected everything truly is!!

I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Gibbons' lectures because not only was she a profound lecturer that goes into detail about our readings the best, but the philosophical conversations that she allowed in class and in our discussion sections were so amazing. I can't even begin to explain the impact this class has had on my life and my experience here at UCLA.

Professor Kristal!! How amazing were his lectures!! His passion for literature was seeping through his veins and was just reflected so beautifully during his lectures. Though the books we read were difficult, I can't explain how his passion and deep understanding of these novels made me absolutely fall in love with this portion of our class. King Lear!! Oh the lessons I personally have learned from this novel and the connections I've been able to make within psychology and philosophy. His paper assignment was my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE to write!!! Though it was during the TA strike, I really wished I could have had access to his feedback to my paper on what I could have improved and what I did well. Even so, I got a 100 percent on the assignment which made me so happy! I hope he continues to exuberate his beautiful passion for literature because it is truly, truly such a RICH subject! The only minor suggestion I wish is that on the lecture slides, sometimes the pacing was a little bit too fast and there was sometimes a lot of material to write down, but if that aspect gets altered, then his lectures are chef's kiss!

Rebecca Smith is hands down one of the best TAs! As a doctoral student, she gave some of the best advice and really made sure you were learning. She gave the best feedback on our paper assignments and has held some of the most productive, deep and profound conversations during section. The discussions and conversations truly helped me with understanding for the exams. Not to talk of organization!!!! Preparation??!! Oh my, Rebecca's organization of the study materials needed for us to study for the exams are the best! Words can't even begin to describe how her willingness to take time out of her day to create those study guides/presentations for studying have helped me not only fare well during exams, but also feel less anxious!! This is something that I currently have issues with in my stem courses/discussions/labs and I can truly say I am appreciative of this amazing woman! She is so knowledgeable and she knows what she is teaching! Her passion is so beautiful to watch and I have had some of the most intellectual and profound conversations with her. She has helped me prepare for my papers and even when I was writing out of the conventional way of writing for my paper assignments, she was so accommodating and accepting of my curiosity and creativity!

Disclaimer: The readings!! Gosh the amount of readings we had to do in this class was UNREAL. It was WAY WAY WAY too much. If you are a student who is more engaged in the arts as a major, it may not be too difficult, but if you are a STEM major who does not like to read, please do reconsider. The thing I can really appreciate though about this course is that the discussion section was super super helpful. If not for the discussion sections, the cluster would be really difficult. However, if the amount of readings can be modified, then this class is worth a shot.

Overall though, I loved this cluster with everything in me. Hands down taking this cluster was one of the best decisions I made as a freshman. Not only am I qualifying multiple GEs WITH Writing II through one course (alleviates stress), but goodness was the material, discussions and and overall just topics of this class truly profound and interesting. There's not one distinct topic that we went over in this class that I didn't like. Each and every single topic was so applicable to what we were learning and I found it so beautiful to make connections. Who knew that film and literature could be associated with philosophy and psychobiology? Who knew? It was a beautiful class. To this day, some of the material I have learned are still applicable to my life and have helped me to have deep, intellectual conversations with my peers. If not for this class, I wouldn't have been able to adjust to college in the best way. One class where you worked with the same students for the whole year. How convenient!! It is so necessary for freshmen to engage in clusters especially because the transition from high school to college can be so daunting but these clusters really helped balance that.

Amazing instructors, Amazing TAs! Keep them all! They absolutely did a beautiful job of connecting all the topics. I truly was able to see the diverse perspectives through the different lectures. My absolute favorite was the film component! I never saw studying film as something that could be interesting, but when you really take the time to see how people experienced in the subject are able to take one single scene and come up with such profound findings, especially in relation to the deep topics of mental health we had in the class, it was amazing. Truly amazing. I loved the interdisciplinary components of combining the arts and psychology. It's so funny because these two subjects are things that I am SO passionate about. I plan on majoring in psychology and minoring in theater so this class was truly a dream come true

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CLUSTER 73A
Quarter: Fall 2022
Grade: A+
Jan. 3, 2023

Professor Knowlton is an engaging lecturer and kind teacher who presents the neuroscience/psychology segment of this cluster. Her material is very interesting but obviously more appealing and foundational to STEM majors. In this cluster, she taught about neurons, synaptic connections, neurotransmitters, psychology of learning, and clinical conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, MS, and Lewy-Body Dementia. In Fall quarter, she taught for about 4 weeks and her material comprised a large part of the midterm. Her exam questions are very detail-oriented, so study her material by grasping the content and memorizing the slide content. Overall, her material, although somewhat basic in the field, provides a good foundation and is especially good to know in a class about the activities of the brain.

Now, a comprehensive review for this cluster. This cluster is referred to as a bridge cluster, because it bridges the gap between north (humanities) and south (STEM) campus. The material covered all relates to the central idea of our brain and how it works. However, it takes a very interdisciplinary approach to this learning, with sections on neuroscience, philosophy, and literature during the fall quarter. In terms of GE's, you receive 1 life science without lab, 1 literary analysis, 1 social analysis, and 1 philosophical analysis (along with Writing 2, given by all clusters). This means that even if you are a life science/STEM major, taking this class can still be worth taking, but you have to stick it out through the whole year. Another thing to remember is that clusters count for 6 units, which can be both a blessing or a curse. You don't have to worry about enrolling in your cluster for winter/spring, because your spot is automatically saved. This means you can prioritize the classes you need for your major without worrying about this course. However, 6 units is a lot, and can prevent you from enrolling in classes you want due to the unit cap. But there are a lot of other nice benefits to taking a cluster (not just this one but clusters in general). They give priority enrollment for writing 1 courses and are a necessary requirement for the college scholars honor program. If you're willing to stick it out for a whole year then I would highly recommend taking a cluster due to the amount of requirements you can knock out. If you're interested in the way we think and how our brain develops and responds to our conditions, then I would highly recommend taking this cluster, no matter your major.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
CLUSTER 73A
Quarter: Fall 2022
Grade: A
Dec. 11, 2022

cluster 73a was pretty easy overall. it's a mix of philosophy, neuroscience, and literature. professor knowlton teaches the neuroscience part which is interesting but the most challenging for memorization. this class overall is pretty easy to pass though if you just pay attention in lectures.

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PSYCH 119C
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: A
June 14, 2022

I actually had a really good time in this class! Professor Knowlton was extremely helpful in office hours (she spent 20 minutes explaining one thing to me that I didn't understand, until I understood it) and she obviously knows what she's talking about in the material. I have NEVER liked any academic textbook, but the Cognitive Neuroscience textbook listed for this class was actually very interesting. I truly enjoyed learning about the neurological pathways and very interesting experiments!

Course out of 300 points
Exams: 80/100/100, non-cumulative (so you can really focus on 2-3 weeks of content! How I studied for this class successfully was to focus on ONE lecture a day, leading up to the exam). Short answer, plenty of time to take it. She also "curves" the grading, boosting by around 5-10%
Homework: None
Extra credit: 15 points! 5% of grade taking a short pre-post- exam survey + SONA credit

The only downside is that this class is not recorded/podcasted, although Knowlton encouraged us to record for our peers. You have to attend 10 out of 15 lectures for participation/extra credit.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
PSYCH M117C
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
June 8, 2012

Prof Knowlton's teaching was fine; she was clear, the material seemed simple enough, etc. On the exam (which was mainly short answer questions with some multiple choice), the questions also seemed very straightforward, albeit at times vague. In reality, that midterm was a mess. She expected very specific answers which were not addressed in the questions, or deviated from what the questions were asking. The whole class was upset about this. I really do not like when teachers try to be conniving this way, when we clearly demonstrated our knowledge of the material on the exam.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
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