Perspectives on Child Development

Catalog description

Our subject will be the worlds of childhood. In this course, we will implement different psychological theories to highlight different aspects of those worlds. Freud, Erikson, Bowlby, and Stern will provide perspectives on emotional development. Skinner, Bandura, Piaget, and Vygotsky will present various approaches to the problems of learning and cognition. Chess and Kagan will take up the issue of temperament and its interaction with experience. Chomsky and others will deal with the development of language. Bronfenbrenner and his colleagues will emphasize the importance of considering the contexts of children’s development in family, school, community, and culture. We will also look at some systematic studies that developmental psychologists have carried out to confirm, test, and critique various theories: studies of parent-infant relationships, the development of cognition and language, and the emergence of intersubjectivity. In several of these domains, studies done in cultures other than our own will cast light on the question of universality versus cultural specificity in development. Another major way of learning the worlds of childhood is via direct experience with children. In this course, all students will do fieldwork at the Early Childhood Center (ECC). At times, the course will draw on students’ written ECC observations to support or critique theoretical concepts. The fieldwork will also provide the basis for developing conference work. Typically, conference projects will combine student interests, library readings, and fieldwork observations. Children’s friendships, what makes children laugh, the functions of language, and a case study of a single child are included among the many diverse topics of past student projects. With the permission of the head teacher, creating an activity for the children at ECC in music, dance, or science may be possible as a…