Development, learning and behavior

Why do children do what they do? How do they think? And how did they acquire these skills? The course Development, Learning & Behavior will focus on:

1. Physical development, including biological development (e.g., genes, development of the brain, stress and hormone systems) and motor and perceptual development (e.g., development of locomotion and perception of the object world), and cognitive development (e.g., development of language, learning, memory, self-regulation).
2. Interactions between developmental processes across these domains.
3. How these developments influence behaviors and vice versa.
4. How these developments are shaped by the various ecological systems within which they take place and vice versa.

At the end of the course, student will have:

• Gained knowledge and understanding of theories and empirical findings regarding various developing domains (physical, cognitive, social) and related behaviors of children.
• Learned how to link knowledge from these specific domains of development to the various ecological systems within which developments takes place, that are extensively discussed in the preceding courses.
• Learned how to present their scientific work (e.g., knowledge, research findings) to societal stakeholders (e.g., parents, teachers, (health) care professionals, schools, policy makers) in an appropriate way.
  Relationship between tests and goals
• The substantive knowledge of the various domains development (learning goal 1), and the relationship thereof with the various ecological systems (learning goal 2) will be assessed using a multiple choice exam, based on the lectures and required readings.
• The acquisition of the academic skill of presenting (learning goal 3) their scientific work to societal-stakeholders in an appropriate way will be assessed by evaluating and grading students presentations.

• Book Hardcopy with Launchpad - Siegler, R., Saffran, J., Gershoff, E. (7th Ed.). How Children Develop, International edition. Palgrave Please note: Including launchpad (digital learning environment) (ISBN 9781319545062)
• Book Ebook with Launchpad - Siegler, R., Saffran, J., Gershoff, E. (7th Ed.). How Children Develop, International edition. Palgrave Please note: Including launchpad (digital learning environment) (ISBN 9781319545079)