LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Summarize
what is meant by a developmental perspective in reference to the study of
children.
2. Name
and describe the key features of development change.
3. Distinguish
between the normative and dynamic aspects of development.
4. Describe
the factors on which development depends.
5. Explain
what a theory is and how it is useful.
6. Recognize
the basic concepts and developmental states of Erikson's psychosocial theory
and Piaget's theories of cognitive development.
7. Recognize
the basic concepts of social learning (cognitive) theory; of
information-processing approaches to cognitive development.
8. Distinguish
among laboratory experiments, naturalistic observation, and natural
experiments.
CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Name
and discuss the four major contexts within which development occurs.
2. Recognize
the influence of the historical context in which children develop.
3. Discuss
the role of the family in the development of the child and how the changing
nature of the family and family life today is affecting children.
4. Discuss
the concept of "non-shared environments" and their effects on
children from the same family.
5. Explain
the influence of such social settings as day care, peer groups, and schools to
human development.
6. Explain
the relationship among cultures and parenting and child development.
7. Indicate
how development itself provides a context for future development.
8. Recognize
how the different contexts in which development occurs interact.
BLUEPRINT FOR LIFE
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Relate
the key aspects of development to the prenatal period.
2. Explain
what genes and chromosomes are and how they influence development.
3. Recognize
how a child's gender is determined and the process of prenatal genetic
development.
4. Indicate
how genes interact with one another and the environment.
5. Name
the three major periods of prenatal development and describe the major
characteristics of each in terms of both the developing child and its mother.
6. Explain
what a teratogen is and why teratogens generally do more harm to embryos than
to fetuses.
7. Identify
different procedures that are used to detect fetal problems.
8. Explain
how the environmental context influences prenatal development.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Recognize that birth is a
radical transition for the fetus.
2. Outline the sequence and
procedures involved in the birth process.
3. Describe, in general, the
appearance of the newborn child.
4. Indicate the psychological and
social effects on all family members as they adjust to living with an infant.
5. Suggest ways in which new
birthing techniques and procedures provide psychological as well as physical
benefits for parents and infants.
FIRST ADAPTATIONS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Recognize
and appreciate the capabilities of the very young infant.
2. Define
the term reflex and give examples of reflexes that are survival mechanisms,
reflexes that will later be incorporated into more complex voluntary behaviors,
and reflexes that disappear as a result of central nervous system development.
3. Describe
the sensory capabilities of infants.
4. Discuss
the concept of perception as it applies to development and relate it to the
emergence of an infant's visual perceptual abilities.
5. Describe
key principles and patterns in motor development during the first year of a
child's life.
6. Compare
the various ways in which an infant can learn.
THE INFANT MIND
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe
Piaget's sensorimotor period of cognitive development and its six stages.
2. Define
object permanence and discuss its gradual development during the sensorimotor
period.
3. Indicate
the course of memory development in the first 12 months of life.
4. Compare
Piaget's theory of cognitive development to alternatives suggested by Fischer,
Case, and Bruner.
5. Describe
the constraints on cognitive functioning that are characteristic of infancy.
6. Identify
the three general themes of cognitive development in the first 2 years of life.
FIST FEELINGS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Indicate
the ways in which newborns are preadapted to become social.
2. Characterize
what constitutes sensitive parental care, and recognize the influence
contextual factors have on the quality of children.
3. Describe
the development of complex emotions that begin to emerge in the second half
year of life.
4. Describe
the formation of the attachment relationship between infant and caregiver.
5. Give
examples of several different patterns of attachment and discuss how the
characteristics of caregivers and the temperament of infants contribute to the
quality of attachment.
6. Summarize
the possible consequences of poor infant care and suggest types of intervention
that can be effective.
7. Relate
changing patterns of family and of work to the need for child care.
8. Recognize
the controversy that exists regarding the relation between infant daycare and
the quality of infant-mother attachment.
A FIRST YEAR
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Summarize
the key developmental changes that occur in the first year of life.
2. Recognize
and give examples of the integrated nature of a baby's physical, cognitive,
social, and emotional growth.
3. Describe
how the context in which an infant is nurtured affects his/her development and
how context or environment interacts with genetic potential.
4. Using
the video portion of a child's first year as the basis for discussion, show how
the child's development illustrated the three general principles of
development.
5. Indicate
the ways a baby actively participates in its own development.
LANGUAGE AND THINKING
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe
the characteristics of a child's first words and sentences.
2. Indicate
the conventions that toddlers must learn for combining words and the rules for
everyday conversations, as well as those for learning specific words.
3. Discuss
the developmental changes involved in learning the sound patterns of a
language.
4. Summarize
theories of how children learn the meaning of words.
5. Recognize
the types of syntactic rules children learn during the preschool period and
indicate how they are learned.
6. Compare
behaviorist, nativist, and cognitive perspectives on language development.
I TODDLER
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Compare
the social and emotional capacity of infants and toddlers.
2. Recognize
toddlers' need for autonomy and their sociability toward same-age children.
3. Explain
the role of caregivers in facilitating toddlers' social/emotional/cognitive
growth.
4. Describe
how toddlers adopt parental rules and values as part of the process of
socialization.
5. Explain
how a strong attachment relationship with the caregiver can help a toddler
reconcile his/her needs for closeness and security with the need to strive
toward independence.
RISK AND RESILIENCE
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the parental
characteristics, child characteristics, and contextual factors that may
influence
the child/caregiver relationship.
2. Recognize the broad range and
incidence of behaviors that characterize child abuse and neglect.
3. Indicate why toddlers are
particularly vulner able to abuse.
4. Relate the consequences of
child abuse or neglect to the particular form of mistreatment.
5. Summarize research related to
the causes of child abuse.
6. Discuss the context of child
abuse and neglect, noting factors that increase the risk of abuse and
factors that decrease the risk of
abuse.
THE TYPICAL TWOS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe
some of the major physical changes that occur during toddlerhood.
2. Give
examples of representational and symbolic language and/or thinking skills that
emerge during the toddler years.
3. Recognize
how emotions are affected by the toddler's developing awareness of self,
understanding of others.
4. Describe
the changes that tend to occur in the parent-child relationship during
toddlerhood.
5. Recognize
how the various changes that occur during the preschool period—physical,
cognitive, and social—relate to each other and to the orderly, cumulative, and
directional aspects of development.
THE PRESCHOOLER’S MIND
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain
the ways in which preschoolers are active participants in their cognitive
development.
2. List
and describe the important conceptual tools children begin to acquire in early
childhood.
3. Indicate
how preschoolers select information to respond to stimuli in their environment.
4. Identify
three limitations in thinking that the majority of preschoolers exhibit.
5. Recognize
the social communication abilities and limitations of the preschooler.
6. Describe
the preschooler's memory abilities and limitations.
7. Define
egocentrism, and suggest the cognitive factors and social experiences necessary
for children to overcome egocentrism.
8. Discuss
the effects of preschool intervention programs on school performance.
PRESCHOOL SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Indicate
how a child's level of curiosity, exploration, and movement toward
self-reliance contribute to social competence.
2. Discuss
peer relationships in early childhood and their role as components of social
competence.
3. Describe
ego-resiliency and the behaviors associated with it in early childhood.
4. Relate
advances in self-regulation to the emergence of aggression, empathy, and altruism.
5. Explain
the process by which children adopt their parents' rules and values as their
own.
6. Describe
the development of gender roles and sex-typed behavior.
7. Indicate
how preschoolers develop a sense of self-constancy and self-esteem.
8. Summarize
the parenting practices that support preschoolers' social development.
PLAY AND IMAGINATION
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Recognize
the role of play in a child's social, cognitive, emotional, and physical
development.
2. Give
examples of what children learn when they experiment with their environment in
play.
3. Indicate
the various functions fantasy play can serve.
4. Recognize
that some play is more productive than other play, and discuss ways in which
play can be managed or directed.
5. Discuss
the role of play therapy and when and how it is conducted.
THREE PRESCHOOLERS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Review
the major physical changes that occur during early childhood.
2. Give
examples of how the preschooler's more advanced capacity for mental
representation and for using and manipulating symbols facilitates communication
and learning.
3. Summarize
the ways in which the cognitive advances a child achieves between the ages of
21/2 and 5 help to foster social and emotional development.
4. Discuss
the intimate connection that exists between different aspects of development
and how temperament and experience are incorporated into the total child by the
preschool period.
5. Recognize
that early childhood experiences may manifest themselves later in life and that
continuity in development proceeds beyond the preschool period.
THE ELEMENTARY MIND
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Compare
the cognitive advances and limitations of middle childhood to those of the
preschool period.
2. Explain
the concept of conservation as it relates to cognitive development in middle
childhood; indicate how Piaget and information-processing theorists differ in
their view of how children acquire conservation.
3. Describe
two kinds of classification skills children attain during middle childhood and
the ages at which these skills generally become evident.
4. Differentiate
between the basic processes of memory, constructive memory, mnemonic
strategies, and metamemory and show how they are related to memory development
in middle childhood.
5. Recognize
the relationship between peer interaction and cognitive development.
6. Compare
informal and formal concepts of intelligence.
7. Examine
issues related to IQ testing including predictability, reliability, and
cultural bias.
ME AND MY FRIENDS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe
the advances in self-understanding that occur during middle childhood.
2. Discuss
the development of the social self and its emergence in middle childhood.
3. Examine
the role of peer groups in middle childhood in terms of gender differences,
group norms, socialization, and status and popularity within the group.
4. Describe
the social skills that are important for group acceptance and the formation of
friendships.
5. Compare
the strategies that are used by popular and unpopular children to gain group
acceptance.
FAMILY INFLUENCES
LEARNI NG OBJECTIVES
1. Compare the influence of the
family during middle childhood to its importance during toddlerhood and early
childhood.
2. Describe the different
dynamics that take place within peer and sibling relationships.
3. Discuss the complex emotional
ties that exist between brothers and sisters and the factors that influence
these relationships.
4. Indicate the ways in which
siblings learn from each other.
5. Relate parenting styles to
patterns of child behavior and the personality characteristics which children
acquire.
6. Indicate the ways in which
families influence the gender roles that children acquire.
7. Discuss the possible effects
of marital conflict and divorce on school-age boys and girls.
GETTING ALONG
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Differentiate between
prosocial and aggressive behavior.
2. Trace the developmental
changes in aggression that occur from toddlerhood through middle
childhood.
3. Compare the developmental
course of empathy and altruism to aggression; recognize the cognitive
factors that underlie these
behaviors.
4. Indicate the ways in which a
parent's style of care giving influences a child's prosocial behavior.
5. Summarize the research related
to the influence of television on a child's prosocial and aggressive
behavior.
6. Discuss the factors that
contribute to childhood disorders.
7. Recognize how
genetic/biological differences contribute to differences in prosocial and
aggressive
behavior.
THREE CHILDREN
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Compare
the rate of physical development and growth occurring in middle childhood to
those of infancy and toddlerhood.
2. Describe
the qualitative cognitive changes that occur during middle childhood.
3. Indicate
the major social advances that are achieved during middle childhood.
4. Discuss
the interconnection between cognitive and social development and how they
influence each other.
5. Recognize
the "unevenness" of development and indicate why such occurrences
make sense in terms of what is happening to the child at a particular time.
TEENAGE MIND AND BODY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Contrast
the biological changes and physical transformations experienced by girls during
puberty with those experienced by boys.
2. Cite
the evidence which suggests that changes in brain structure and function may
also result from hormonal changes during adolescence.
3. Briefly
describe the range of thinking skills that emerge during adolescence and
Piaget's theories regarding how these skills develop.
4. Discuss
the various criticisms that have been leveled at Piaget's theory of formal
operations.
5. Define
and give examples of adolescent egocentrism.
6. Summarize
Kohlberg's and Piaget's theories regarding the development of moral reasoning.
TEENAGE RELATIONSHIPS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Relate
the stress that can be encountered during adolescence to patterns of growth,
the age of the teenager, and cultural perspectives.
2. Identify
the key tasks of social development in adolescence.
3. Discuss
the concept of personal identity and recognize individual differences in
identity formation.
4. Describe
the changes in self-concept that occur across the teen years.
5. Characterize
the nature of friendship and peer group membership and the relative influence
of peers during adolescence.
6. Describe
the relationship between parenting patterns and adolescent behavior and the
influence of adolescent behavior on parental behavior.
7. Describe
the impact of divorce on adolescents.
TEENAGE CHALLENGES
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify
the most common problems of teenagers in Western culture and the frequency with
which they occur.
2. Given
the dangers associated with drugs, suggest reasons for the high incidence of
drug use by teenagers.
3. Identify
changes in teenage sexual activity during the past 25 years.
4. Develop
a profile of a typical victim of bulimia or anorexia nervosa; indicate why
someone would engage in self-starvation and what therapeutic approaches tend to
help those who are afflicted.
THREE TEENAGERS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain
why adolescence is referred to as the second revolution in development.
2. Describe
the biological changes children experience in adolescence.
3. Summarize,
in general, the cognitive changes that children experience in adolescence.
4. Indicate
the extent to which self-awareness and individuation play a role in the teen
years.
5. Contrast
peer relationships among adolescents with peer relationships among 6 to 12 year
olds.
6. Recognize
the ways in which relationships with parents change and mature during
adolescence.
CHILDHOOD MATTERS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Summarize
the arguments about the contribution of childhood experiences to adult
development.
2. Recognize
the extent and variety of developmental issues that exist.
3. Discuss
some major developmental issues that remain for the field of child development.
4. Describe
the interaction between a culture’s beliefs and values and its social policies
related to child development.
The following section contains
Midterm and Final
Outlines listing major points,
which will be covered at
the review sessions by your
instructor.
You will also find general
Midterm and Final
Examination information. You are
required to take
both the Midterm and Final Exam.
Refer to your assignment sheet for
the time and place
for your exams.
Unless specifically authorized by
your instructor, no
books, notes or other
supplemental materials are to be
used during your midterm and
final exams.
MIDTERM REVIEW OUTLINE
A. Nature of Development
1. Developmental
principles: qualitative and quantitative change, behavioral reorganization
2. Five
theoretical perspectives: Piagetian, psychoanalytical, adaptational, social
learning, information-precessing
3. Methods
of studying children: longitudinal, cross-sectional, natural, observational
4. Terms:
normative development, individual development
B. Context of Development
1. four
major contexts: biological, family, social and exonomic, and cultural
2. Complexities
in family context
3. Effects
of single parenting, maternal employment, day care sttings
4. Cultural
changes an dinfluences
5. Terms:
canalization, subcultures, birth order effects
C. Conception and Prenatal
Development
1. Mecanisms
of heredity: mitosis, meiosis, genes, chromosomes, patterns of genetic
ransmission
2. Conception:
gender determination, infertility, in vitro fertilization, artificial
insemination
3. Prenatal
development: germinal, embryonic, and fetal periods, significance of each
period.
4. Teratogens:
specific agent, genetic counseling, birth defects
5. Ways
to detect fetal problems: amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, ultrasound,
alpha fetal protein test
6. Terms:
genotype, phenotype, zygote
D. Birth and neonate
1. Stages
of labor
2. Birth
complication
3. Low
birth weight and prematurity
4. Trends
in childbirth; Lamaze method
5. Terms:
cesarean section, natural childbirth
E. First Adaptations
1. Reflexes
in the newborn; survival and other reflexes
2. Infant
motor skills: eye movements, reaching and grasping, walking
3. Sensory
systems: vision, hearing, smell and taste
4. Perceptual
abilities: depth perception, size and shape
5. Infant
learning: habituation, associative learning, imitative learning
6. Terms:
cephalocaudal and proximodistal development, operant conditioning, shaping, preparedness,
preadaptation
F. Infant Cognitive Development
1. Piaget:
six stages of sensorimotor development
2. Development
of object permanence
3. Memory
development in infants
4. Assumptions
of Piaget's theory of cognitive development
5. Terms:
representational thought, assimilation, accommodation, schemes, adaptation,
equilibrium.
G. Infant Social an Emotional
Development
1. Development
of first half year: newborn as preadapted, reciprocity
2. Development
in second half year: emotional development, stranger distress, attachment
3. Individual
differences: attachment framework, temperament framework
4. Importance
of early care: sensitive period, day care, quality of care
5. Terms:
stranger anxiety, secure attachment, anxious attachments
H. Toddler Language and Thining
1. Components
of language: sounds, structure, meaning, conversational rules, syntax,
semantics
2. Productive
and receptive skills
3. Nature
of early language: holophrases, telegraphic speech
4. Major
tasks of early language: sound patterns, words and their meanings
5. Language
environment: environmentalist and nativist points of view
6. Influences
on early speech
7. Pretend
play and use of gestures
8. Terms:
patterned speech, overextension, underextension, child-directed speech
I. Toddler Social and Emotional
Development
1. Socialization
from the outside and inside
2. Growth
of sociability: social referencing, peer interaction
3. Awareness
of self
4. Understanding
of others
5. Parent-toddler
relations; scaffolding
6. Individual
adaptations: separation-individuation
7. Terms:
executive competence, affective sharing
J. Parental Abuse and Neglect of
Toddlers
1. Causes:
child characteristics, parent characteristics
2. Environmental
context
3. Prevention
and intervention
4. Terms:
maladaptive behaviors, Parents Anonymous
Midterm Essay
Two of the eight essay topics
listed below will be selected by the instructor to appear on the midterm exam.
In order to receive credit for the objective portion of the exam, you will be
required to write on the two selected essay topics.
You may prepare answers to the
eight essay topics in advance, but be prepared to write the essays without
referring to notes on testing day. They should be concise, well written, and to
the point.
Essay Topics
1. Discuss
the six major theoretical perspectives of development. Define key concepts,
specific stages, important terms as well as strengths and weaknesses of each
theory.
2. Discuss
the four major contexts within which development occurs. Elaborate upon the
relationship of each of these contexts.
3. Discuss
aspects of prenatal development. Define the three major stages and elaborate
upon teratogens and procedures used to identify fetal problems.
4. Discuss
early adaptations and sensory capacities of the infant. Describe motor skills,
perceptual abilities and infant learning.
5. Discuss
the infant's intellectual development. Describe Piaget's view of cognitive
development during this period. Elaborate upon the development of object
permanence and memory as well as strategies that can be utilized to enhance the
learning environment.
6. Discuss
the infant's social and emotional development. Compare the major themes of the
first six months and the second six months. Describe individual differences as
they occur in an attachment and temperament framework.
7. Describe
the toddler's language development process. Discuss language stages and key
concepts of language development. Compare the environmentalist and nativist
points of view regarding language development.
8. Discuss
the toddler's social development. Compare socialization as it unfolds from the
outside and the inside. Elaborate upon the awareness of self, individual
adaptations, and parent-toddler relationships.
MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Videolessons 1 through 12
Textbook Chapters 1 through 8
Study Guide Lessons 1 through 12
Midterm Grading Breakdown
The midterm exam will consist of
100 multiple-choice questions worth one point each for a total of 100 points
and two essay topics, which you will be required to write on at the
midterm exam. The two essay topics will be worth 10 points each. In order to
receive credit for the objective portion of the exam, you will be required
to write on the essay questions.
FINAL REVIEW
Final Review Outline
A. Early Childhood Cognitive
Development
1. Causal
reasoning and conceptual tools
2. Understanding
quantity: rules of conservation
3. Understanding
classes, ordering, transitive inference
4. Distinguishing
between appearance and reality
5. Attention
and memory abilities
6. Social
cognition: egocentrism
7. Terms:
classification, seriation, transitive inference, centration
B. Early Childhood Social and
Emotional Development
1. Exploring
the environment and gaining self-reliance
2. Relationships
with peers
3. Self-control
and self-management
4. Aggression
and prosocial behavior
5. Self-esteem,
gender role concepts, sex-typed behavior
6. Individual
differences
7. Terms:
ego resiliency, hostile aggression, instrumental aggression, empathy, altruism,
instrumental dependency
C. Play and Imagination
1. Role
of play in development
2. Ways
that play changes in early childhood
3. Productive
play and therapy play
4. Terms:
fantasy play, role playing
D. Cognitive Development in
Middle Childhood
1. Conservation
concepts: information-processing approach
2. Classification
skills: hierarchical and matrix
3. Memory
abilities: mnemonic strategies, metamemory
4. Social
interaction and cognitive development: peer tutoring
5. Concepts
of intelligence: broadening the definition, Gardner's Theory of Multiple
Intelligences, Sternberg's Triarchic Theory
6. Exploring
IQ differences: heredity and environmental factors
7. Terms:
concrete operational thinking, intelligence quotient, reaction range
E. Social and Emotional
Development
1. Advances
in self-esteem and locus of control
2. Erikson's
stage of psychosocial development: sense of industry
3. Developmental
changes in peer relations
4. Peer
groups in school years
5. Terms:
social self, locus of control
F. Family Influence in Middle
Childhood
1. Parenting
styles; authoritarian and authoritative
2. Parental
conflict and divorce
3. Gender
roles
4. Sibling
relationships
G. Prosocial and Aggressive
Behavior
1. Description
and relationship of prosocial and aggressive behavior
2. Parental
roles
3. Models
of psychopathology: biological, environmental
4. Childhood
disorders: hyperactivity, anxiety disorder
5. Terms:
instrumental and hostile aggression, attention- deficit disorder
H. Physical Development in
Adolescence
1. Biological
changes: norms and individual differences at puberty
2. Hormonal
control of puberty: pituitary
3. Appearance
changes: secondary sex characteristics
4. Neurological
changes at puberty
5. Impact
of puberty change and timing
6. Terms:
menarche, hypothalamus, gonads
I. Cognitive Development in
Adolescence
1. Piaget's
stage of formal operations: abstract thinking, hypothetico-deductive reasoning
2. Evaluating
Piaget's views
3. Adolescent
egocentrism
4. Adolescent
moral reasoning: Piaget's Model, Kohlberg's Model
5. Terms:
personal fable, moral realism, autonomous morality
J. Social and Emotional
Development in Adolescence
1. Social
world of adolescence; cross-cultural perspective
2. Erikson's
psychosocial stage: search for identity
3. Development
of the self
4. Peer
relationships
5. Family
relationships
6. Terms:
social construction view, puberty rites, identity crisis
K. Challenges of Adolescence
1. Problems
of adolescence: school, marginal persons
2. Drinking
and drugs
3. Problems
with sex and pregnancy
4. Emotional
problems: depression, suicide, anorexia nervosa, bulim ia
L. Developmental Psychopathology
1. Risk
factors and protective factors.
2. Biological
perspectives: medical models, neurological and physiological models, genetic
models.
3. Environmental
perspectives: sociological models, behavioral models, psychodynamic models, family
models.
4. Developmental
perspective.
5. Childhood
disorders: autism, conduct disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder,
anxiety disorders.