Babies look like helpless blobs, but they’re capable of impressive feats of computation and learning. Three-year-old children can’t cross the street alone, but they know an astounding amount of information about their environments. In this course, we will focus on landmark studies that elucidate how children’s biology, cognition, language, and social experiences interact to set the stage for how we learn, what we do, and who we are. Is the baby's world a “blooming, buzzing confusion” (as described by William James), or do babies enter the world prepared to organize and make sense of the physical and social environment? How can we disentangle the contributions of nature and nurture, and understand how they collaborate during development? What are the implications of early development for later life? These and many other questions will be addressed as we venture into children’s minds and lives.
Along the way, we will focus on the inventive methods used by developmental scientists to study children’s behaviors, brains, and environments. We will discuss not only conclusions about human development, but also the science behind those conclusions—how do scientists determine what a baby knows or feels? Which facts are still up for debate? My goals for this course are that students will gain a broad understanding of (1) long-held truths and theories of child development, and (2) the processes by which these facts have been discovered. I expect students in this course to not only listen and learn, but to also engage and discuss—to ask and question, not just accept and believe. Whether you have considerable experience with children or have never met one, be prepared to have your expectations and current beliefs about childhood challenged and changed.
Along the way, we will focus on the inventive methods used by developmental scientists to study children’s behaviors, brains, and environments. We will discuss not only conclusions about human development, but also the science behind those conclusions—how do scientists determine what a baby knows or feels? Which facts are still up for debate? My goals for this course are that students will gain a broad understanding of (1) long-held truths and theories of child development, and (2) the processes by which these facts have been discovered. I expect students in this course to not only listen and learn, but to also engage and discuss—to ask and question, not just accept and believe. Whether you have considerable experience with children or have never met one, be prepared to have your expectations and current beliefs about childhood challenged and changed.
- Teacher: Emily Foster-Hanson