Child Development Psychology

Objectives

1.To acquire information on child development in its cognitive, motor, affective, social and moral dimensions;
2. To identify factors that influence Development and understand how they act together;
3.To build a conceptual grid capable of guiding future professional practice;
4.To relate knowledge about child development to child behavior;
5.To detect regularities and specificities in the perspectives of children, both from the analysis of children's dialogues, and from questioning children in interviews-conversations;
6.To derive implications from course content regarding pedagogical decisions and interventions;
7.To develop attitudes of observation, research and reflection.

Program

1. Conceptual framework of child development. History and methods of Developmental Psychology
2. Factors responsible for Development, and their interaction: Heredity and environmental influences on development.
3. Prenatal development, birth and infancy
4. Theories on Human Development
5. Psycho-motor Development
6. Language Development
7. Pre-Representation of Mathematical Logic
8. Affectivity and Social Interaction
9. Moral Development.

Teaching Methodologies

This curricular unit combines expository instruction with approaches of a more practical nature, based on theoretical content derived from lecture instruction. The evaluation is based on a written test and a group assignment (activity reports and personal reflections on practical activities) accounting both for 80% of the final mark.; student participation in classroom activities and and other small academic tasks, assessed together with consultation and research tasks (an optional component ), totals 20% of the final grade.

Bibliography

Bee, H. (2009). Lifespan Development. Boston: Pearson International Edition.
Berk, L. (2006). Child development, 7th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Coll, C. (1995). Desenvolvimento psicológico e educação. Psicologia Evolutiva. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas.
Lourenço, O. (2005). Psicologia de desenvolvimento cognitivo : teoria, dados e implicações, 2ª ed.. Coimbra: Liv. Almedina.
Papalia, D.E., Olds, S.W., Feldman, R.D. (2009). Human Development. N.Y.: McGraw-Hill.
Schaffer, D. R. (2005). Psicologia do Desenvolvimento – Infância e Adolescência. São Paulo: THOMSON