Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Autumn Term 2021-22 |
This module aims to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of the cognitive and developmental processes involved in learning (broadly understood), and the capacity to reflect on their possible implications for education.
Students will be introduced to the key theories that underpin our current understanding of development and cognition. For example, students will be introduced to theoretical perspectives on development, including cognitive, socio-emotional, behavioural, ecological and lifespan perspectives, and prominent methodological approaches. They will consider how these perspectives can account for development in different domains (i.e. social, emotional and cognitive), at different ages (i.e. childhood, adolescence and adulthood) and in different contexts (i.e. cultural and cohort effects).
Students will also consider key elements of cognition including memory, perception, attention, and language, evaluating how our knowledge in this area has been informed by the field of cognitive neuropsychology, and by the introduction of new technologies and methodologies.
Students will be supported in developing the skills required to identify and critically evaluate relevant literature, and to compare and contrast alternative means of gathering and evaluating cognitive and developmental data. They will also be exposed to an in-class cognitive psychology experiment and will have the formative opportunity to write a report of the findings in APA style.
Subject content
By the end of this module students will have developed:
· Broad knowledge, and a nuanced understanding, of key theories and findings in developmental psychology, including cognitive, socio-emotional, behavioural, ecological and lifespan perspectives.
· Broad knowledge, and a nuanced understanding of key theories and findings in cognitive psychology related to memory, perception, attention and language.
· In-depth understanding of the developmental processes that occur at different stages (e.g. childhood, adolescence and adulthood) and in different domains (e.g. social, cognitive, and emotional).
Academic and graduate skills
Students will have learned how to:
The module content is structured so that it incrementally builds up students’ knowledge of developmental and cognitive psychology to the extent that they will be in a strong position to consider their relevance to education by the end of the module.
The following outline is representative of the lectures that will be given but may be subject to small changes.
Week 2 – Introduction to Development and Cognition
Development – What is development?
Nature vs nurture
The variety of approaches to development
Cognition – What is cognitive psychology?
The cognitive revolution
Key figures in the birth of cognitive psychology
Week 3
Development – The nature of development
How do we study developmental psychology?
Introduction to cognitive, behaviourist, socio-emotional, ecological, psychoanalytical approaches
The lifespan perspective
Cognition – How do we study it?
Methodological approaches
Week 4
Development – Infancy
Attachment theory
Initial cognitive development
Cognition – Auditory and visual perception I
Basic auditory and visual processing
Visual illusions
Week 5
Development – Early childhood
Developing cognition and theory of mind
Play
Cognition – Auditory and visual perception II
Auditory attention
Inattentional blindness and change blindness
Week 6
Development – Middle Childhood
Piagetian theory
Developing Self
Cognition – Language I
Language acquisition
Speech perception
Week 7
Development – Adolescence
Physical, Cognitive and Socioemotional development
Peer relationships
Aggression
Cognition – Language II
Language comprehension
Week 8
Development – Emerging Adulthood
Social Changes
Identity
Cognition – Memory I
Short term memory
Working memory
Week 9
Development – Adulthood
Lifespan perspective revisited
Changes to memory, the concept of wisdom
Cognition – Memory II and Emotions
Long term memory
The relationship between cognition and emotion
Week 10
Development – Older Adulthood
Socioemotional selectivity theory
Cognitive changes in older adults
Cognition – Cognition & Emotions
Appraisal theories
Bower’s Network theory
We will use a flipped classroom approach to deliver the material covered in this module. This will involve students engaging with substantial preparatory material prior to their lectures, including pre-reading, narrated power points, blogs and online discussions. Students will then be able to engage with the material at a more advanced level during class discussion, with the support of their lecturer, and to carry out practical activities e.g. typical cognitive psychology experiments, observational tasks related to developmental psychology, design studies to address questions that link educational practice with psychological research.
Formative assessments: detailed essay plan - Cognition (Autumn, week 6) and coding framework report - Development (Autumn, week 8), both 0% of module mark.
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Critical Review 2000 words |
N/A | 50 |
Essay/coursework Research Report 2000 words |
N/A | 50 |
None
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Critical Review 2000 words |
N/A | 50 |
Essay/coursework Research Report 2000 words |
N/A | 50 |
Individual written feedback reports, with follow-up tutor meeting if necessary. The feedback is returned to students in line with university policy. Please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.
Gillibrand, R., Lam, Virginia, & O'Donnell, Victoria L. (2016). Developmental Psychology (Second ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Leman, P., Bremner, Andrew J, Parke, Ross D, & Gauvain, Mary. (2012). Developmental Psychology. London: McGraw-Hill.
Boyd, D., & Bee, Helen L., author. (2015). Lifespan Development (Seventh edition; Global ed.).
Quinlan, P., Dyson, Ben, & Dyson, B. J. (2008). Cognitive Psychology. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Eysenck, M., & Keane, Mark T. (2015). Cognitive Psychology : A student's handbook (7th ed.).