In this course, we dive into the topic of child development. You will learn that child development is complex and is influenced by a surprisingly rich number of factors at many different levels of organization. You will see that development can be studied in various domains and at various levels of understanding, from different angles and disciplines. Importantly, you will come to understand that processes within and between the various domains and levels of organization continuously interact to shape development. This implies that understanding development requires taking an interdisciplinary approach.
Understanding child development: from synapse to society
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Understanding child development: from synapse to society
Instructor: dr. Jorg Huijding
80,467 already enrolled
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Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
4.6
(318 reviews)
Beginner level
No prior experience required
Flexible schedule
Approx. 28 hours
Learn at your own pace
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Assessments
14 assignments
Taught in English
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There are 6 modules in this course
After a general introduction to this MOOC, this week focuses on the developmental systems approach to understand development. We will illustrate how such an approach can be facilitated by introducing you to Dynamics of Youth, a strategic research theme of Utrecht University set up to foster interdisciplinary research on child and adolescent development.
What's included
3 videos7 readings4 assignments1 peer review
In the first week of this course, we explained the developmental systems approach and introduced you to Dynamics of Youth as an example of how this approach can be adopted in practice. Now it is time to dive into child development itself. This week, we will be focusing on two domains of development: the brain and motor control.
What's included
5 videos6 readings3 assignments
This week we will focus on cognitive development and how this affects how children think and act. You will see that information from the previous week, in which we discussed the development of the brain and motor skills, can be used to understand cognitive development.
What's included
6 videos2 readings2 assignments1 peer review
This week’s focus is on communication. As you will see, language development is tightly interwoven with cognitive development and as such is also closely related to brain and motor development.
What's included
5 videos3 readings3 assignments
In this fifth week of the course, we will pay attention to social-emotional development.
What's included
5 videos3 readings2 assignments
In this final week of this course, you will be challenged to fit it all together and see the big picture.
What's included
2 videos4 readings1 peer review
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4.8 (100 ratings)Offered by
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