Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Fall 2023

Course Description

What factors affect one's cognitive ability? How has our understanding of cognition and intelligence changed in recent times? Can cognitive/intellectual development be enhanced with specific parenting and instructional techniques? How does one's ways of knowing change over time? These are but four of the questions that are addressed in this course. Issues related to thinking, understanding, and intellectual development will be explored from early childhood through adulthood. Recent research and current thought in the field will be analyzed and debated to try to gain insights into these issues as they relate to themes of social justice and equity, critical thinking, and leadership in education. (Education Studies e-course description) Consider the following: “Many factors contribute to development...children are affected by interwoven factors in biology, everyday contexts, and culture.....And because children build competencies by engaging in real activities in real contexts, different skills vary in maturity within the same child!” -Laura Berk (2001, p. 22-23) “One of the most important responsibilities educators have is helping students learn to make defensible judgments about vexing problems.” -King & Kitchener (1994, p. 1) From infancy through adulthood, we will explore issues related to thinking, understanding, perception, and intellectual development. As Laura Berk (2001) states, “It’s little wonder that American parents are perplexed and conflicted about what course to steer in child rearing. They live in a world that make parenting exceedingly challenging. The majority of mothers of preschool children are in the labor force, yet the United States stands out among industrialized nations in providing few supports to help employed parents in their child-rearing roles. At the same time, American parents complain that they are busier than ever, that the growing demand of their work lives leaves them little time for their children. A nation of pressured, preoccupied parents has emerged in an era of grave public concern about the well- being of American youth, who are achieving less well than they should and often displaying a worrisome lack of direction and purpose, manifested at its worst in high rates of self-destructiveness and violence. These afflictions have permeated even the most economically privileged sectors of our population – young people who, on the face of things, have been granted the best of life’s chances.” And even beyond the secondary years, how can we maximize the learning of students in undergraduate schools by structuring their learning environments differently than those of the past century? Recent research and current thought in the field will be analyzed to try to gain insights into these issues as they relate to themes of social justice and equity, critical thinking, and leadership.

Student Outcomes

•Understand the different cultural and biological influences on cognition of children, adolescents, and young adults. •Discern scholastic and parental responsibilities regarding early and middle childhood needs in relation to individual developmental. •Analyze scenarios of childhood, adolescent, and college-age students regarding their cognitive and ethical growth in relation to social needs. •Distinguish among different college-aged students’ responses to controversial scenarios regarding the nature of science, as well as polar scenarios about educational and life issues. •Derive an appreciation for the complexity of intellectual development in college-aged students.

Download

Share

COinS