Learning outcomes

This course is aimed:
(a) to provide students with a basic, updated knowledge, and conceptual and methodological tools for understanding human developmental processes in different psychological domains and different ages;
(b) to promote reflections on the application of this knowledge within education contexts.

Learning outcomes are grouped in 5 areas:

1) Knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course the student should:
a) have a basic knowledge and understanding of developmental and learning processes in the different psychological domains (motor-perceptual, cognitive, communicative-linguistic, emotional, socio-relational) from neonatal life to adolescence;
b) have a basic knowledge and understanding of the main theories explaining these processes;
c) have a basic knowledge and understanding of factors which can promote or, on the contrary, hinder individual developmental trajectories.

2) Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course the student should be able to:
a) interpret child behavior (the behavior of a given child in a given context) in the light of the acquired knowledge;
b) apply the acquired knowledge to observe child behavior during interactions with peers and adults, in order to both identify possible risk indicators, and promote social integration;
c) consider the relationship between child characteristics (individual factors and skills) and contextual characteristics (family, social and cultural factors) to understand individual differences in developmental trajectories, and to identify specific promotion factors.

3) Making judgments
At the end of the course the student should be able to:
a) reflect autonomously on how the knowledge of developmental processes in the different psychological domains can affect the work of an educator.

4) Communication skills
At the end of the course the student should be able to:
a) use a clear language and an adequate terminology to argue on issues related to developmental processes and to describe typical and atypical behaviors in different developmental domains.

5) Learning skills
At the end of the course the student should be able to:
a) learn from observing children’s behaviors in their daily contexts;
b) find and use effectively the information sources needed to deepen issues related to developmental processes of interest.

Program

- Introduction to Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Brain plasticity and the nature-nurture relationship in human development
- Neonatal period: continuity between prenatal and neonatal behaviors; newborn behavioral states; expressive and perceptual skills; infant pre-adapted to interact with human beings
- Infancy: early intersubjectivity development; roots of mental development in early intersubjectivity
- Infancy: sensory-motor development and knowledge about the physical word: Piaget’s theory, results from more recent studies and neo-nativism hypothesis
- Infancy: development of attachment and patterns of attachment: Bowlby-Ainsworth’s theory and current issues
- Infancy and early childhood: theories on language acquisition and development: Vygotskij and Bruner’s interactionist theory; comparison with other theories; continuity between prelinguistic and linguistic communication; lexical and syntactic development
- Early childhood: development of conceptual self and complex emotions; social competence with peers and adults in nursery school and preschool contexts
- Early childhood: development of narrative though and autobiographical memory
- Early childhood: development of graphic representation
- Early childhood: cognitive development: classic piagetian theory and following concerns; affirmation of studies on the Theory of Mind
- Childhood: entrance to primary school; cognitive development: classic piagetian theory, post-piagetians and theory of human information processing (HIP); memory and working memory
- Childhood: development of executive functions and monitoring of cognitive processes
- Childhood: social and emotional development: executive functions and emotional regulation, behavioral difficulties; self-esteem; peer relationships
- Childhood and early adolescence: bullying
- Early adolescence: puberty: effects on development; role of monosexual groups of peers
- Adolescence: development tasks and current characteristics; functional and dysfunctional mentalization of sexuated body; psychological detachment from parents; role of peer group
- Adolescence: identity formation: Erikson and Marcia’s theory and current concerns
- Adolescence: cognitive development: classic piagetian theory and following concerns
- Intelligence and individual differences: theories of multiple intelligences: Stenberg, Gardner, contextual models
- Individual developmental trajectories: resilience vs. vulnerability; individual and environmental factors affecting development of resilience vs. vulnerability

Didactic methods
During lessons, explanations supported by visual devises will be alternated with moments in which students will be actively engaged in discussions and analyses of research videos illustrative of concepts and issues addressed.

Exam texts
The preparation of the exam includes the study of an handbook of Developmental Psychology, a monograph ‒in order to deepen the study of a specific developmental period (infancy, school age, adolescence)‒, and a volume on resilience in individual developmental trajectories:
1) Belsky, J. (2007/2009). Psicologia dello sviluppo, Vol. I. Bologna: Zanichelli (no pp.28-72 and 345-369).
2) One of the following volumes, according to the personal interest:
A) Infancy
Lavelli, M. (2007/2015). Intersoggettività. Origini e primi sviluppi. Milano: Raffaello Cortina (only the introduction and the second part).
B) Childhood
Aureli, T., Bascelli, E., Camodeca, M., Di Sano, S. (2008). Il bambino in classe. Aspetti teorici e strumenti di valutazione. Roma: Carocci (no recurrent paragraphs ‘Evaluation tools’ and ‘Intervention tools’ in chapter 2).
C) Adolescence
Albiero P. (a cura di) (2012). Il benessere psicosociale in adolescenza. Prospettive multidisciplinari. Roma: Carocci (no chapters 6 and 9).
3) Inguglia, C., Lo Coco, A. (2013). Resilienza e vulnerabilità psicologica nel corso dello sviluppo. Bologna: Il Mulino (no chapters 3 and 5).

Examination Methods

Written exam: the student will have two hours to answer to six open questions on topics illustrated in the three exam texts.
The students will have to demonstrate that they:
- have a basic knowledge and understanding of both developmental processes in different psychological domains, and main theories explaining these processes;
- are able to relate and process the acquired knowledge;
- are able to apply the acquired knowledge to to interpret a child’s behavior (a brief case);
- ability to communicate in a clear and effective way, by using adequate terminology and correct syntax.
Each answer will be given a rating score out of 30; the final score will be the average of the six partial scores.