Child Development: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (paid version for the professional)

Course goals

At the end of the course:

• you are able to describe child development from the perspective of multiple disciplines as presented in this course
• you are able to communicate this knowledge to peers from other disciplines
• you are able to integrate insights from different disciplines to address core questions in child development

Relation between assessment and objective
Through lectures and literature, you gain knowledge on child development from the perspective of multiple disciplines (learning goal 1). During workgroups you practice with communication of this knowledge to peers (learning goal 2), and with integration of insights from different disciplines (learning goal 3). In the literature review and the assignment related to the lectures, you are expected to show all acquired knowledge and skills. That is, you describe and integrate information from multiple disciplines that is relevant to an issue in child development, at such level that it is clear to peers from other disciplines.

Content

This course offers an interdisciplinary perspective on influences on child and youth development. You will step away from your own discipline-based outlook and instead develop an integrated understanding of influences on child and youth development from infancy to adulthood. In this course, we tap into different societal issues related to child and youth development, such as the effects of being born preterm, minorities in classrooms, and vulnerability to substance abuse. This course provides a broad view on influences on child and youth development. Note that although we provide literature and if available videos on developmental trajectories of specific skills, this will not be discussed in-depth during the course. 

In a series of lectures, experts from various disciplines will discuss important findings of child research in their field (e.g., psychology, neuroscience, law, animal models, philosophy, linguistics). You will integrate this knowledge by discussing topical issues in child and youth development with other students during interdisciplinary working groups. Moreover, you will apply this interdisciplinary knowledge to a topic of your own choice by creating a literature review within a small group of students.

The interdisciplinary skills and knowledge acquired in this course will benefit you in any career involving child and youth development - be it in research, health-care or policy-making - as issues in current-day society require a multifaceted approach.

This course is organised by the university strategic theme Dynamics of Youth and is open for students from all faculties. This course can be followed as part of the CARD minor and the minor "Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Child Development in Societal Challenges" (https://students.uu.nl/onderwijs/minors/interdisciplinary-perspectives-on-child-development-in-societal-challenges). Also students not doing this minor can join the course. If you have questions on this course, or wonder how it differs from other courses in your curriculum (e.g. the 'integratieve themavakken' in year 2 of Psychology), please contact the course coordinator.

Note 1: The entire course will be taught in English. This also includes assignments and examination.
Note 2: This course includes a lot of group work, both in class and in the assignments. As such, the course is particularly interesting for students that like to collaborate and/or improve these skills.