About this course: 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. In order to help you organize your thinking about this complexity you will learn more about the developmental systems approach and theories related to that. We will look, amongst other things, at the brain and motor development, cognitive, language and social-emotional development and all the factors that have an influence on development. To illustrate how an interdisciplinary approach helps to understand child development you will see how researchers from various disciplines and backgrounds study child development at Utrecht University. These scientists will give a look in their field of knowledge and their collaboration with colleagues, to illustrate how the theory you will learn translates to practice. In sum, we invite you to follow us on a journey to understand child development from synapse to society!
Created by: Utrecht University
Taught by: dr. Jorg Huijding, Associate Professor Clinical Child and Family Studies
Education and Pedagogy
| Commitment | 6 weeks of study, 4-5 hours/week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Introduction to Dynamics of Youth
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.
3 videos, 6 readings, 4 practice quizzes
- Reading: General introduction
- Reading: Introduction
- Practice Quiz: What do you know already?
- Video: The developmental systems approach
- Practice Quiz: Test your knowledge on the developmental systems approach
- Reading: Applying the developmental systems approach to well-being
- Reading: Optional readings on the developmental systems approach
- Reading: Introduction
- Video: What it takes to study development from a developmental systems approach
- Practice Quiz: How can you make it happen?
- Video: Introduction to Dynamics of Youth and the cohort studies
- Reading: The YOUth cohort studies
- Practice Quiz: What do you think of Dynamics of Youth and the cohort studies?
Graded: Test your understanding of the developmental systems approach
WEEK 2
Brain and motor development
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.
5 videos, 6 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Reading: Introduction
- Video: The early developing brain
- Reading: Brain plasticity and behaviour
- Reading: Optional reading on the developing brain
- Reading: Optional reading on brain plasticity
- Practice Quiz: Test your knowledge on brain development
- Video: Growing synapses - Interview with a brain researcher
- Reading: Introduction
- Video: Developing motor skills
- Reading: The development of motor behavior
- Practice Quiz: Test your knowledge on motor development
- Video: Interview with a human movement scientist
- Video: WEIRD science
- Practice Quiz: What did you learn about brain and motor development?
WEEK 3
Cognitive development
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.
6 videos, 2 readings, 2 practice quizzes
- Reading: Introduction
- Video: The emergence of thinking and understanding
- Reading: More on cognitive development
- Practice Quiz: Test your knowledge on cognitive development
- Video: Playing (with) rats - Interview with a neurobiologist
- Video: Rats and synapses - Interview about interdisciplinary collaboration
- Video: Experimenting teenagers - Interview with a psychologist
- Video: Applied geography - Interview with a social geographer
- Video: Embodied cognition, culture and geography
- Practice Quiz: What did you learn about cognitive development?
Graded: What do you think of animal research?
WEEK 4
Communication
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.
5 videos, 3 readings, 3 practice quizzes
- Reading: Introduction
- Practice Quiz: What do you know already about language development?
- Video: Speech and language development
- Reading: Cracking the code of language
- Video: 'Talking' Zebrafinches - Interview with a biologist
- Practice Quiz: Test your knowledge on speech and language development
- Video: Talking to babies - Interview with a linguist
- Video: Language and machine learning - Interview with a brain imaging expert
- Reading: Media literacy
- Video: Language, (embodied) cognition and culture
- Practice Quiz: What did you learn about speech and language development?
WEEK 5
Social-emotional development
In this fifth week of the course, we will pay attention to social-emotional development.
5 videos, 3 readings, 2 practice quizzes
- Reading: Introduction
- Video: Developing emotions and sociability
- Reading: Culture and the development of emotions
- Practice Quiz: Test your knowledge on social-emotional development
- Video: Language and behavior problems - Interview with a linguist
- Video: Social-emotional problems - Interview with a developmental psychologist
- Video: Ethnic and socio-economical influences - Interview with an interdisciplinary social scientist
- Reading: More on social-emotional development
- Video: Integration
- Practice Quiz: What did you learn about social-emotional development?
WEEK 6
The big picture
In this final week of this course, you will be challenged to fit it all together and see the big picture.
2 videos, 4 readings
- Reading: Introduction
- Video: The case of prematurely born children - Interview with a clinical child and family researcher
- Video: Zooming out - Interview with a biologist
- Reading: Final survey
- Reading: Acknowledgements
- Reading: There's more where that came from!
Graded: Do you understand development from synapse to society?
FAQs
How It Works
Coursework
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
Help from Your Peers
Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.
Certificates
Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.
Creators
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a research university comprising seven faculties which collectively span the entire academic spectrum in teaching and research. Founded in 1636, the University is now a modern, leading institute enjoying a growing international reputation. In the Shanghai Ranking, Utrecht University ranks 1st in the Netherlands, 17th in Europe and 56th worldwide. The research focuses on four main strategic themes: Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability. Our motto is: Bright minds, better future.
Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education, partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online.
© 2017 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved.
