2024 Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Department of Social and Human Sciences Graduate major in Social and Human Sciences

Developmental Psychology

Academic unit or major: Graduate major in Social and Human Sciences
Instructor(s): Kimihiko Yamagishi
Class Format: Lecture (Face-to-face)
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms): 1-2 Wed
Class: -
Course Code: SHS.M448
Number of credits: 100
Course offered: 2024
Offered quarter: 1Q
Syllabus updated: Mar 14, 2025
Language: English

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

We watch kindergarten pupils play and wonder if they are just little adults or if there is something fundamentally different between childhood and adulthood. We see elementary school pupils having trouble with fractions while others struggle with geometry. What accounts for the individual differences that we observe? In this class, we will learn what science can tell us about development and how scientists figure these things out. Your efforts in this class will help you understand children in new ways and prepare you to study development scientifically. The instruction occasionally relies on the Active Learning style. This course opens in even calendar (Christian) years.

Course description and aims

It is my hope that your hunger in understanding human development shall find satisfaction in this course in the sense that, long after it is over, you will continue to pursue answers to the questions that interest you most in your educational careers. I show up in the class 5-10 minutes early. Feel free to use this time for quick questions or to schedule a time to meet with me.

Keywords

development, psychology, thinking

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Topics change in every class meeting. Basically the course goes in the mixture of conventional lecture-style and the Active Learning. Due to the necessity for Active Learning group formation, the students should adhere to the following requirements: One, register for the course by 0:00am on April 7th, 2024; Two, the class imposes a "minimal passenger count" of nine students.This course opens in even calendar (Christian) years.

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	Child Development: What develops?	Understand what "development" is.
Class 2	Intellectual aspects in development	Understand the development of intelligence
Class 3	Learning aspects in development	Understand how "learning" takes place.
Class 4	Social aspects in development	Understand what children learn in the social settings.
Class 5	Data analyses in developmental research	Understand quantitative analytic techniques in the educational research.
Class 6	Individual differences in development	Understand why all the students are not the same.
Class 7	Motivation and schooling	Understand how motivational factors facilitate school learning.

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

None

Reference books, course materials, etc.

In-class handouts

Evaluation methods and criteria

In-class learning enthusiasm: 10%
Performance on the final exam: 90%
The percentage of the sum of whole activities shall make the grade point.

Related courses

SHS.M449 ： Educational Psychology
LAT.A405 ： Cognitive Psychology

Prerequisites

No prerequisites. Familiarity with psychology may help yet not required.

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

yamagishi.k.aa&m.titech.ac.jp
(please replade the ampersand with "@")

Office hours

Office hours by appointment.

Other

This course opens in every even calendar (Christian) year.