Cognitive Development

CS 203
Fall 2004
Tuesday and Thursday, 2:00pm to 3:20pm
222 Adele Simmons Hall

Kevin H. Grobman

207 Adele Simmons Hall
(413) 559-6659
kgrobman@hampshire.edu

Class Description

We can look into the cribs of newborn babies and wonder what they are thinking and who they will become. How do they make sense of the buzzing confusion around them and, in just two years, learn hundreds of words? We can watch pre-school children playing and wonder if they are just little adults or if there is something fundamentally different between childhood and adulthood. We can see high school students mastering calculus while others struggle with arithmetic. What accounts for the individual differences that develop between us? Do we become our adult selves because of something driving us from within or are we shaped by outside forces like parents, schools, and society? In this class we will learn what science can tell us about the development of children's thinking. Each week we will read from an overview text and an empirical study of children's cognitive development. There will be brief assignments with each reading and your class-work will culminate in a final paper. Your efforts with this class will help you understand children in new ways and prepare you to study childhood scientifically in classes like the Research Practicum in Cognitive Development (CS 328).

Meeting with Me

I am always happy to meet with you to discuss class assignments, independent study projects, division III options, possible career paths, and other intellectual topics. I arrive to class about 5- to 10-minutes before it begins and linger after class for another 5- to 10-minutes. Please feel free to use this time for quick questions and arranging meetings. The easiest way to arrange a meeting is to send me a short e-mail, but please always feel free to stop by my office or phone. I specifically set aside office hours on Wednesdays from 3pm to 6pm to help make meeting as easy as possible.

Minimum Expectations

Since much of the learning in this course happens through our class discussions, your failure to be prepared could diminish the learning experience for other students. Since it is important to me that you learn as much as possible through this course, I have some minimum expectations. You should attend every class. I understand that extenuating circumstances arise that can make this difficult, but please let me know before class if you can not attend. If circumstances make you miss more than 3 classes during the semester, you may have over-extended yourself and you should consider dropping the class. Arrive to class on time. Class begins promptly and tardiness distracts other students and me. If you must leave early, please let me know before class begins. Be prepared for class. The content of class meetings will go beyond the textbook. I assume you have read it; if you have not read it, class discussion will be hard to follow. It will be impossible to understand and adequately participate in a class about an empirical journal article if you have not read it. Focus your attention during class on our class; for example, do not attend our class while completing work for another class. If you do not meet the minimum expectations for class, I will have reservations that I will need to write about in your evaluations.

Excelling in Class

Learning at Hampshire College is primarily the results of your independent efforts. I feel that my role is to push you to think more deeply and scientifically than you probably feel capable. I chose readings and assignments that I know will be hard; I do not expect anyone to excel completely on any assignment. Instead, to write your evaluations, I would like to see your moments of insight and your progress over the semester. Venture to speak during class, even if you are unsure exactly what you are trying to say. I see recasting what you say into the framework of scientific psychology as my role during class discussions. You are excelling in class discussion when you progress to independently using the language and concepts of scientific psychology. I look for the same development in your short writing assignments and your term paper. Though certainly not required for class, there are more learning opportunities available to you and I am happy to write about your experiences in your evaluation. For example, if you are intrigued by a course topic, we can arrange for you to give a short oral presentation of an empirical study that is not already part of class. During the semester, there are many scholarly talks at the local five colleges about class-related topics. If you attend one, tell me about your experience at these talks either in a short meeting or in a short essay.

Textbook

Siegler, Robert & Alibali, Martha (2005). Children's Thinking, 4th edition. Prentice Hall, NJ.

Class Schedule of Readings

Thurs Sept 9: Introduction to Class and to Reading Empirical Studies
(no assigned reading)

Tue Sept 14: Introduction to Cognitive Development
Children's Thinking chapter 1, pg. 1-25

Thurs Sept 16: Piaget's Theory of Development
Children's Thinking chapter 2, pg. 26-64

Tue Sept 21: Putting Cognitive Developmental Psychology into Context
Piaget, Jean (1979). Relationships between Psychology and Other Sciences. Annual Review of Psychology, 30, 1-8. Liben, Lynn. (1997). Standing on the shoulders of giants - or collapsing on the backs of straw men? The Developmental Psychologist, pg. 2-14.

Thurs Sept 23: How to Find and Critique Empirical Journal Articles
(no assigned reading)

Tue Sept 28: Intelligence, Creativity, & Expertise
Vincent, Andrea S., Decker, Brian P., and Mumford, Michael D. (2002). Divergent Thinking, Intelligence, and Expertise: A Test of Alternative Models. Creativity Research Journal, v.14(2), 163-178.

Thurs Sept 30: Information Processing Theories of Development
Children's Thinking chapter 3, pg. 65-106

Tue Oct 5: Socio-Cultural Theories of Development
Children's Thinking chapter 4, pg. 65-106

Thurs Oct 7: Parent-Child Interaction & Basic Cognitive Processes
Haden, Catherine A., Ornstein, Peter A., Eckerman, Carol O., and Didow, Sharon M. (2001). Mother-Child Conversational Interaction as Events Unfold: Linkages to Subsequent Remembering. Child Development, 72(4), 1016-1031.

Tue Oct 12: October Break
(no class)

Thurs Oct 14: Perceptual Development
Children's Thinking chapter 5, pg. 141-181

Tue Oct 19: Biological Development & Perception
Held, Richard and Hein, Alan (1963). Movement-produced stimulation in the Development of Visually Guided Behavior. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 56(5), 872-876.

Thurs Oct 21: Language Development
Children's Thinking chapter 6, pg. 183-224

Tue Oct 26: Representations & Symbolic Development
DeLoache, Judy S., Miller, Kevin F., and Rosengren, Karl S. (1997). The Credible Shrinking Room: Very Young Children's Performance with Symbolic and Nonsymbolic Relations, Psychological Science, 8(4), 308-313.

Thurs Oct 28: Memory Development
Children's Thinking chapter 7, pg. 226-267

Tue Nov 2: Object Permanence, Infant Memory of Objects out of Sight
Baillargeon, RenŽe (1987). Object Permanence in 3- and 4-Month-Old Infants. Developmental Psychology, 23(5), 655-664.

Thurs Nov 4: Conceptual Development
Children's Thinking chapter 8, pg. 268-304

Tue Nov 9: Causality & Theory-Theory
Springer, Ken and Keil, Frank C. (1991). Early differentiation of Causal Mechanisms Appropriate to Biological and Nonbiological Kinds. Child Development, 62, 767-781.

Thurs Nov 11: Advising Day
(no class)

Tue Nov 16: Development of Social Cognition
Children's Thinking chapter 9, pg. 305-340

Thurs Nov 18: Linking Cognitive Development & Social Development
Bigler, Rebecca S. and Liben, Lynn S. (1992). Cognitive Mechanisms in Children's Gender Stereotyping: Theoretical and Educational Implications of a Cognitive-Based Intervention, Child Development, 63, 1351-1363

Tue Nov 23: Problem Solving
Children's Thinking chapter 10, pg. 341-380

Thurs Nov 25: Thanksgiving Break
(no class)

Tue Nov 30: Problem Solving & Conceptual Change
Thornton, Stephanie (1999). Creating the Conditions for Cognitive Change. Child Development, v.70(3), 588-603.

Thurs Dec 2: Development of Academic Skills
Children's Thinking chapter 11, pg. 381-421

Tue Dec 7: Conclusions for the Present, Challenges for the Future
Children's Thinking chapter 12, pg. 422-456

Thurs Dec 9: Career Opportunities in Cognitive Development
(informal discussion, no assigned readings)

Class Schedule for Term Paper

Tue Sept 21: Come up with 3 possible topics for your paper. Schedule a 20-minute meeting with me to talk through ideas before the due date.

Thurs Sept 30: Choose 2 of your possible topics. For each idea, gather citations and abstracts for at least 5 empirical journal articles.

Thurs Oct 7: Choose 3 empirical journal articles on 1 topic for your paper and form a thesis statement.

Tue Oct 19: Get all 3 of your articles and read 1 of your articles. Write a short critique.

Thurs Oct 28: Read another one of your articles and write a short critique.

Thurs Nov 4: Read the last of your 3 articles and write a short critique.

Thurs Nov 16: Integrate your critiques to draft your term paper. Find more articles that help you advance your thesis. Turn in a rough draft for feedback. Schedule a 1-hour meeting with me to go over your draft.

Thurs Dec 9: Turn in your final term paper.

Note for Students: Class readings have been made available through the Hampshire College Library Course Web-Site. Because of copyright restrictions, the readings are only available to students registered in the class.

Note for those outside Hampshire College: Hampshire College emphasizes exposing students to primary research in all of our classes, even those at the sophomore (200) level. In lieu of grades, faculty write students detailed evaluation letters. This level of detail helps students understand their strengths and develop their weaknesses in future classes.