The Child Psychology – Level 3 Distance Learning Course is designed for people who wish to gain an understanding of Child Psychology and the development of children.
On successful completion of the course, students will receive an accredited Level 3 Certificate of Achievement.
Objectives Of Child Psychology Course
At the end of the home study course students will develop:
- An awareness of psychological approaches to the understanding of child development.
- A recognition of the application of developmental psychology to certain aspects of child care and education.
- An awareness of different methodological approaches to psychological investigation.
- A range of skills in using psychological methods.
The Home Study Course Includes the Following 20 Modules
Lesson One -The First Year of Life
The following topics are covered: Infant reflexes; Social development during the first year of life including the social smile and onset of fear of strangers.
Lesson Two -The Formation of Attachments
The following topics are covered: Imprinting; Attachment (Bowlby) including cross-cultural studies; Harlow and surrogate mothers; Relevance of animal studies in child development.
Lesson Three – Consequences of Breakdowns in Attachments
The following topics are covered: Maternal deprivation; Implications of theories of attachment and maternal deprivation when placing children with surrogates.
Lesson Four -The Home, Family and School
The following topics are covered: Group vs. family care and studies of effects of maternal employment and father absent families; Importance of peers and siblings.
Lesson Five -Basic Principles of Research Methods
The following topics are covered: Nature and purpose of research, what is an experiment, supporting and refuting hypotheses, independent and dependent variables, control of variables, standardised instructions and procedures, methods of sampling, a design of investigations.
Lesson Six -The Development of Visual Perception
The following topics are covered: Introduction to nature/nurture debate on visual perception; Fantz – form perception; Gibson and Walk – depth perception; how the physiology of the human visual system helps us judge depth and distance; Bower – size constancy; animal experiments on early sensory deprivation. Tutor-marked Assignment A
Lesson Seven -The Development of Language and Communication
The following topics are covered: Development of non-verbal communication in humans, gestures etc; comparisons with non-human primates; outline of language development in humans; including naturalistic observational in humans; including naturalistic observational studies and criticisms of these; Innate and reinforcement theories.
Lesson Eight -Intelligence and Intelligence Testing
The following topics are covered: Definitions of intelligence; mental age and IQ; Tests of intelligence; Advantages and disadvantages of IQ testing.
Lesson Nine -The Nature/Nurture Debate in the Study of Intelligence
The following topics are covered: Twins studies; stability of IQ; Are early experiences decisive for later development?
Lesson Ten -Data Collection and Interpretation
The following topics are covered: Tables and histograms, correlation and scattergrams; Mean; Range; Drawing conclusions from data.
Lesson Eleven – How Children Think
The following topics are covered: Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; including studies of egocentrism and criticisms of his work. Tutor-marked Assignment B
Lesson Twelve – Learning Theory – How Behaviour is Acquired
The following topics are covered: Learning and conditioning – classical conditioning and operant conditioning; including explanations of extinction, discrimination and generalisation; positive and negative reinforcement; Social Learning Theory and criticisms.
Lesson Thirteen – Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory – An Alternative Approach
The following topics are covered: Personality structure, 5 stage theory, criticisms.
Lesson Fourteen – Moral Development
The following topics are covered: Definition in psychological terms; investigation of moral behaviour, moral feelings and moral judgement.
Lesson Fifteen – The Development of Gender Roles
The following topics are covered: Sex-typing; Gender identity; Biological, social and cultural theories.
Lesson Sixteen – Aggression in Children
The following topics are covered: Biological basis of aggression; Psychological theory and aggression; Aggression as a learned response; Imitation of aggression; viewing violence; Punishment for aggression; sex differences in aggression.
Lesson Seventeen – Methods Used in Child Development Research
The following topics are covered: Observational, Survey, Correlational, Experimental – advantages and disadvantages. Tutor-marked Assignment C
Lesson Eighteen – Play
The following topics are covered: The importance of play to learning; Piaget’s theory of play; forms of play; Relevance of psychological theories to pre-school education; Play and learning in nursery schools; Play therapy.
Lesson Nineteen – Learning in School
The following topics are covered: Programmed learning and its relationship to learning theory – advantages and disadvantages; Discovery learning and its effectiveness.
Lesson Twenty – Behaviour Modification
The following topics are covered: Explanation and examples; Relationship to learning theory; Points systems, Advantages and disadvantages. Tutor-marked Assignment D: Extended Essay.
To find out more about Child Psychology Course visit course provider website.
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