1.      Syllabus:

Unit-1: Perspectives in Development            

·         Introduction to perspectives in development — Concept of development (meaning, principles and objectives).

·         Development as multidimensional and plural

·          Development through the life span (stages)

·         Developmental ways as continuous and discontinuous.

·         Childhood as modern construct (knowledge- creator) in the context of poverty, globalization and modern culture

·         Commonalities and diversities within the notion of childhood with reference to Indian context

Unit-2: Physical-Motor Development           

·         Growth and Maturation

·         Gross and fine motor development skills in infancy, pre-school children and elementary children

·         Role of parents and teachers in providing opportunities for physical-motor development, for example, play.

Unit-3: Social Development

·         Concept of socialization: Family environment, Parent-child relationships, Child rearing practices

·         Separation of parents : Children in creches, orphanages etc.

·         Schooling: peer influences, Teacher-child relationships, out of school experiences

·         Development of children through socialization process

·         Personality development— Freudian stages of development

·         Psycho-social development— stages as proposed by Erikson

·         Social theories and Gender development-meaning of gender roles, influences of gender roles, stereotypes and gender in playground

Unit-4: Self and Moral development             

·         A sense of self : Self-description, self-concept, self-esteem, social comparison, internalization and self-control

·         Moral development : perspectives of Lawrence Kohlberg

Unit-5: Emotional Development    

·         Development of emotions and ability to regulate them (Love, affection, fear, anger, jealousy etc.)

·         Development of emotions at different stages (pre-school, late childhood and pubertal stages)

·          Development of emotions as continuous and discontinuous

Unit-6: Learning                

·         Learning : Concept of learning (meaning, principles and objectives) basic theories of learning

·         Learning : ideas of behaviorism

·         Basic architecture of the mind (working memory, long term memory, attention, encoding and retrieval)

Unit-7: Cognition              

·         Constructivism: introduction to the concept, Piaget’s theory: what is learning, structures and processes of cognitive development, children’s thinking, and implications for teaching learning.

·         Vygotsky’s theory—introduction, the general genetic law, concept of zone of proximal development tools and symbols in development, implications for teaching.

·         Individual and socio-cultural differences in cognition understanding learning difficulties, terms of exclusion and inclusion and impact.

Unit-8: Play       

·         Meaning of Play: Characteristics, kinds and types of Play

·         Functions of Play: Linkages with the physical, social, emotional, language, cognitive and motor development of children

·         Cross Cultural & Socio-Economic differences in children’s play

·         Games and group dynamics, rules of games and how children learn to negotiate differences and resolve conflict.

Unit-9: Language               

·         Perspectives in Language development (with reference to how children acquire language at early age) : Skinner, Social Learning Theory of Bandura and Walters

·         The use of Language : Turn taking, interaction, conversations and listening

·         Bilingual or Multilingual children: Implications for teachers, multilingual classrooms, storytelling as a pedagogic tool

Unit-10: Communication 

·         How do children communicate?

·         Socio-cultural variations in Language: Accents, difference in communication for a multilingual classroom.