Life Span Development
This course focuses on development across the lifespan. During the semester we will discuss the nature of physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development across different periods of life. Early in the semester we will consider methods that are used to study development and theories designed to explain how and why
development takes place. Throughout the term we will also look for opportunities to apply information from research on development to current social issues.
You will have 75 minutes to answer all questions. The questions will appear on one page so that you can go back to check your responses. You will get a total of 5 questions ( 4 short essay and 1 longer essay). Short essays should be answered in a paragraph of 6-7 sentences. The longer essay question can be answered in 2-3 paragraphs of having 12-14 sentences at most. These are the maximum lengths. Concise, precise, and focused answers will be rewarded accordingly!
The sample exam questions are these:
1. A child quickly learns how to read because books are continuously made available to him in his environment. What is the process of inheriting culture through social interactions called? Explain this learning process. How would you change the example to fit the other forms of learning?
2. Explain the difference between stage theories and other learning theories in relation to continuity-discontinuity in development. Use a specific example to support your arguments.
3. Describe the plasticity of a given trait. How do you connect it to experience-expectant and experience-dependent processes in development? Make sure to pick a specific developmental example and discuss it in relation to 4 central issues of developmental science.
4. What is the role of exuberant synaptogenesis on development? Explain this process in relation to how synapses and neural connection are formed and changed after birth with experience. Please use language learning as an example to describe this process (first and second language acquisition).
5. How do environmental conditions affect prenatal development? What are the general principles that apply to all of these conditions? Pick up a specific defect as a result of environmental conditions on prenatal development. Make sure to discuss how this specific condition would influence the principles of prenatal development.
6. How do we understand infants’ early representation of objects? Discuss Piaget’s view of the early conceptual development of objects. Use specific experimental evidence to support your arguments. What are the problems of the conclusions drawn from these studies? Are there other possible explanations?
