Psychological processes in child development

Psychologist, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology XVI Cycle University of Lecce. Honorary Judge of the Court of Appeal of Lecce – Taranto branch, Technical Consultant for the Ordinary Court of Taranto. Postgraduate course in General and Penitentiary Criminology at the University of Bari and postgraduate course in Neuropsychology and Forensic Psychodiagnostics at the University of Siena. Master’s degree in “GAME-SPORT: nuove FRONTIERE”, “Autism Spectrum Disorder: theory and teaching methods based on behavioural science”, “Didactics and Psychopedagogy for pupils with intellectual disabilities (Mental Retardation)”.  Postgraduate degree in Family Mediation and in educational support activities for pupils with disabilities. Contract lecturer in several Italian Universities. Author of numerous publications in national and international journals.

The course contributes to the achievement of the educational objectives of the study course in Science and Technology of Education and Childcare, by providing the tools for understanding child development. The course aims to teach students the main perspectives on human development, the fundamental stages of human development and the contextual conditions that influence their construction.

The course consists of 2 modules.

Module 1 – Development processes

▪ Learning
▪ Memory

▪ Emotions And Learning
▪ Emotional intelligence
▪ Multiple intelligence
▪ Motivation
▪ Self-efficacy.
▪ Development contexts.

Module 2 – Attachment

▪ Attachment theory: origins
▪ Types of attachment
▪ Internal operating models

The course contributes to the achievement of the educational objectives of the study course in Science and Technology of Education and Childcare, by providing the tools for understanding child development. The course aims to teach students the main perspectives on human development, the fundamental stages of human development and the contextual conditions that influence their construction.

⮚ Module 1 – Developmental Processes

▪ Learning.
▪ Memory.
▪ Emotions And Learning.
▪ Emotional Intelligence.
▪ Multiple Intelligence.
▪ Motivation.
▪ Self-Efficacy.
▪ Developmental contexts.

⮚ Module 2 – Attachment

▪ Attachment theory: origins.
▪ Types of attachment.
▪ Internal operating models.

To acquire skills and knowledge to work as an educator in direct contact with children and their families, starting from the identification of children’s needs and parenting functions in order to understand the child’s cognitive/affective development. To offer a theoretical-methodological study of child development in its different relational structures.

A. Knowledge and understanding of the basic concepts of evolutionary psychology.

B. Knowledge and understanding applied to the observation of child-parent interaction.

C. Autonomy of judgement in the assessment of parenting functions and in the evaluation of resource and risk elements.

D. Communication skills in relation to the child’s needs.

E. Ability to learn through interaction with children.

A. Use of advanced textbooks, knowledge of some cutting-edge topics within the subject studied.

B. Students will be guided to the use of not only traditional bibliographic resources (paper) but – through a critical analysis of online resources – also digital ones.

C. A professional approach to their work and possession of appropriate skills to devise arguments, support them and solve problems within the subject studied. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making independent judgements.

D. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialists and non-specialists.

E. Students are provided with useful indications and methodologies to prepare a multimedia presentation and to be able to present it using vocabulary and communication methods appropriate to the target audience. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making autonomous judgements.

F. Ability to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy.

G. Students will be helped to organise their study in a fruitful way by means of tools and methods conducive to the ‘learning to learn’.

DIDACTICS PROVISION
⮚ 6 hours of recorded video lessons available on the platform.
⮚ 2 synchronous meetings on the platform.
⮚ Podcasts of all the above-mentioned video lessons.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS
⮚ 1 course orientation forum.
⮚ 2 thematic follow-up forums (1 per module).
⮚ Possibility to carry out work in groups.
⮚ 2 structured e-activities (as described in the section “in itinere assessment methods”).

SELF-LEARNING
Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, articles and slides by the lecturer, open-access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

• Caravita S., Milani L., Traficante D. (2018) Psicologia dello sviluppo e dell’educazione, il Mulino, Bologna

• Barone L., (2021) Manuale di psicologia dello sviluppo, Carocci publisher, Rome

• Material provided by the lecturer

Access to the final examination is subject to the following 2 e-tivities:

• E-tivity 1 – in-depth written report on a topic of the student’s choice from those covered in the first module;

• E-tivity 2 – in-depth written report on a topic of the student’s choice from those covered in the second module.

The assessment of learning will take the form of an oral interview on the course contents and on the final report submitted, if any. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of contents, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian