Psychology of development and learning

Course objectives: - Enabling students to develop sensitivity to individual differences among learners (in terms of ability, learning styles, motivation and interests, personality traits, socio-economic background, ethnicity and religious affiliation), and organize teaching in accordance with learners’ various needs and characteristics - Enabling students to understand the relationship between social, emotional, cognitive and moral development and learning and the social-emotional factors of school learning.

Course description: Theoretical instruction Psychological insights into emotional, social, cognitive and moral development: Characteristics of developmental stages and the development of concepts. Adolescence and identity formation. Stages of cognitive and moral development. Attachment and social-emotional development. The relationship between development and learning. Agents of socialization. Social interaction and its role in learning – the learner as leader, the teacher as leader, group dynamics. Psychological insights into learning: Learning mechanisms. School learning and social-emotional factors of school learning. Transfer. Memory and forgetting. Convergent and divergent thinking. Attribution and locus of control. Individual differences: Individual differences in abilities, learning styles, motivation and interests, personality traits. Prejudice against children of different sociocultural background. Practical instruction Conducting and participating in educational and psychology workshops, learning about the concepts of intelligence, personality, learning styles and motivation through self-evaluation, roleplay (e.g. conflict situations); fieldwork (conducting a focus group with pairs of learners), developing a portfolio (documenting one's own work), student presentations on topics selected from the further reading list.

Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: - Explain the basic characteristics of the emotional, social, cognitive and moral development of school-age children and understand their implications for educational practice - Explain the nature of the learning/teaching process and the relationship between development and learning - Identify individual differences among learners, and create an environment that stimulates learning in learners of different abilities, learning styles, sociocultural backgrounds, etc.

Literature/Reading:

• M. Donaldson, Um deteta, 115-129; Ž. Pijaže i B. Inhelder, Intelektualni razvoj deteta, 45-57;
• I. Ivić, M. Milinković, R. Rosandić i V. Smiljanić, Razvoj i merenje inteligencije, Tom I, Inteligencija i njen razvoj i merenje, 11-47; H. MekGark, Razvoj i promene, 35-49;
• Interna skripta