Young children make rich inferences from exploring their surroundings. This course examines how children acquire commonsense knowledge about the world focusing on their understanding of objects, agents, and the relations that bind these together. (Image courtesy of Shane McGraw on Flickr.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Laura Schulz
MIT Course Number
9.85
As Taught In
Fall 2012
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Features
- Lecture notes
- Assignments: design (no examples)
- Assignments: presentations (no examples)
- Assignments: written (no examples)
Course Description
This course is an introduction to cognitive development focusing on children's understanding of objects, agents, and causality. It develops a critical understanding of experimental design. The course discusses how developmental research might address philosophical questions about the origins of knowledge, appearance and reality, and the problem of other minds. It provides instruction and practice in written communication as needed for cognitive science research (including critical reviews of journal papers, a literature review and an original research proposal), as well as instruction and practice in oral communication in the form of a poster presentation of a journal paper.