Human Development Program 1

Fall, 2005

http://crl.ucsd.edu/courses/hdp1

All slides are online

People

Instructor: Jeff Elman (jelman@ucsd.edu)CSB 271; M: 9-10; Th: 9-10

TAs: Iris An (p3an@ucsd.edu)AP&M Annex 2839E; W: 2-3

Alycia Cummings (acumming@crl.ucsd.edu) APM prime 1856; Tu: 1-2

Beth Peterson (m5peters@ucsd.edu)AP&M Annex 2840; Tu: 9:30-10:30Elizabeth Rodrigues (

emrodrigues@ucsd.edu)LBR 405; Tu 12:30-1:30

A02 M 9:00a - 9:50a SEQUO 147 Beth Peterson

A03 M 1:00p - 1:50p CENTR 217B Beth Peterson

A04 M 2:00p - 2:50p CENTR 217B Elizabeth Rodrigues

A05 W 3:00p - 3:50p CENTR 217B Alycia Cummings

A06 W 4:00p - 4:50p CENTR 217B Iris An

A08 W 8:00a - 8:50a HSS 2150 Iris An

A09 F 2:00p - 2:50p HSS 2150 Alycia Cummings

A11 W 12:00p - 12:50p HSS 2154 Elizabeth Rodrigues

Website

http://crl.ucsd.edu/courses/hdp1

Contains: Explanation of requirements

Schedule of lectures & exams

On-line readings

On-line powerpoint of lectures

Requirements

• Midterm: 30 pts. (Tu, 11/1)

• Final: 45 pts. (Tu, 12/6; 11:30am-2:30pm)

• Homework: 15 pts. (approx. 1/week)

• Section 10 pts. (attendance & participation) Section attendance is required. No sections this week

HDP and this course

• What is the Human Development Program?

• This course:

– Structure (lectures & sections)

– Issues we will be dealing with

Human Development Program

• Anthropology• Biology• Cognitive Science• Communication• Ethnic Studies• History• Linguistics• Literature• Psychology• Sociology• Teacher Education Program• Urban Studies.

Human Development Program

• What underlies the development of human knowledge?

• To what extent is the capacity to know, indeed the concepts themselves, encoded in the genes?

• How is the role of learning and environmental influences accounted for?

• How do we learn?

• What are the ways in which children become competent participants in their social groups?

• What is the origin and nature of social interaction and organization?

• Website: http://hdp.ucsd.edu/

• Office: AP&M Annex 2938 phone: 534-9919

• Program requirements:http://hdp.ucsd.edu/program.shtml

Human Development Program

Course scheduleWEEK 0

Th 9/22 Introduction to course (Jeff Elman, Dept. of Cognitive Science)

WEEK 1Tu, 9/27 Infancy and Evolution (Jim Moore, Dept. of Anthropology)

Th 9/29 The History of Childhood (Stefan Tanaka, Dept. of History)

WEEK 2Tu 10/4 Genes, Brain Development and Behavior (Leslie Carver, Dept. of Psychology)

Th 10/6 Brain Development: The Basics (Joan Stiles, Dept. of Cognitive Science)

WEEK 3Tu 10/11 Motor Development (Joan Stiles, Dept. of Cognitive Science)

Th 10/13 Development of Visual Perception (Karen Dobkins, Dept. of Psychology)

WEEK 4Tu 10/18 Conceptual Development (Gedeon Deak, Dept. of Cognitive Science)

Th 10/20 Social Development (Gail Heyman, Dept. of Psychology)

WEEK 5Tu 10/25 Autism (Aubyn Stahmer, Children’s Hospital)

Th 10/27 Midterm Review

WEEK 6Tu 11/1 MIDTERM

Th 11/3 First Language Acquisition (Farrell Ackerman, Dept. of Linguistics)

WEEK 7Tu 11/8 Cross-cultural perspectives (Mike Cole, Dept. of

Communications)

Th 11/10 Evaluating educational reform (Julian Betts, Dept. of Economics)

WEEK 8Tu 11/15 Brain Development and Plasticity (Joan Stiles, Dept. of

Cognitive Science)

Th 11/17 Second Language Acquisition (Grant Goodall, Dept. of Linguistics)

WEEK 9Tu 11/22 Modeling Development (Jeff Elman, Dept. of Cognitive Science)

Th 11/24 THANKSGIVING

WEEK 10Tu 11/29 Aging (Jeanne Townsend, Dept. of Neurosciences)

Th 12/1 REVIEW FOR FINAL EXAM

Final examTu 12/6 11:30am – 2:30pm in York 2722

Issues in this class

• What is development?

• Development occurs at many levels

• Nature vs. Nurture ←

• Emergentism

• Why development?

• Implications for public policy

What is development?

• Maturation

• Learning

• Adaptation

• Evolution

Development occurs at many levels

• Biological– genes; nervous system; motor system

• Ontogenetic– Intellectual; emotional; linguistic; social

• Socio-cultural (and evolutionary)

From conception to death…

Nature & Nurture

• What is nature?

• What is nurture?

• What do genes do? What is the effect of experience?

3 lessons

The “Gene for X” fallacy

More DNALess DNA

pyramidal cells

mossy cells

muscle cells

sperm cells Purkinje cell

Genetic conservatism

The power of the environment

from butterfly host from alderfly host

Trichogramma (wasp)

from butterfly host from alderfly host

Trichogramma (wasp)

Emergentism

• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

• Interactions create complexity

• Outcomes are not easily predictable

• Multiple sources of causation

• A prime example: Language

Why development?

• Is development inevitable?

– Precocial vs. Altricial species

• Development is costly & dangerous

• Does development solve any problems?

Implications for policy

• Development matters…

• Adults and society matter…

• What is beneficial? What is harmful?