Instructor:

Gedeon Deak

TA:

Erica Ellis

Office:

162 CSB

Office:

AP&M annex #1816

Email:

tep115@cogsci.ucsd.edu

Email:

emellis@ucsd.edu

Office Hrs:

Monday 1-2pm in CSB 162

Thurs. by appt. before class

Office Hrs:

Tues.10-11am, Wed &Thurs. by appt.

Overview: EDS 115 surveys behavioral, cognitive, and social research relevant to preschool and elementary education. It emphasizes critical evaluation of teaching practices based on research on children's learning, thinking, and communicating.

Readings: Required readings are available from the website. You are expected to do all readings before class, and bring copies of the reading to class.

Class website: http://cogsci.ucsd.edu/~deak/classes/EDS115/. Up-to-date class schedule, lecture slides, and supplementary materials will be posted.

Class Policies:

The TA and instructor have office hours to answer questions about class content. If you cannot make office hours, email for an appointment. You are responsible for all information given on the syllabus, in class, and in the readings. You are responsible for all information sent to your ****@ucsd.edu account.

We will make every reasonable effort to answer questions and provide help. In addition to office hours, we will respond to emails, usually within 36 hours. We will NOT respond to emails asking about information that was clearly stated in the syllabus or in class. Check the website for announcements: you will find out faster that way.

Exams will be given only at the scheduled time and cannot be made up. An exception will be made in the event of serious illness. This requires a note signed by a physician, documenting that attendance was not possible on the test day.

All students are expected to know, and to abide by, UCSD Academic Honesty policies. Cheating in any form will be reported to the appropriate dean's office, and sanctions will be applied. There are no exceptions, as per UCSD policy. During exams turn off cell phones, sit every other seat, put all written materials out of sight, and take off hats. If we suspect cheating we will ask you to turn in your test immediately.

EDS 115 SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Date

Topic

Assignment

MODULE #1: Cognitive and Language Development

3/31

Syllabus & intro: "What should teachers know about cognitive development?"

4/2

A brief history of cognitive development http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/275332/human-behaviour/24915/Cognitive-development

Gauvain (2005)

4/7

History continued, and current trends in cognitive development research

Posner & Rothbart (2005)

Harris (2001)

Keil, F.C. (2003)

4/9

Child talk: Emergence of language and symbolic insight

Pan & Snow (1999)

4/14

Remembrance of things taught Lecture 4/14

Bjorklund (2000), parts of ch. 5 & 8

4/16

Thinking and problem solving Lecture 4/16

Bjorklund (2000) parts of ch. 5 & 10

4/21

Beyond the information given: Inference, conversation, & cognitive development

Donaldson (1978), chs.1, 2 & 5; Siegal & Surian (2004)

4/23

MIDTERM #1

MODULE #2: Getting Schooled: Children in Instructional Contexts

4/28

Does schooling change cognition?

Varieties of instruction across cultures

Greenfield & Lave (1982)

4/30

Differences in educational practices between cultures: East and West

Video: Starting school in 3 cultures

Tobin et al (1989), ch. 2

Stevenson & Stigler (1992)- read entire pdf

5/5

Schools for thought or schools for facts?

Bruer (1993), ch. 3

5/7

Students' motivation and learning

Byrnes, ch. 5 (pp. 93-119)

5/12

Individual differences, group differences, and school success

Intelligence and learning disabilities

Neisser, Boodoo et al (1996)

Fuchs et al (2002)

5/14

MIDTERM #2

MODULE #3: Learning the Content of Kindergarten & Elementary School

5/19

The politics of reading instruction

Beginning readers

Byrnes, ch. 6 (pp. 122-144; note these pages are in the middle of the pdf!)

5/21

The development of literacy

Challenges to literacy

Tallal (2004)

Gaskins (1994)

5/26

Mathematical development Lecture slides 5/26

Byrnes, ch. 9 (pp. 211-238)

5/28

Math wrap-up

Scientific thinking

Byrnes ch. 10 (pp. 260-273)

6/2

Science continued: Misconceptions and conceptual change

Zimmerman (2007)

6/4

How to improve problem solving in math and science

Brown & Campione (1995)

Resnick (1995)

FINAL EXAM

Tuesday, June 9, 11:30 am– 2:30 pm

Readings

Bjorklund, D.F. (2000). Children's thinking: Developmental function and individual differences (3^rd ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson. [For Memory lecture: pp. 122-130, pp. 140-149, pp. 239-244, and pp. 263-270. For Thinking lecture, read pp. 130-136 and pp. 312-333]

Brown, A. L., & Campione, J. C. (1995). Guided discovery in a community of learners. In K. McGilly (Ed.), Classroom Lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practices (pp. 229-270). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Bruer, J. T. (1993). Schools for though (ch. 3). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Byrnes, J. P. (2001). Cognitive development and learning in instructional contexts (2^nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Donaldson, M. (1978). Children's minds (pp. 9-25, 47-56). New York: Norton.

Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L.S., et al (2002). Exploring the importance of reading programs for kindergartners with disabilities in mainstream classrooms. Exceptional Children, 68, 295-311.

Gaskins, I.W. (1995). Classroom applications of cognitive science: Teaching poor readers how to learn, think, and problem solve. In K. McGilly (Ed.), Classroom Lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practices (pp. 157-200). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gauvain, M. (2005). With eyes to the future: A brief history of cognitive Development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 109, 119-126.

Goswami, U. (2003). Why theories about developmental dyslexia require developmental designs. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 534-540.

Greenfield, P., & Lave, J. (1982). Cognitive aspects of informal education. In D. A. Wagner & H. W. Stevenson (Eds.), Cultural perspectives on child development (pp. 181-207). San Francisco: Freeman.

Harris, P.L. (2001). Thinking about the unknown. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5, 494-498 .

Keil, F.C. (2003). Folkscience: Coarse interpretations of a complex reality. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 368-373.

Neisser, U., Boodoo, G. et al (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American Psychologist, 51, 77-101.

Pan, B. & Snow, C. (1999). The development of conversational and discourse skills. In M. Barrett (Ed.), The development of language (pp. 229-249). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Posner, M.I. & Rothbart, M.K. (2005). Influencing brain networks: Implications for education. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 99-103.

Resnick, L. B. (1995). Inventing arithmetic: Making children's intuition work in school. In C. A. Nelson (Ed.), The Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology: Vol. 28. Basic and applied perspectives on learning, cognition, and development (pp. 75 – 101). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Siegal, M. (1997). Knowing children: Experiments in conversation and cognition. (pp. 43-68). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Stevenson, H. W., & Stigler, J. W. (1991). The learning gap: Why our schools are failing and what we can learn from Japanese and Chinese education (pp. 13-51). New York: Simon & Schuster.

Tallal, P. (2004). Improving language and literacy is a matter of time. Nature Reviews: Neuroscience, 5, 1-9.

Tobin, J. J., Wu, D. Y., & Davidson, D. H. (1989). Preschool in three cultures (pp. 12-38). New Haven, CT: Yale.

Zimmerman, C. (2007). The development of scientic thinking skills in elementary and middle school. Developmental Review 27, 172–223.