Cognitive Development

School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, UT-Dallas

Fall 2005

Dr. Candice Mills PSY 3362

Email: candice.mills@utdallas.edu Tuesdays & Thursdays
Office: GR 4.202A 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Phone: (972) 883-4475 GR 4.204
Office hours: Tuesday 2-3 PM or by appointment

Course Description:

This course focuses on the development of children’s thinking from birth through adolescence.
What tools are babies born with that help them learn and think about the world? How do infants
go from that initial state to mature cognition? How does the social world influence cognitive
development? What sort of individual differences might we see in how preschoolers and children
think about the world? Beyond these key questions, we will also cover such specific topics as:
theories of cognitive development, language development, the nature and development of
categories and concepts, intelligence, memory, and social cognition.

Course goals:

§ To learn about and understand the basic aspects of cognitive development

§ To critically evaluate research in cognitive development
§ To be able to apply the knowledge learned in the classroom to new information both in
research and in real- world situations

Required readings:

Siegler, Robert S., and Alibali, Martha W. (2005). Children’s Thinking (4th edition).
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle Hill, NJ.

Additional required readings will be assigned. These assignments will be posted on the
Blackboard site for our class. These readings will be available in one of two ways:
1. Downloaded from the Blackboard site or campus library online resources in PDF or word
document format, OR
2. Available on library reserve (2 hr)
Please note: you are responsible for keeping up with new readings assigned in class and on the
blackboard site.

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Requirements and assignments:

Pre/co-requisite: PSY 4334 (Lifespan Development) or PSY 3310 (Child Development)

1. Exams. There will be three examinations (9/20, 10/25, and 11/29). All exams will last 1
hour and 15 minutes. The exams are noncumulative, consisting of a combination of multiple
choice, short-answer, and short essay questions. The exams are worth 100 points each.
Therefore, a total of 300 points are available in exams.

Make-up exams will not be given except in the case of verified illness (by a doctor) or death
of a member of the immediate family. Even in these circumstances, you should notify me as
soon as possible BEFORE the exam. Anyone missing an exam without such approval will be
given a “0” for the exam. It is your responsibility to make up the exam within one week of
the scheduled exam time. Be prepared—make-up exams are designed to be more difficult
than regular exams to compensate for having more study time.

2. Paper. You will write one short (2 page) paper, due 11/17, which will serve as an
opportunity to apply your knowledge of cognitive development. More details will be
provided in the next few weeks of the semester. You will lose 10 points for every day the
paper is late. The paper is worth 50 points.

3. Learning activities. Throughout the semester, we will be discussing many exciting questions
about cognitive development. From time to time, we will spend a portion of a class period
thinking about these questions in more detail, working either individually or in small groups.
Most of the time, you will not be given advance notice about these activities, so this is an
excellent reason to stay on top of the readings and attend class! You may need to take these
assignments home to finish them, and occasionally, these assignments may be posted online
to be done entirely outside of class. There will be approximately 7 of these, worth 10 points
each, and the 5 best scores will count towards your grade. Therefore, a total of 50 points are
available from learning activities. If you miss an activity in class, you may not make it up.

4. Class attendance and participation. Students are expected to attend classes regularly,
complete the assigned readings before each class, and participate in class discussions.
Attendance and participation will be considered and could make the difference for students
whose grades are borderline. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to acquire missing
lecture notes, assignments, and announcements from a classmate.

Grading is based on a set of a priori criteria, based on the percentage points earned out of the
total possible 400 points: 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, and 60-69% = D. If you are
concerned about your grade, see me as early as possible. There will be no individualized extra
credit given for this course.

Other important policies and information:

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Course website. New assignments, revisions to the syllabus, announcements, and your exam
grades will be posted on the Blackboard site, http://blackboard.utdallas.edu/. When the course
site is set up by the computer center, you will be notified via your UTD email address. You are
then responsible for creating an account on this site and for checking this site frequently (at least
twice weekly) in order to remain aware of new assignments, announcements, etc. You also need
to enter a UTD email address on this account (see info below on UTD email policy). Any email
to students enrolled in this class will be sent through this service. If you change your email
address during the semester, you need to change your email address on the Blackboard site as
well.

Deadlines for Adding or Dropping a Class. Prior to 9/2 dropped courses will not show on the
student’s transcript. From 9/2 to 9/21 withdrawing from courses earns “W”. Withdrawing from
9/22 to 10/20 earn WP or WF with advisor and instructor signatures. No withdraws after 10/20
without hassle.

Scholastic Dishonesty. Scholastic dishonesty included cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized

collaboration, or any other action that is not an honest participation in the learning process. By
enrolling in this course, you agree to UTD’s guidelines at:
http://www.utdallas.edu/judicialaffairs/UTDJudicialAffairs-AvoidDishonesty.html

Disabilities. UTD proudly supports a very diverse student body. Among our students are those
with learning, sensory, and physical disabilities that require special accommodations. If you
would like to self-disclose a disability in order to receive reasonable academic accommodations
and have not done so already, please contact Kerry Tate at 2098 to find out more information.
You must follow the official university procedure in order to receive any special
accommodations in this course.

E-mail Communications. Beginning August 1, 2004, all correspondence is sent ONLY to a

student's U.T. Dallas email address. U.T. Dallas provides each student with a free email account
that is to be used in all communication with university personnel. This allows the university to
maintain a high degree of confidence in the identity of all individuals corresponding and the
security of the transmitted information. The Department of Information Resources at U.T. Dallas
provides a method for students to forward email from other accounts to their U.T. Dallas address
and have their U.T. Dallas mail sent on to other accounts. Students may go to the following
URL to establish or maintain their official U.T. Dallas computer account:
http://netid.utdallas.edu/.

A few words of advice:

Stay on top of things. Make sure to read the assignments before class, and do self-tests after
class to make sure you understand the material. Spend some time deeply thinking about each
topic, integrating the ideas you’ve learned in class with what you’ve read in the book. Take
careful notes during class – the powerpoint slides are only meant as an outline and you will be
held responsible for all the material covered in the lectures. Do these things and the class will be
an enjoyable experience for us all.

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Class schedule:
This is a tentative schedule. Additional required readings will be assigned on Blackboard. The
topics and readings are subject to change, and some topics might take longer, or shorter, than
expected.

Week Date Readings (pages) Topic

Th 8/18 Course overview and introduction
1
T 8/23 Ch.1 Introduction to Cognitive Development
2
Th 8/25 Theory, measurement, and ethics
T 8/30
3
Th 9/1 Ch. 2 (26 – 38) Piaget
T 9/6 Ch. 2 (39 – 53)
4
Th 9/8 Ch. 2 (54 – 64)
T 9/13 Ch. 3 Information processing
5
Th 9/15 Ch. 4 Sociocultural theories
T 9/20 Exam 1
6
Th 9/22 Ch. 5 Perceiving the world
T 9/27
7
Th 9/29 Ch. 6 The emergence of language
T 10/4
8
Th 10/6 Ch. 7 Memory
T 10/11
9
Th 10/13 Ch. 8 Concepts and categories
T 10/18
10
Th 10/20
T 10/25 Exam 2
11
Th 10/27 Ch.10 Intelligence and problem solving
T 11/1
12
Th 11/13
T 11/8 Ch. 11 Academic skills
13
Th 11/10 Ch. 9 Social cognition
T 11/15
14
Th 11/17 Spillover; Paper Due
T 11/22 Putting it all in context; review and summary
14
Th 11/24 Thanksgiving No class
T 11/29 Exam 3
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