PY2106:03
Human Development Across the Lifespan
Townsville, Cairns
HECS Band 1
26 hours lectures, 12 hours tutorials, 24 hours practicals. Semester 2.
Staff: Dr M Surbey (Townsville campus); Dr N Caltabiano (Cairns campus).
This subject provides a comprehensive coverage of research, theory, practices and issues in developmental psychology. A chronological framework is used to examine human life from conception to death, covering prenatal development and development during infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The inter-relatedness of theory and research is emphasised and the implications this carries for the application of empirical evidence to everyday life. Students will be provided with the opportunity to examine some of the issues including: the beginning of life, birth, cognitive growth, language development, the impact of child-care, friendships and peer influences, adolescent identity formation, moral development, gender differentiation, parenting, marriage and partnering, career development, ageing and death and dying.
Learning Objectives:
- ability to comprehend and evaluate the historical and contemporary conceptual frameworks, principles and theories of lifespan development;
- develop critical evaluation skills through the examination of research efforts in lifespan development;
- identify and describe the types of research techniques employed to study human development and discuss the relative strengths and limitations of these;
- ability to strengthen one’s competence in relating the study of lifespan development to the study of other areas of psychology;
- achieve competence in writing on psychological topics using the stylistic conventions of the American Psychological Association.
Assessment by practical report or essay (25%); workbook and reflective journal or seminar (30%); end of semester examination (45%).