Course Title: Child Development

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Child Development

Credit Points: 12

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
TCHE2113	Bundoora Campus	Undergraduate	360H Education	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2006, Sem 1 2007, Sem 1 2008, Sem 1 2009, Sem 1 2010, Sem 1 2011, Sem 1 2012, Sem 1 2013, Sem 2 2008, Sem 2 2009
TCHE2211	Bundoora Campus	Postgraduate	360H Education	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2006, Sem 1 2007, Sem 2 2006
TCHE2360	Brunswick Campus	Undergraduate	360H Education	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2009, Sem 1 2010, Sem 1 2011, Sem 1 2012, Sem 1 2013

Course Coordinator: Dr Mary Hanrahan

Course Coordinator Phone: 03 9925 7859

Course Coordinator Email:mary.hanrahan@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 220.3.13

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Not Applicable

Course Description

This is a core course that focuses on child development. It will address a range of perspectives for understanding the development of children within educational and social contexts. This course will introduce students to a number of theoretical traditions and practical positions for understanding the complexity of influences on development. The perspectives encountered will be applied to build understandings about children as learners and participants in socio-cultural settings.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course is designed to assist students to:
• Develop understandings of children’s development in social contexts.
• Build knowledge of children as learners and co-constructors of knowledge.
• Identify a range of philosophies, approaches and pedagogies that inform teachers’ understandings of child development.
• Apply knowledge of child development to principles and practices of teaching.

Upon completion of this course students will be able to:
• Demonstrate an understanding of the development of children from infancy through to adolescence.
• Recognise the influence of theoretical traditions in child development on the design and implementation of curricula.
• Apply effective pedagogies, based on sound educational philosophies, principles and approaches to child development, to educational practice in a range of settings.
• Construct learning opportunities informed by understandings of child development to support learners in specific educational and social contexts.

ICT Outcomes
At the conclusion of this course, students will have demonstrated and/or acquired the following ICT capabilities:
• Awareness of a range of contemporary ICT resources suitable for the classroom.
• Understandings of how ICT resources can be integrated in meaningful ways that take into account students’ existing and diverse technological skills and to produce engaging and challenging curriculum.
• Skills in using ICT for communication, presentation, work preparation and implementation.

VIT Standards
This course is aligned with the following standards:
• Teachers know how students learn and how to teach them effectively.
• Teachers know their students.
• Teachers create and maintain safe and challenging learning environments.

Overview of Learning Activities

Students’ learning in this course will involve a range of activities including lectures, tutorials, workshops, on-line discussions, curriculum design and readings in order to support the development of the learning outcomes of this course.

Overview of Learning Resources

There is no prescribed text but a diverse range of text-based and web-based resources will be used throughout the program.

Overview of Assessment

Assessment tasks are directly linked to the stated objectives and outcomes. Assessment in the course will be both theoretical and practical in nature. A range of formative and summative assessment types will be incorporated into the course (for example, written, oral or performance based assessment).

Students should refer to Part B of the course guide for further information on assessment.