Cognitive Development in Social Context: Experiments and App

In this course, I am going to tell you my story of how children’s minds develop in the modern world, and how their social environment influences this development. In this story, I will not be following the existing handbooks on children’s cognitive development. Rather, my aim is to illuminate and illustrate some ideas, which in my view are central for understanding this development.

I will start this course with discussing the issue of how some ideas of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky can help us understand recent discoveries of infants’ extraordinary cognitive abilities.

I will continue with presenting some models on how our ability to learn new things and develop our minds works.

I will then illustrate these models by presenting and discussing research on the development of perception, thinking and executive function.

I will finish this course by presenting and discussing extended psychological-pedagogical programs aimed to enhance independence and creativity of children’s judgment and behavior in the classroom through facilitating their ability to resist the urge of imitating confusing social signals.

The course includes four sections, eight lectures supplied with relevant readings, and a quiz. Lectures contain author’s text, author’s videos, a video with a child performing on an executive control task, graphs and animated pictures.

I built this course for students in social sciences, specialists in education, child care, medicine, writers for children and all those who want to learn more about topics on children’s cognitive development that they will not be able find in most traditional handbooks.

--- **Overview:** The course in question has received a global rating of 4.20, with recent reviews highlighting both its informative content and some challenges related to audio clarity due to the instructor's strong accent. The course has been praised for its insightful material on child cognitive development and experiential learning, but also critiqued for its lecture delivery and presentation format. **Pros:** - **Informative Content:** Reviewers have found the course to be very informative, offering solid insights into child cognitive development. It has been described as essential for understanding how to focus on and implement thoughts for experiential learning. - **Expertise:** The instructor, Dr. Eugene Subbotsky, is recognized for being highly knowledgeable in the field and of high caliber. His contribution has been acknowledged as privileged learning by several students. - **Engaging Topics:** The subject matter has been deemed fascinating and interesting, with students looking forward to applying new skills and concepts in both their personal lives and professional settings, particularly in child care. - **Positive Impact:** The course has made a significant impact on learners' understanding of authoritarian versus non-authoritarian roles in enhancing classroom learning for children. **Cons:** - **Audio Clarity:** Several students have difficulties following the instructor's strong accent, suggesting that an external microphone could improve audio clarity and make it easier to understand, especially for non-native English speakers. - **Presentation Style:** The lecture format has been criticized for being monotonous and overly text-heavy. Reviewers recommend incorporating more visual aids and varying the presentation style to maintain audience engagement. - **Lecture Quality:** Some students found the presentations to be unfocused, with too many words on each slide. It is suggested that the presenter should focus on presenting key points and allow audiences to read further into resources on their own. **Additional Feedback:** - **Accessibility:** The course would benefit from captioning or transcripts to assist those who struggle with the accent or who prefer reading the material. - **Resource Utilization:** Reviewers recommend that the course should make better use of visual and auditory resources to enhance learning and keep the audience engaged. - **Overall Experience:** The overall experience of the course is positive, with many students expressing gratitude for the knowledge shared and the opportunity to learn from a respected expert in the field. --- **In Conclusion:** The course on child cognitive development offers valuable insights into understanding and enhancing children's learning abilities. Despite some challenges with audio clarity and presentation style, the course is highly rated by students for its informative content and the expertise of Dr. Eugene Subbotsky. With some improvements in presentation format and accessibility, this course could become an even more enriching learning experience.