Human Development Precapstone

The study of human development is interested in questions about how people learn, grow, and change. This course focuses on using human development research to improve or support human growth, development, and learning. The final paper of the semester is a written proposal for the capstone project (which includes a literature review, rationale, and stakes). Example capstone projects might include helping a public audience understand scientific findings, creating a professional development workshop on empathy for physicians, writing a curriculum to promote prosocial behavior in preschoolers, or designing a multimedia website to help workers transition into retirement. A successful proposal (which is the final product of the fall semester) is an evidence-based academic paper that convinces an audience not only that a strong need for your project exists, but that your project's theory of change (that is, how you plan to take your learners from point A to point B) is rooted in the literature on human development and psychology. As students work on their capstone proposal, they are exposed to a broad range of literature on various topics in human development. Students learn to become rigorous consumers of the scholarship on human development. Each week, we examine a different topic, drawing on conceptual frameworks and review articles as well as empirical research.