2. Making Babies, Nancy Wartik, Los Angeles Times Magazine, March 6, 1994.For many couples, the realities of a "normal" conception may be beyond reach. Today, a dizzying number of high-technology fertilization techniques (artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, GIFT, SUZI, ICSI, and others) extend hope to millions of couples coping with various forms of infertility. However, couples who opt for these often costly techniques may face moral and social concerns as well.3. Waiting Game, Susan Gilbert, New York Times Magazine, April 25, 1993.Pregnant women and physicians have available to them an impressive arsenal of prenatal diagnostic tests.
Susan Gilbert reviews some of the most common, such as chorionic villi sampling, ultrasound, and amniocentesis.B. BIRTH AND BABIES4. The Fantastic Voyage of Tanner Roberts, Pamela Warrick, Los Angeles Times, March 1, 1992.This fascinating article captures the final days and minutes before a child''s birth. Psychological and physiological details about the birth experience for the child and the mother are described in this personal account of one boy''s birth.5. Putting a New Spin on the Birth of Human Birth, Joshua Fischman, Science, May 20, 1994.
Joshua Fischman presents an evolutionary perspective on birth and raises provocative questions about why humans are born the way we are. Fischman discusses anthropological and evolutionary evidence on the challenges posed by human babies'' large heads and shoulders.UNIT 2. Cognition, Language, and LearningA. EARLY COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT6. Fertile Minds, J. Madeleine Nash, Time, February 3, 1997.This article explains the development of neurons and synapses, the connections between brain cells.
Research on vision, motor development, language, and emotion demonstrates that both nature and experience in early childhood play important roles in shaping brain development.7. How to Build a Baby''s Brain, Sharon Begley, Newsweek, Special Issue, Spring/Summer 1997.This article summarizes recent research showing that babies are innately wired to learn. However, innate potential is developed only through interacting with the environment, and experience after birth plays a crucial role in shaping the actual wiring of the baby''s brain.8. The Language Explosion, Geoffrey Cowley, Newsweek, Special Issue, Spring/Summer 1997.Explaining how children acquire language has long been a fascinating challenge for psychologists.
This article reviews recent perspectives on the roles of innate tendencies and how children put them to use in understanding and communicating with their environment.9. Starting Point, George Butterworth, Natural History, May 1997.Parents and psychologists alike focus on sounds and speech as signs of language development. But in this interesting article, Butterworth discusses pointing as an early nonverbal act that emerges in the first year of life, and he explains how it may be important for speech and communication.10. 10 Myths about Child Development, Julius Segal, Parents, July 1989.Using research findings, Julius Segal exposes 10 popular misconceptions involving child development issues ranging from attachment and IQ to discipline and neglect.
11. How Do Infants Learn about the Physical World?, Renee Baillargeon, Current Directions in Psychological Science, October 1994.Based on the pioneering work of Jean Piaget, researchers once assumed that infants lacked a sense of object permanence. Renee Baillargeon describes her well-known and ingenious research indicating that young infants do, in fact, possess more fundamental and elaborate knowledge about physical objects than once thought.12. Vygotsky''s Theory: The Importance of Make-Believe Play, Laura E. Berk, Young Children, November 1994.This article describes the view of Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist who emphasized the importance of pretend play as a forum for learning.
In particular, children learn through interactions with parents and teachers that create a scaffold for experiences, allowing youngsters to take over more responsibility as their skills increase.13. Malnutrition, Poverty, and Intellectual Development, J. Larry Brown and Ernesto Pollitt, Scientific American, February 1996.The authors describe research from around the world demonstrating that a poor diet influences children''s intellectual development in many ways. The article also addresses other effects of poverty on children''s mental growth.B. LEARNING IN SCHOOL14.
What Should Children Learn?, Paul Gagnon, The Atlantic Monthly, December 1995.Paul Gagnon describes one of the most contentious debates in American education today--whether there should be national standards for children--and explains the competing political forces that shape and impede educational reform. Gagnon presents a historical perspective on the debate over national standards for education.15. What Have We Learned about Developmentally Appropriate Practice?, Loraine Dunn and Susan Kontos, Young Children, July 1997.This review article presents research on issues in early childhood education, including didactic versus child-centered instruction, teachers'' and parents'' attitudes, and the impact of early childhood teaching practices on children''s social and cognitive development.16. How Asian Teachers Polish Each Lesson to Perfection, James W.
Stigler and Harold W. Stevenson, American Educator, Spring 1991.Stigler and Stevenson''s research on math education in China, Japan, and the United States reveals significant cultural differences in the values, practices, and expectations of both teachers and students. However, due to cultural differences, adoption of Asian teaching techniques in the United States would not necessarily result in similar benefits to children in our culture.17. The IQ Puzzle, Sharon Begley, Newsweek, May 6, 1996.Scores on intelligence tests have risen dramatically in many countries. Does this mean that children today are smarter than ever? Sharon Begley discusses the possible reasons for these gains--including the popularity of video games and cereal boxes with mazes and puzzles for children--and also addresses the debate on whether IQ tests truly measure intelligence.
UNIT 3. Social and Emotional DevelopmentA. THE CHILD''S FEELINGS: EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT18. Early Experience and Emotional Development: The Emergence of Wariness of Heights, Joseph J. Campos, Bennett I. Bertenthal, and Rosanne Kermoian, Psychological Science, January 1992.How do we become afraid of heights? Are we born with that fear or do we learn it through life experiences? This article by prominent researchers describes careful experiments designed to determine whether babies are born with a fear of heights or if they acquire it only after they begin to crawl and to experience moving around in the world.19.
The Moral Power of Good Stories, William Kilpatrick, American Educator, Summer 1993.Stories help to make sense of our lives, claims William Kilpatrick, and they offer children vivid examples of morals and good values. This essay urges educators and parents to use stories as a powerful means of communicating to children about character and virtue.B. ENTRY INTO THE SOCIAL WORLD: PEERS, PLAY, AND POPULARITY20. The EQ Factor, Nancy Gibbs, Time, October 2, 1995.Recent brain research suggests that emotions, not the traditional IQ rating, may be the true measure of human intelligence. This article examines this latest trend in the assessment of human ability to cope successfully with.