Syllabus Information

1. General information

1.1. Aims of the course

This subject and its foreseen results respond to the following proposals and objectives:

This subject forms part of the basic training for the Teacher Training Degrees and is taught during the first 4-monthly period of the first course of this degree along with other subjects of the same kind. The intention of Psychology of Development I is for students to know the physical, sensorial, motor, cognitive and linguistic characteristics of the learning stage from 0 to 6 years that they will teach. So they should accurately know the different areas in which the psychological development in this stage is described, the most relevant development milestones in it, as well as the explanations that psychology offers about behavioural changes so that it can be placed in the same role played by the school, family or peers in psychological development.

These proposals and objectives fall in line with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SGD) of the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/es/) insofar as acquiring the learning outcomes in this subject matter provides the qualification and competence to contribute to passing it to a certain point:

SDG 3: Health and Well-being.

SDG 4: Quality education.

SDG 5: Gender equality.

SDG 10: Reducing inequalities.

SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions.

1.2. Context and importance of this course in the degree

The ultimate objective of teacher training is being able to design the teaching-learning processes that take place at school, put them into practice in a multicultural context and at different learning paces, and tutor families to jointly contribute to integral student development.

In order to perform this task, future teachers will have the basic training that will include, on the one hand, knowledge about the education and family contexts and, on the other hand, the psychological basis of learning processes.

This training is provided by the subjects Psychology of Development I and II, and it permits, among other objectives, the promotion of learning that adapts to students’ Early Childhood Education level by covering all its development areas which, understood from an integral perspective, generates the pedagogical resources deriving from the characteristics of each development stage by paying attention to the diversity that might be found in classrooms.

1.3. Recommendations to take this course

As this is a first-course subject taught in the first 4-monthly period, it has no special recommendations. It acts as the first contact of future teachers with Psychology, and more specifically with Psychology of Development.

2. Learning goals

2.1. Competences

Having passed this subject, students will be more competent to:

GC01 – Know the objectives, curricular contents and evaluation criteria of Early Childhood Education.

GC02 – Promote and facilitate that learned in Early Childhood Education from a globalising and integrating perspective of the different cognitive, emotional, psychomotor and volititional dimensions.

GC03 – Design and regulate learning spaces in diversity contexts that cover students’ singular education needs, gender equality, and equity and respect for human rights.

GC04 – Promote harmony inside and outside classrooms towards pacific conflict solving. Know how to systematically observe learning contexts and harmony, and how to reflect on them. Interpret education practices according to reference theoretical frameworks, reflect on them and act accordingly.

GC05 – Reflect in groups on complying with rules and respecting others Promote each student’s autonomy and singularity as education factors of emotions, feelings and values in Early Childhood Education.

GC06 – Know the evolution of language in Early Childhood Education, know how to identify possible dysfunctions and ensure their correct evolution. Efficiently deal with language learning situations in multicultural and multilingual contexts. Correctly express in speech and writing, and master the use of different expression techniques in several knowledge areas.

GC07 – Know the education implications of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly television, for Early Childhood Education.

GC08 – Know the basics of infant diet and hygiene. Know the basics of early attention, and the bases/developments that allow psychological, learning and personality-building processes to be understood in Early Childhood Education GC09 – Know how Early Childhood Education schools are organised and the diversity of the actions that shape their organisation. Assume that exercising the teaching task has to be constantly perfected and adapted to lifelong scientific, pedagogic and social changes.

GC10 – Understand the importance of teachers’ work to be able to act as a mediator and guide of mothers/fathers in relation to family education during the 0-6-year-old period, and master social skills for dealing and mixing with the family of each student and with all the families on the whole.

GC11  – Reflect on classroom practices to innovate and improve teaching work. Acquire habits and skills for autonomous and cooperative learning, and promote this learning in students and teachers. Select the most suitable education resources for each situation.

GC12 – Understand the function, possibilities and limits of education in today’s society and the fundamental competences that affect Early Childhood Education schools and their professionals. Know the models that improve quality that are applied at education centres.

BC1 – Students have demonstrated having acquired and understood knowledge in a study area that is in accordance with the general Secondary Education basis, and tends to be at a level that, if supported on advanced textbooks, also includes certain aspects that imply state-of-the-art knowledge from their study field.

BC2 – Students know how to apply their knowledge to their work or vocation professionally, and have acquired competences that tend to be demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments, and solving problems, in their study area.

BC3 – Students must have the capacity to collect and interpret relevant data (normally in their study area) to make judgements that include reflecting on relevant social, scientific or ethical themes.

BC4 – Students are able to transmit information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialised and non-specialised publics.

BC5 – Students have developed the necessary learning skills to conduct later studies with a high degree of autonomy.

TC01 – Integrate competences from different subject matters to guide the Final Graduation Project (FGP) and be able to apply knowledge to their professional practice.

TC02 – Understand learning as an overall, complex and significant fact by designing and developing situations that deal with student diversity and involve it in their learning and work.

TC03 – Manage and self-regulate the progress of learning by adapting to new situations and interrelating knowledge to prepare new knowledge.

TC04 – Work in teams and be capable of playing different roles in groups.

TC05 – Use and apply ICT to learn, communicate and share knowledge in different contexts.

TC06 – Develop the capacity to communicate to be taught in one’s own language and in (an)other European language(s).

TC07 – Face the duties and ethical dilemmas of the profession.

TC08 - Seek, manage, process, analyse and communicate information efficiently, critically and creatively.

TC09 – Understand and reflect on the education practice in rural areas.

TC10 - Develop, manage, process and analyse processes related to research applied to education.

SC01- Understand education and learning processes for the 0-6-year-old period in family, social and school contexts.

SC02- Know developmental psychology developments of infancy for the 0-3- and 3-6-year-old periods.

SC03- Know early attention foundations.

SC04- Recognise the identity of the stage and its cognitive, psychomotor, communication, social and affective characteristics.

SC05- Know how to promote acquiring habits towards autonomy, freedom, curiosity, observation, experimentation, imitation, adhering to rules and accepting limits, and symbolic and heuristic playing.

SC06 – Know not only the pedagogical dimension of interacting with peers and adults, but also how to promote participation in collective activities, cooperative work and individual effort.

2.2. Learning goals

The student, to overcome this subject, must demonstrate the following results:

1: Describes children's behavior from 0 to 6 years old in the following areas: physical, sensory-motor, cognitive and linguistic.

2: Explains how psychological development occurs in these areas from psychological theories of the evolutionary field, paying special attention to individual differences in how this can occur without implying a problematic deviation.

3: Identifies different rhythms of development in specific areas: sensory, motor, cognitive and linguistic.

4: Predicts how the psychological development will be for a particular case (with a conventional or unconventional rhythm) from the general theories and the information provided.

5: Relates the performance of different agents, family, school, peers, with the process of development optimization.

2.3. Importance of learning goals

Understanding the relevance of the basic training block in the Teacher Training Degree is fundamental to situate teachers’ action in it. This block provides the most relevant conceptual bases to understand students’ characteristics and to take an integral view of it. Thus from the perspective of the competences to be developed at school, it is essential to attempt to develop students’ psychomotor, cognitive and linguistic capacities to a great extent from among the following:

The historic contextualisation of Psychology and Psychology of Development as a study and research area.
Knowledge of different explanatory paradigms of life cycle development. Training in what the main authors in the area contribute.

Work about the scientific methodology in general, and about Psychology of Development in particular.
Students acquiring the capacity to not only describe what infant development is like, but to also explain the causes of this development.

Know well the basic milestones in psychomotor and cognitive development in very young children, which not only has relevant theoretical-conceptual effects, but can help to detect any deviations in normal development in classrooms and to help remedy them.

Generate teaching intervention strategies for different degrees of infant development.
Know the scientific works in the area that act as a basis to prepare the FGP.

3. Assessment (1st and 2nd call)

3.1. Assessment tasks (description of tasks, marking system and assessment criteria)

Students should demonstrate that they have achieved the foreseen learning outcomes by the following evaluation activities.

Students’ evaluation will be global, with activities that will be continuously evaluated during the teaching period and with a final test. As teaching will be given in large groups, this evaluation will be formed by individual and group qualifications. In more detail, the evaluation tests that students will do and their expected levels are as follows:

3.1.1. Activities to be evaluated that will be performed during official teaching.

Group reports of the practical activities to be evaluated: observing development, solving cases, guided readings and monographic works that offer samples of 0-6-year olds’ development. Performing these tasks implies the public presentation and debate with peers by means of a group spokesperson of the most relevant aspects of the involved cases, materials or observations. Two to five presentations will take place during the course and will correspond to group tasks. This involves each student making one or two public interventions of this type.

If students have not performed any kind of practical activity before 31 October, they will be expected to move directly to the final overall evaluation.

3.1.2. Final test

The written theoretical individual final test is based on the development questions, test questions, cases or brief texts included in the centre’s final tests. The teachers of the subject will explain the configuration of this test during the subject presentation class.

3.1.3. Evaluation criteria

The criteria and levels expected to be used to qualify evaluation activities are as follows:

a) Group reports of solving cases and other different support materials

Suitably solving these tasks requires students:

- Having identified the case theme or the material in question.

- Using the theoretical knowledge presented by the teachers or included in basic readings to answer the specific questions set out.

- Having detected the need to extend information about the theme autonomously by seeking and selecting that which could be relevant.

- Showing a functional comprehension level of the studied contents.

- Preparing a written report by considering minimum quality criteria and establishing a suitable sequence of ideas that are clearly and orderly presented by differentiating data, theoretical contributions and personal evaluations, and all this using comprehensible language with correct spelling. The teachers of the subject will evaluate any syntax and/or lexical mistakes, and mistakes in spelling and accents, which might appear in these activities.

b) Presentation and debate

These tasks involve a public presentation and debating with peers whose suitable performance requires:

- Presenting to a large group and its teacher the most relevant ideas of a case, material or group discussion.

- Comment on the ideas set out by other students by extending their contributions, providing examples or playing them down.

c) Final test

Suitably solving the individual written final test requires students:

- Using psychological terminology to describe behaviour.

- Functionally knowing at least psychological theories of development, and the most relevant evolutionary milestones of sensorial, motor, cognitive and linguistic development.

- Being capable of describing and making comparisons among different ages by identifying those behaviours that define distinct psychological development areas.

- Analysing specific situations by identifying conducts that appear, the age of those involved, the engaged stakeholders, and the theories explaining their development.

- Presenting what they have learned in an organised and orderly manner by producing clear comprehensible texts and by adhering to spelling rules. The teachers of the subject will evaluate any syntax and/or lexical mistakes, and mistakes in spelling and accents, which might appear in this test.

3.1.4. Final overall evaluation

Those students who have not completed the activities to be evaluated throughout the course, and substantially contribute to their mark, will be qualified according to the evaluation norms set out by the Universidad de Zaragoza by means of a single evaluation test to be held on the official dates indicated by the centre. This single written test will include both theoretical and applied elements insofar as they will collectively verify having acquired similar competences to those of the students who followed a previous format.

A suitable solution that students are required involves:

- Having identified the case theme or the material dealt with.

- Using psychological terminology to describe behaviour.

- Applying the theoretical knowledge that teachers presented or included in basic readings.

- Functionally knowing at least psychological theories of development and the most relevant evolutionary milestones of sensorial, motor, cognitive and linguistic development, as well as other contents that have been dealt with.

- Being capable of describing and making comparisons among different ages and subjects by identifying those behaviours that define distinct psychological development areas.

- Analysing specific situations by identifying conducts that appear, the age of those involved, the involved stakeholders, and the theories explaining their development.

- Writing their answers establishing a suitable sequence of ideas that are clearly and orderly presented by differentiating data, theoretical contributions and personal evaluations, and all this using comprehensible language with correct spelling. The teachers of the subject will evaluate any syntax and/or lexical mistakes, and mistakes in spelling and accents, which might appear in this part of the test.

- Having prepared a written report that covers some minimum quality criteria in it, and answers establishing a suitable sequence of ideas that are clearly and orderly presented by differentiating data, theoretical contributions and personal evaluations, and all this using comprehensible language with correct spelling. The teachers of the subject will evaluate any syntax and/or lexical mistakes, and mistakes in spelling and accents, which might appear in this part of the test.

3.1.5. Other calls 

All the calls in this subject will be subject to the same criteria set out in this section. The fifth and sixth calls will take place according to that set out in the Evaluation Normative of the Universidad de Zaragoza.

3.1.6. Marking criteria and requirements to pass this subject

The final mark will be based on the marks obtained with the tests performed throughout the course. All these tests will be scored from 0-10 and weighted according to this criterion:

- Practical activities evaluated during the teaching period: 40% of the final mark.

- Final test: 60% of the final mark.

Total: 100%

For the activities evaluated during the course to be scored and computed as the final mark, they should be delivered on the dates indicated by teachers.

The marks from the evaluation activities shall be modified downwardly if syntax and/or lexical mistakes, and mistakes in spelling and accents, are noted. Thus students will not have acquired competence GC06.

In any case, to obtain a pass mark for the subject matter, and to pass the subject, a mark of 5 or higher is necessary in both the final test and the activities to be evaluated during the teaching period. That is, the mark obtained in the practical part and in the theoretical part will not be averaged, unless both parts have been previously passed (mark of 5 or higher).

Total or partial fraud or plagiarism in any of the evaluation tests will lead to the subject failing with the minimum grade, in addition to the disciplinary sanctions that the guarantee commission adopts for these cases.

4. Methodology, learning tasks, syllabus and resources

4.1. Methodological overview

This subject is organised so that activities are combined in a large group with smaller groups. In the first case, teachers will globally present the general subject contents that will be worked on in more depth during group work sessions and in small groups.

4.2. Learning tasks

This subject is organised so that the activities performed in a large group are combined with smaller groups. In the former case, the general subject contents will be presented by the teacher and will be worked in more depth during group work sessions and in small groups.

The programme that will be offered to students to help them to achieve the expected outcomes will include the following activities:

- Presentation sessions by the teacher in a large group. They include both key subject elements and illustrative videos of different development aspects.

- Active learning methodologies based on activities that involve observing development in natural contexts.

- Preparing group works that can impact analyses of cases, texts, videos and other elements that illustrate development aspects. These works will be organised with groups with similar availability, and even individual work situations that can be duly justified, will be contemplated. They will be presented in various formats, such as large group work presentations, web resources, debates in groups or peer-correction formats.

- Oral presentation of and debate about the aforementioned works.
- Tutorship to follow up students’ work throughout the training process.

4.3. Syllabus

- Introduction to Psychology and Psychology of development.

- Psychology of development in infancy.

- Human development in the life cycle context in its main areas (physical, sensorial, motor, cognitive and linguistic) in relation to its maturity, adaptation and learning periods.

- The biological and environmental aspects that influence an individual’s development.

4.4. Course planning and calendar

The schedule of face-to-face sessions and work presentations during which works are to be presented is communicated in writing or by the Digital Teaching Ring (DTR) to start the subject’s teaching period.

The subject is set out in a mixed system with activities to be evaluated throughout the course and with the final test on the official dates set out by the centre. Both key activities and dates are communicated by the DTR when the subject starts to be taught or in a written document handed out by teachers. The dates of the final exams can be consulted on the website of the different faculties where the degree is taught.