Course Introduction

Life-Span Development introduces students to all developmental stages of the human life-span. Students begin with the concepts of nature versus nurture and how each affect prenatal development. Topics move from infancy to adolescence, through adulthood and into late adulthood. Students learn about the problems associated with each stage of our life span. This course consists of 10 days (50 hours) of daily, participative learning sessions.

Course Prerequisites

Completion of Introduction to Mental Health and Addictions as part of the Community Service Worker Diploma

Course Notes

Students are supplied with textbooks for ongoing reference. In addition to quizzes, tests, and assignments, there is a Final Exam upon completion of the course. Students must achieve a mark of 75% overall and on the Final Exam to successfully complete the course.

Course Breakdown

Nature, Nurture, and Prenatal Development: Nature-nurture issue, determining the relative influence of nature and nurture, development research techniques, and prenatal development: conception to birth

Infancy and Childhood: The extraordinary newborn, the growing child: infancy through middle childhood, and cognitive development: children’s thinking about the world

Adolescence, Becoming an Adult: Adolescence, physical development: the changing adolescent, distinguishing right from wrong, and social development: finding oneself in a social world

Adulthood: Adulthood, social development: working at life, the later years in life: growing old, and marriage, children, and divorce: family ties

Problems of Childhood: Common behavioural problems, environmental problems, emotional problems, and behavioural problems

Problems of Adolescence: Common problems of adolescence, and mental health problems of adolescence

Problems of Adulthood: Common problems of adulthood, and mental health problems of adults

Problems of Late Adulthood: Facts and myths about aging, common problems of older adults, and mental health problems of older adults