Section 12 PSYC 250: Child Development
Essential Question: What are some essential DEI topics I can teach in PSYC250?
Abstract: Developmental psychology can incorporate information about how systemic racism and other inequities affect how children develop, as well as what can be learned about human development from studying all humans, beyond just WEIRD populations. Many developmental psychology textbooks already include examples and discussions of how socio-economic status affects development, or what cross-cultural comparisons show about the range of variability in development and how environmental factors impact development. These can be leveraged to include discussions of systemic inequities and the importance of moving beyond a default-WEIRD perspective on defining “typical” human behavior. Such discussions can be woven into topics across the span of child development, from differences in prenatal care to achievement in secondary education. Thus, further material about the impacts of systemic racism and racial/cultural differences can be readily integrated into existing course content.
Class Topics and Learning Objectives
- Topic: Race, SES, and Birth Outcomes
- Objective: The main goals of these slides are 1) to teach students about how race and SES affect birth outcomes, and how survivable poor birth outcomes can still lead to lifelong negative impacts for the developing child; and 2) to teach students that birth and newborn care practices vary across cultures and that the “right” or “standard” way to give birth and care for newborns is culturally variable.
- Slide Deck: Here.
- Topic: Intelligence and Achievement
- Objective: The main goals of these slides are 1) to teach students about how intelligence can be defined and measured in various ways and 2) to highlight the history of how intelligence testing has been used as a weapon against racial/ethnic minorities, including as a justification for eugenics/forced sterilization in North Carolina as recently as the 1970s.
- Slide Deck: Here.
- Topic: Development and Racial Identity/Racial Biases
- Objective: The main goals of these slides are 1) to teach how children/people develop their personal racial/ethnic identity, 2) to show how racism/anti-Blackness is present even in young children, and 3) discuss ways to address racial biases in children.
- Slide Deck: Here.
- Objective: The main goals of these slides are 1) to teach how children/people develop their personal racial/ethnic identity, 2) to show how racism/anti-Blackness is present even in young children, and 3) discuss ways to address racial biases in children.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Teaching by UNC Psychology & Neuroscience DEI Education Subcommittee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.