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Parents and toddlers: Teaching and learning at home

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How do young children learn? This free course, Parents and toddlers: Teaching and learning at home, looks at the way toddlers interact with their carers in the home environment. You will learn how adults use different methods of teaching to encourage a small child to expand their boundaries and develop new ways of thinking.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

  • discuss how children's early experiences with their parents/caregivers, siblings and peers contribute to the learning of new skills and problem-solving techniques
  • understand how parents/caregivers use talk and play in informal teaching and learning exchanges with toddlers and young children to communicate social and cultural practices
  • understand key psychological and educational theories and concepts relating to children's social development and mental growth
  • appreciate the features of effective teaching used by parents and other adults in informal learning settings such as the home
  • appreciate why researchers rely on detailed observation of video-data to develop an understanding of the psychological processes that take place during teaching and learning interactions between young children and their parents/caregivers.

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