Upon the successful completion of this course, students will be able to receive an introduction to the field of Educational Psychology and the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Teachers must master a variety of perspectives and strategies so they can remain flexible in their application of their teaching, and this course is intended to provide an overview. This course will investigate what development is and how the biological, cognitive, and socioemotional changes that humans undergo begins at conception and continues through their life spans. Learners will engage in activities aimed at helping them understand the different learning theories and theorists, as well as how those theories inform developmentally appropriate teaching and learning practices. Social and emotional development as well as behavioral and cognitive theories will set the foundation from which learners can develop their own understanding of how young children learn and the types of teaching practices that help to support the learning and behavior for future students. Similarly, social constructivist approaches and information processing theories will be presented so learners can investigate how attention, memory, and approaches to social groupings can shape the way students engage in the content presented in early childhood classrooms. Learners will also be able to examine how early childhood development plays a role in teaching different content areas. Finally, the role of technology and motivation will be explored. Learners will be able to discern how to integrate their knowledge of the ways students engage with content to help them plan for their future classrooms and to engage their own students in meaningful ways that will help the students learn, grow and create learning pathways to become successful classroom participants.