Educational Psychology & Special Education (Certificate)

Trace Plato and Aristotle's early influence on psychology, contrasting innate knowledge with empirical experience, and compare mind-body relations, theories of forms, and the emergence of logic and empiricism.

Explore psychological perspectives and schools—from structuralism and behaviorism to cognitive and humanistic approaches—and analyze behavior, mental processes, and the nature and nurture debate across levels of analysis.

Freud's iceberg theory shows that the conscious mind is the small tip of a vast unconscious, shaped by dynamic processes and childhood experiences, influencing daily behavior.

Explore how child development shapes learning by aligning instruction with cognitive and emotional developmental milestones, meeting each child where they are, and guiding intentional teaching, planning, and evaluation.

Explore the science of child development across physical, cognitive, and social-emotional domains, emphasizing plasticity, early experiences, resilience, and the five developmental periods from prenatal to adolescence.

Explore how environmental and epigenetic factors influence gene expression. Nature and nurture jointly shape development through epigenetic changes.

Review four parenting styles—authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved—and their impact on children's self-esteem and behavior. Emphasize authoritative parenting as developmentally healthiest, per the American Psychological Association.

Examine physical development in early childhood (ages 3–6), detailing steady growth, refining gross and fine motor skills, and milestone-based expectations for movement, sleep, and independence.

Explore growth, brain development, and emerging abilities in middle childhood (ages 6 to 11), including milestones in coordination, literacy, math, and managing health and diet, with attention to mental health.

Explore student diversity, including socio economic status, race, language, gender bias, and culture, and how they affect achievement and school experiences, then identify inclusive teaching principles for diverse classrooms.

Explore how intelligence is defined, the main theories of multiple intelligences and emotional intelligence, and how tests measure IQ scores amid heredity and environment.

Explore psychosocial development to tailor teaching strategies that support emotional, social, and cognitive growth, respond to challenging behaviors, and meet diverse learners across online and in-person formats.

Explore how learning yields lasting behavior change through experience, including classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and cognitive learning. Distinguish true learning from maturation and fatigue by examining performance.

Explore how social influence shapes beliefs, attitudes, and behavior through observational and operant learning, modeling from the Bobo doll experiment, and the roles of rewards, punishments, social cues, and norms.

Explore classical conditioning through Pavlov's experiments, detailing unconditioned versus conditioned stimuli and responses, and explain learning processes, extinction, generalization, and discrimination.

Explore operant conditioning and behavior modification, identifying how reinforcement and punishment shape voluntary behavior. Learn about primary and secondary reinforcers, schedules, shaping, stimulus control, and biological constraints.

Explore how thinking relies on mental representations and concepts, and how language development unfolds from babbling to grammar, with insights on prototypes, language theories, and bilingual advantages.

Explore who exceptional children are, including those with disabilities and the gifted, and how inclusive education and IEPs meet their diverse needs.

Explore how exceptional children learn and behave, the role of labels, and apply two guiding principles: put people first and avoid equating the person with disability in tailored special education.

Explore how IDEA defines special education as specially designed instruction at no cost, delivered via an IEP, and guided by six principles to ensure FAPE for ages 3–21.

Explore how special education programs, IDEA, IEP, and the least restrictive environment shape inclusive services through the RTI three-tier model—tier 1 prevention, tier 2 targeted, tier 3 intensive supports.

Explore how giftedness reflects a brain-based difference shaping intellectual, academic, and social-emotional development, and review IQ score bands, standard deviations, and identification methods used in gifted and talented programs.

Explore intellectual development disorders including intellectual disability, global developmental delay, and unspecified intellectual developmental disorder, detailing onset during developmental period and deficits in intellectual and adaptive functioning with F70–F73 specifiers.

Explore Section 504 protections for qualified students with disabilities, ensuring free appropriate public education and equal access in programs receiving federal funding.

Explore disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMD) in children, its DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria, and its distinctions from bipolar disorder, ADHD, OCD, and autism spectrum, plus comorbidity.

Become an excellent teacher with purpose by fostering student engagement, building positive relationships, and personalizing instruction through real-world relevance and thoughtful use of technology.

Educational psychology informs teaching by combining subject matter knowledge with effective communication, planning, and intentionality to help diverse learners achieve outcomes.

Explore how children form self concept and self esteem, and apply nine practical ways for parents and teachers to build independence, resilience, and healthy social emotions.

Explore how student grouping and differentiated instruction, supported by technology, enhance effective instruction through time, level of instruction, and student engagement, including at-risk programs and classroom tech integration.

Develop classroom management and teaching skills by setting high but achievable expectations, fostering growth mindsets, planning learning with clear steps, and building a sense of community through daily class meetings.

Explore options for becoming an excellent teacher with purpose, including bachelor's degrees, alternative licensure routes, master's degrees, and certification, while developing cognitive skills, communication skills, research skills, and social skills.

Reflect on the most intriguing concept learned in this educational psychology and special education course, and outline a practical plan to apply it in your personal and professional life.