NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND CHILDREN
OFFICIAL COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Each year a contemporary topic in the area of Children, Youth and Family ministry is chosen. Students will then read from the bibliography associated with that topic and a guest lecturer will be invite to present to students. The student will seek to integrate readings, discussions, and the ideas of a leading thinker. Because topics change, this course may be repeated for credit.
FOCUS OF 2016:
2016 CY4525 Children, Youth & Family contemporary issues class focuses on Neuropsychology and Children. Our guest presenter is the co-author of the bestselling book The Whole-Brain Child, Tina Payne Bryson. Dr. Bryson has been featured on many national media outlets, and daily helps parents, adolescents and children at The Center for Connection in Pasadena, California. Watch a video from Dr. Bryson’s visit here:
More specifically Dr. Bryson’s four lectures focus on content from the New York Times bestseller THE WHOLE-BRAIN CHILD, in which Tina and Dan Siegel introduce parents and other caregivers to practical strategies based on cutting-edge brain science. A central principle of the book is that the strategies can help parents not only survive difficult moments with their kids, but actually use those very moments to help their children thrive. In these lectures, Dr. Bryson takes this central concept and applies it to working with children. The best strategies are the ones that not only help us maintain order and cover material effectively, but that also challenge kids to become all that they’re meant to be. Displaying her trademark warmth and humor, Tina uses video, discussion, stories, and lots of personal experience to help her audience think more deeply about who they want to be as individuals, and how they want to interact with the young minds they’re nurturing and helping to grow. The latest scientific research–with a special emphasis on neuroplasticity and the changing brain–is presented in a way that’s clear, interesting, and immediately practical.
PARTICIPATING PROFESSORS
Also providing content during the intensive were Dr. Andrew Root, Dr. Alan G. Padgett, Dr. Carla M. Dahl, Dr. Theresa F. Latini, and Dr. Amy Marga. Please enjoy the video segments from Dr. Padgett and Dr. Dahl, as well as an audio interview with Dr. Latini and Dr. Marga. Course outcomes and syllabus are below.
CONNECTION TO THEOLOGICAL RATIONALE, PROGRAM OUTCOMES, AND STUDENT VOCATION:
This course will focus on fulfilling the MDiv/MA Program Outcomes of:
- A) Graduates, together with the communities they lead, will confess the character, identity, and work of the Triune God in the world God loves.
- B) Graduates, together with the communities they lead, will live out their baptismal callings and nurture the ongoing life of faith, hope, and love.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Develop a theological understanding of how a science and theology might be related
- Become aware of the field of neuropsychology and neuroscience
- Explore how neuropsychology might impact our practice of raising and caring for children
- Begin exploring how new ministry ideas and structure and theological connections might draw from neuropsychology
- Articulate how theories of the mind connect to a conception of divine action
TEXTBOOKS AND MATERIALS
Mecklenburger, Ralph Our Religion Brains (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2012)
Siegel, David and Bryson, Tina Payne The Whole Brain-Child (Bantam, 2012)
Pick one of the following:
Barrett, Justin Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology (Templeton Press, 2011)
Siegel, David. Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation (Bantam, 2010)
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