Upon finishing this course, the student will have:
- Advanced insight into different aspects of modern society (e.g., digital media, multiculturality, modern family, modern education, gender and sexuality, youth under pressure) and their relevance for the development of children and adolescents;
- Learned how to critically evaluate research and research designs concerning socially relevant questions on modern life;
- Learned how to design a study to answer a question linked to one of the course themes by writing a research proposal (in groups of three students).
Link between purpose and contents/assessment
- Through lectures and through the seminars and writing the proposal, students will gain advanced insights into different aspects of modern society;
- Through lectures and by actively participating in the seminars, students will learn to critically evaluate research and research designs concerning societally relevant modern-day questions;
- By actively participating in the seminars and by writing the research proposal, students will learn how to design a research project that answers a question related to modern-day challenges in families and schools
The seminars will include group assignments, which will receive peer and/or supervisor feedback. These assignments are aimed to help guide students in developing their research proposal (written in English). The research proposal will be graded by the theme supervisor based on criteria specified in the course manual.
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Growing up in today’s society poses modern-life challenges for children and adolescents. Examples of such modern-life challenges are the pressures of social media, high academic and personal demands, different family arrangements, and diversity and multilinguism in the classroom. Addressing such challenges in public policy and clinical practice should be based on relevant and scientifically sound research. In the course Modern life: Challenges in families and schools, we will focus on translating important and urgent societal questions into feasible, relevant and appropriate research that will help answer them.
This course is relevant for students interested in research about children and families, and in current issues in modern society.
A selection of topical themes will be explored during lectures, for example: Growing up in a digital society; Growing up in a multicultural society; Modern family; Modern education; Gender and sexuality; Youth under pressure. The definitive themes will be announced later and can vary from year to year. Each student will choose one of these themes. Within that theme, students will write a research proposal to address a societally relevant question of their own interest (in groups of three students). The proposal could concern an experiment, a survey study, a qualitative study or use of big data, whichever seems most appropriate for the particular question.
Presumed prior knowledge
Prerequisite knowledge for exchange students and students from other departments:
- Introductory course child and/or family psychology
- Introductory course methods and statistics
- Experience with academic writing (e.g., literature review; essay; paper)
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