The Department of Child and Family Studies
The curriculum of the Department of Child and Family Studies is comprised of courses that teach foundational perspectives about children and families in the context of their environments, including principles and theories about human and child development, various family-related concepts and general theories, and fundamental principles and child education theories from historical, social, and philosophical perspectives. The curriculum also includes courses that enable students to grow as child and family experts by providing them with opportunities to have real-world experiences and by teaching them systematic research methodologies by teaching in depth about various theories and specialized areas of knowledge.
Course Descriptions
CHILD AND FAMILY ISSUES AND SOCIAL DESIGN 2 / 3 credits
Syllabus in English This interdisciplinary course is organized by the Departments of Human Environments and Design and of Child and Family Studies with an aim to integrate knowledge from the two domains to design new products, services, and systems that can help respond to various issues related to children, youth, and families. In this semester, we will focus on the concept of ‘resilience’ and learn definitions, indicators, and theoretical models of adult resilience. Based on these conceptual backgrounds, we will design various products-systems to support ‘resilience’ among college students, using design methodologies.
SEMINAR IN CHILD & FAMILY STUDIES I~III / each 1 credit
Understanding the process of academic research and proposal writing.
ADVANCED STATISTICS / 3 credits
Statical methods such as tests of significance, special correlations, and multiple regressions are introduced with computer analysis programs to enhance students' ability analyzing data for their these.
RESEARCH METHOD IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT / 3 credits
Various research methods in child development are introduced, with emphasis on the understanding of basic principles of research design and their applications.
Developmental issues in the transition to young adulthood / 3 credits
The purpose of this course is to explore key topics of young adulthood, with a specific focus on the (a) biological, cognitive, social, emotional, and psychological changes during this transition and (b) relevant contexts including families, peers, and schools.
THEORIES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT / 3 credits
Disparate theoretical approaches to human development from classic to recent theories. Explanation, understanding, and prediction of human behaviors in developmental perspectives are emphasized.
INFANT AND TODDLER DEVELOPMENT / 3 credits
Theoties and research on infants' perception, emotion, attachment, temperament, cognition, language, early interaction, and infant care are discussed.
DEVELOPMENT OF EMOTION / 3 credits
Theories and characteristics of emotional development are reviewed.
BEHAVIOR THERAPY / 3 credits
This course provides an introduction to basic concepts and characteristics of behavior therapy and explores how to define, measure, and analyze behavior. It also includes overview of strategies to change behavior by decreasing behavior problems and increasing desirable behaviors.
ADVANCED COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT / 3 credits
Current researches and theories of cognitive development are reviewed and discussed.
SOCIALIZATION PROCESSES / 3 credits
Theories and research on social and personality development through adolescents. Topics include attachment, aggression, pro-social behaviors, achievement, sex-role development, and peer relations. Familial and extra familial influences in social and personality development are discussed.
STRESS NEUROBIOLOGY AND HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS / 3 credits
This course aims to better understand neural mechanisms of human relationships with a strong emphasis on stress relation systems.
LEARNING AND MOTIVATION / 3 credits
ADOLESCENT BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL ISSUES / 3 credits
Adolscence is characetrized as the period of dramatic changes in biological, psychological, social and cognitive aspects. The purpose of this course is to learn and discuss about the general characteristics of adolescents and to understand the individual differences in their problem behavor patterns. Current social issues related with adolescents will be discussed and the effective ways to prevent and intervene those problems will be discussed by applying the phenomena, behvior patterns in terms of different theoretical perspectives.
COMPARATIVE EARLY EDUCATION / 3 credits
Comparative perspectives on historical aspects, current issue, policies, and practices of early care and education in developed countries.
THEORIES OF CHILD'S PLAY / 3 credits
Focuses on various theories of child's play, dramatic play, social play, constructive play and toys.
THEORIES AND PRACTICES OF INSTRUCTION IN EARLY EDUCATION / 3 credits
Review of major theories of instruction and the analysis of relevant research in early childhood education.
STUDIES ON LANGUAGE IN EARLY EDUCATION / 3 credits
Review of current theories of spoken and written language acquisition and learning. Connections will be made between research, theory, and practice.
THEORIES OF CHILDREN'S PLAY AND EDUCATION / 3 credits
Overview of research and current theories in child`s play. Issues related to play for young children, such as physical environments, play materials, culture, gender, teacher`s role, and works in early educational settings as well as parents` play interactions with their child at home.
TOPICS IN COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND EARLY EDUCATION / 3 credits
Explores theories of cognitive education for young children. Analyzes and discusses the results of contemporary studies.
STUDIES ON GUIDING CHILDREN'S SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT / 3 credits
Explores theories, recent research and practices on guiding children's social and emotional development.
INFANT-TODDLER PROGRAMS / 3 credits
Theories and researches of programs for infants and toddlers are revoewed. A model program for infants and toddlers is developed.
STUDIES ON EARLY CHILDHOOD PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT / 3 credits
Reviews on history, contexts, knowledge base and approaches to childcare teacher`s education. Current policies, research, and theories in professional development of early educators. Issues related in leaderships and training in early childhood care and education workforce.
PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP / 3 credits
Designed to study theories and researches on parent-child interaction through in-depth reading, discussion, presentation and writing of critiques.
TOPICS IN FAMILY RELATIONSHIP / 3 credits
Special topics on family relationships and current issues are reviewed and discussed.
FAMILY THEORIES Ⅰ/ 3 credits
Introduction to the application of concepts and theories in family studies.
THEORIES OF FAMILY THERPY I / 3 credits
Students learn theories and techniques of selected family therapy models and practice various therapeutic techniques to solve the clients' problems.
THEORIES AND PRACTICES IN CHILD COUNSELING / 3 credits
Knowledge of theories, processes, and techniques of child counseling are applied to the diagnosis and treatment of children's problems.
GROUP THERAPY / 3 credits
Students learn specific group processes, procedures, and various intervention techniques which help not only to solve individual's problems but also to change group dynamics in a positive way.
FAMILY RESILIENCE / 3 credits
OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH METHODS / 3 credits
Various observational research methods in child and family studies are introduced and applied to the specific research questions.
GRANDPARENTHOOD / 3 credits
An ageing world contains growing numbers of grandparents, who share longer lifespans with, on average, smaller numbers of grandchildren. The scope for grandparenting is therefore widening, and grandparenting is taking on new forms as the social and economic contexts of family relationships evolve. Diversity in grandparenting also arises from grandparents’ own choices regarding engagement with grandchildren.
To understand contemporary grandparenting, both macro (i.e., Grandparents’ responses to economic, societal and family transformations) and micro perspectives (i.g., ‘identities’ and ‘agency’, which are powerfully shaped by macro structures such as social policies pertaining to care and families.) are necessary.
ASSESSMENT IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT / 3 credits
Measurement theories and various psychological tests for young children are dealt with to enhance abilities to assess psychological development of children.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS / 3 credits
Qualitative methods and related theory commonly used by researchers in human development and family studies.
INDIVIDUAL STUDY I / 2 credits
Individual study conducted in accordance with a professor in charge.
FAMILY THERAPY SEMINAR / 3 credits
Family therapist is trying to help the clients who are in family troubles to recover their normal life. The purpose of this subject is that the students get to know and learn the modern family issues. In order to fulfill the purpose, all the articles and models are investigated and applied to the issues.
SOCIAL COGNITION / 3 credits
Knowledge about emotions, perceptions, personal attributes, causes of behavior, child's theory of mind and understanding social relationships are discussed.
STUDIES ON PEER RELATIONSHIPS / 3 credits
Investinates developmental issues of peer relationships of children and youth. Theories and research on peer competence, quality of peer relationships, peer status, peer comflicts, peer harassment, relationships of family-school-peer will be discussed.
WORK AND FAMILY / 2 credits
Examination of the relation between the family and the economy. Focuses on theoretical explanations, historical trends, and contemporary patterns of labor allocation and family relationship.
RESEARCH ON FAMILY ISSUES / 2 credits
Deals with issues and problems in the fields of family relations and human development.
TOPICS IN FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION / 2 credits
Family life education focuses on healthy family functioning and provides a primarily preventive approach. The goal of family life education is to teach and foster the skills and knowledge needed for healthy functioning. Students in this course will closely analyze problems and issues in the field of family life education and develop family life education materials, ideas, and strategies.
FAMILY STRESS AND COPING / 3 credits
Theories of stress and coping from sociological, psychological, and biosocial perspectives. Deals with family functioning and child development issues in relation to normative and non-normative stress.
MEN IN FAMILIES / 3 credits
Review of current issues in men within the context of the family and the work spheres.
TOPICS IN FAMILY POLICY / 3 credits
Deals with the effect of legislative policy on the family. Focuses on the comparison of explicit and implicit family policies in other nations.
FAMILIES IN MID AND LATER-LIFE / 3 credits
This course studies current issues in later-life families including relationships between aging parents and adult children, grandparent relationships, and family caregiving.
ELDERLY LIFE MANAGEMENT / 3 credits
This course aims to extend the convergent view of gerontology by applying the technology acceptance model (TAM) to active aging. To accomplish this goal, this course will cover reading materials on TAM and ‘older adults as technology acceptors’. Students are required to understand reading materials and participate in discussions actively. Students’ accomplishments are also evaluated by research proposals and final papers.
BIG DATA IN FAMILY STUDIES / 3 credits
The objective of this course is to provide a foundation to prepare students to play leading roles in the data analytics world. In fact students need to be equipped with many different skills to become good data scientists. Data base skills, programming skills, analytical skills and statistical knowledge are examples of knowledge good data scientists should have. It might be impossible to cover all those skills in one course. Instead I will focus on basic statistical knowledge with regard to decision making and strategic thinking in the course.
A variety of approaches will be used in the course to achieve this objective. The readings and case presentation will expose students to the conceptual issues in strategic thinking with regard to data analytics. The course will also cover on-hands technical skills using R packages. Different statistical problems will be posed and discussed.
SEMINAR ON PLAY THERAPY / 3 credits
Theories and practices of play therapy are understood and used to solve children's problems in the context of family life cycle.
COUPLE THERAPY / 3 credits
Students learn theorise about couples and relationships between couples in family context and develop counseling techniques to solve couples' relationship problems.
SOLUTION-FOCUSED FAMILY THERAPY / 3 credits
Through understanding and learning of Solution-focused family therapy model, students can develop a very useful tool for better therapy.
EXPERIMENTAL FAMILY THERAPY / 3 credits
By learning and practicing theories and technique of Satir's experiential family therapy, students not only grow personally but also gain skills to help clients.
SEMINAR ON CHILD COUNSELING / 3 credits
This seminar intensively examines and discusses selected topics and issues in child counseling theories and practices.
SEMINAR ON NARRATIVE THERAPY / 3 credits
CourseDescription: This course represents an introduction to the basic tenets of the Narrative Therapy. In this course, basic techniques of narrative therapy will be introduced and demonstrated. Theoretical underpinnings of narrative therapy will also be explored. Students can expect to learn about the worldview that shapes the thinking beheind narrative practice and its context in the history of psychotherapy. Students also can expect to begin developing narrative skills, including externalizing, deconstructing, double-listening, re-membering and re-authoring.
DIRECTED RESEARCH Ⅰ, Ⅱ / 0 credit
Individualized investigation of a specific topic.
SEMINAR IN STATISTICAL ANALYSIS / 3 credits
Among the research analysis methods in the field of behavior sciences, the fundamental concepts of recently utilized research techniques such as path, longitudinal, cause-and-effect analyses are investigated and applied in actual research data.
ANALYSIS OF LONGITUDINAL DATA / 3 credits
This course provides an introduction to the principles and methods for the analysis of longitudinal data. Emphasis will be on data analysis and interpretation of models for various types of longitudinal data.
TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH IN CHILD AND FAMILY STUDIES / 3 credits
This course is to learn about child, adolescent and family focused Evidence-Based Programs (EBPs) in the field of Child and Family Studies. Emphasis will be on the approaches by which EBPs are developed, empirically evaluated, and implemented.
INTERDIS CIPLINARY RESEARCH FOR CHILD ABUSE AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION / 3 credits
The purpose of this course is to discuss current issues in child abuse and family violence and to integrate theories and findings regarding relevant factors, mechanisms, practices, and policies guided by multidisciplinary approaches. Available prevention and intervention programs in the field and innovative ways to improve effects of these programs and/or to develop new approaches are also discussed.
SEMINAR IN CHILD & FAMILY STUDIES Ⅷ~IX / each 1 credit
Understanding the process of academic research and practice individual research paper writing and publishing.
SEMINAR ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT / 3 credits
Topics on human development will be specified and discussed in depth.
ATTACHMENT : THEORY AND RESEARCH / 3 credits
Theories of attachment are intensively reviewed and various research methods to study attachment are examined and practiced.
SEMINAR ON SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT / 3 credits
Current issues and research in social, emotional, and personality development will be reviewed intensively. Topics include infants` temperament, emotion, personality, prosocial, aggression, morality, gender role, achievement. Significant agents for socioemotional development for children, such as families and peers, will be discussed.
Administration and Social Policy in Early Education and Care / 3 credits
Seminar for Early Childhood and Care Policy
EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR INFANT AND TODDLER / 3 credits
Exploration of design and issues of educational intervention programs for at-risk infants and toddlers.
SEMINAR ON FAMILY STUDIES / 3 credits
SEMINAR ON GERONTOLOGY / 3 credits
Theories and research on aging and adult development in later life are reviewed and discussed.
INDIVIDUAL STUDY / Respectively 2 credits
Individual study conducted in accordance with a professor in charge
SEMINAR ON FAMILY Ⅶ / 1 credit
SEMINAR ON FAMILY Ⅷ / 1 credit
SEMINAR ON CHILD STUDIES Ⅸ / 1 credit
SEMINAR ON CHILD STUDIES Ⅶ / 1 credit
SEMINAR ON CHILD STUDIES Ⅷ / 1 credit
This one-credit seminar is intended for CFS doctoral students in studying educational subjects. In the course, we will review, read, discuss, and write articles together in order to strengthen students` preparation for research. Students will enact high quality research, conceptualize on specific problems, and formulate research questions, research design, analysis, writing, and publication.
SEMINAR ON CHILD STUDIES Ⅸ / 1 credit
This research and writing group is intended for CFS doctoral students who plan to specialize in studying educational subjects. In the course, we will review, read, discuss, and write articles together in order to strengthen students` preparation for research in educational area. Students will enact high quality research, conceptualize on specific problems, and formulate research questions, research design, analysis, writing, and publication.