Child Development: Context, Culture, and Cascades

By: Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda

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Synopsis: Child Development: Context, Culture, and Cascades seeks to convey the wonder and awe of child development. Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda aims to inspire students to understand the process of change and to think about change through the eyes of a developmental scientist. To appreciate child development requires understanding the basics: What is changing and why? Accordingly, each chapter describes changes in a select domain of development at a specific time in childhood (the what), and considers the many forces that spur changes in children (the how). Within and across chapters, students will learn about interactions between biology and environment; the role of contexts (e.g., family, school, community, and so on) in development; and how cultural views and practices infuse children's everyday lives. Finally, because the path of a river is affected by the flowing waters that preceded it, students will come to appreciate how small changes can exert downstream effects on development in the process of developmental cascades. Changing children swim in ever-changing waters. However, beyond providing the fundamentals of child development, the ultimate message of this book runs much deeper than words on a page. Students will see that answers to the "whats" and "hows" of change are both fundamental to science and hold a key to improving the lives of children and families around the world.