A fascinating course for anyone curious about human minds and extra meaningful if you have grandchildren! This class traces the highlights of how children’s thinking and learning evolves over the first 24 years of life into mature forms of adult understanding and reasoning. It begins with a whole session on neonates (the first 6 weeks of life) and the incredible skills and knowledge that are genetically endowed at birth. You’ll be surprised by how much newborns know. And by what they don’t know! Each of the next 5 sessions then delves into how children think and behave during key stages of human development, as well as the brain changes that occur: infancy (6 weeks – 24 months), early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood (18 - 24 years). We’ll discuss activities children especially enjoy during each stage including the kinds of toys and games they like and why, how technology influences development and much more.