Brain and Cognition II

This course is an upper-level research seminar designed for students who wish to learn electrophysiological techniques and how to apply those techniques to answer research questions in the domain of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuropsychology. In this year's course students will help design a study of attention, run participants, and analyze the data. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to develop an original research project from conception through piloting participants.

Evolution, Islam, Modernity

This seminar course will look at the way Muslims across the globe are negotiating the relationship between Islam and modern science. We will, in particular, focus on the way evolutionary biology is received in various parts of the Muslim world and what can that tell us about the interaction between culture, politics, religion, and science. Students will be expected to do research as part of the class and present their findings at the end of the semester.

Game Development Workshop

In this course, students will improve their digital game development skills and portfolios by working as a specialized member of a small team. As a prerequisite, students must have expertise in one or more game development disciplines, including 3D modeling, 3D animation, 2D animation, painting, programming, audio design, game design, or project management. The professor will provide game direction, but students will be responsible for developing all aspects of the games themselves. Students will pitch ideas for games and will work on games of their choice.

Analog Game Design

In this course, students will play, analyze, and design many non-digital games to deepen their understanding of game design. We will make good use of the Hampshire Game Library! Assignments will be project-based and are intended to provide both crucial practice of skills and useful additions to a portfolio. The course will include several smaller assignments to analyze existing games and design new games, as well as a semester-long project to contribute to an existing, ongoing, real-world game development project (such as the D&D miniatures game with 1500+ existing cards and stats).

Designing for Learning

Where does good curriculum design come from? What is the relationship between curriculum and pedagogy? How do good educators promote deep learning despite the current political climate that emphasizes content mastery and efficient instruction? Should curriculum and instruction differ between school and non-school contexts? In this course, you will learn research-based curriculum design practices, how to focus on conceptual understanding and the development of higher order thinking in a number of domains (e.g.

Field Methods Animal Behavior

This course is concerned with the hands-on study of animal behavior (and cognition) in the field. Taking advantage of varied habitats in the vicinity of the college - primarily our own fields and woodlands at Hampshire College, but also the Holyoke range, the Quabbin reservoir, the Berkshire hills and elsewhere - we will learn techniques for observing, recording, describing, measuring and analyzing the behavior of some local (primarily mammalian) species, including coyotes, deer, moose, black bear and fishers.

Database-driven Websites

By the end of this course students have been exposed to the major topics involved in developing real-life applications that make use of data in order to dynamically generate websites. Emphasis is be placed on both standard database theory, such as normalization and integrity, and real-life deployment, installation, and maintenance of database driven websites. Prerequisite: At least one semester of college-level programming experience with a high level programming language.

Canid Development

This course is aimed at students beginning or mid-way through Division II, concentrating in animal behavior. It will provide students with hands-on experience in focused research collaboration with faculty. Students will be involved in designing an original study on the development of Canid behavior. They will collect and analyze data, and present their findings. Students will also be expected to read and discuss primary background literature on the development of behavior, Canid behavior, and other associated topics.

Statistics of Neural Data

The activity in our brains allows us to perform complex behaviors and (presumably) gives rise to our conscious experience. A variety of technologies exist to record neural activity at different spatial and temporal scales. However, in order to turn these recorded signals into meaningful insights about how the brain works, statistical methods are needed. In this course we will discuss several statistical analyses that are used to analyze neural data.

Culture and Development

How does culture influence child development? How do the values, norms, and expectations of a group shape socialization processes? What is the child's role in contributing to social interactions and how might this vary across cultural and social settings? In this course we will move beyond examining group differences to discussing the implications of cultural practices and values for understanding development.
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