Empowering Human Relationships Across Developmental Contexts
EDU H210V
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
In this module, we will seek to understand and improve the quality of human interactions across a wide range of developmental contexts (both cultural and institutional), from orphanages to classrooms and from early childhood to youth development. The driving question is: How do we encourage, enhance, and empower the human relationships around children and youth in adversity? By learning from what ordinary people do extraordinarily well in relationships with one another in simple, everyday moments, we can nurture intuition into intention, grow communities of practice, and plant seeds for sustainable systems change. The course weaves together "understanding" and "applying." Part of the course will focus on applying developmental theories to examine actual practices (on video) in authentic field settings of human development. Part of the course will focus on developing and using a relationship-focused tool and theory of change to improve practices, programs, and policies. The contexts chosen for this module focus on children experiencing adversity in both US-based and international settings.
Class Notes
January 5-9- Course will meet in Longfellow 319
January 12-16- Course will meet in Gutman 305
This module has limited enrollment by application, not lottery. The application requires both a simple petition in my.harvard and a response to a short survey on the course canvas site. Please consult the canvas site or the teaching team for specific timelines. Please note that students may add, drop, or change the grading basis for J-Term courses in My.Harvard until January 5th. Beginning January 6th, students who wish to drop a J-Term course and have the DRP removed from their transcript must email registrar@gse.harvard.edu. This request must be submitted before 8:00am on 1/7/2026.
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
