Internationalization of a Course in Human Development

The author, a psychology instructor at an American university, describes the internationalization of his course in Human Growth and Development. The author argues that human development cannot be easily summarized by nature (i.e., biological and evolutionary predisposition) or nurture (i.e., learning through environment and experience). Development must be seen as a combination of both, and this makes the internationalization of courses in human development necessary. The internationalization of the course in question is set up with respect to cultural differences in individualism and collectivism. In each internationalization activity, students are asked to compare and contrast mainstream scientific rituals and practices in development, which is consonant with traditional human development textbooks, with indigenous rituals and practices, which are often left out of textbooks. The author provides detailed examples of how this process was carried out, what the objectives were and how they were assessed, as well as describes some of the problems he faced in doing so.