The Master of Applied Science (MASc) program in Developmental and Communication Science (DCS) is a full-time, one-year program offered within the Developmental Area of the Department of Psychology. This program is designed to provide an intensive, applied research experience for serious students who have already built a strong background in Developmental Psychology or a related field, and want to deepen their understanding of children’s cognitive and communicative development.
The program:
- offers advanced applied training with a specialization in cognitive and/or communicative development.
- provides students with fundamental skills and knowledge related to the empirical analysis of cognitive, social-cognitive and communicative developments of both a qualitative and quantitative nature.
- provides students with in-depth opportunities to observe interactions between children in naturalistic settings and to develop skills related to empirical measurement such as transcription, development of coding strategies and statistical analysis.
- augments a student's preparation for admission into postgraduate programs such as Developmental Psychology, speech-language pathology, or teacher’s college.
Students with sufficient background to meet admission requirements will find opportunities for flexibility in their course of study. Students can tailor the one-year course program to fit individual needs and interests. Indeed, each student's program should be structured to accommodate previous coursework and career interests.
Full-time students with the appropriate background knowledge can complete the program in one year. This program is not offered on a part-time basis.
MASc DCS students will include those seeking careers in early childhood education, teaching, speech-language pathology or careers in which a more intensive background of methodologies of study with children and an understanding of their cognitive, social, and communicative development will be an asset, such as social work, policy work, the law, journalism, and marketing. MASc DCS students will also include those who have not yet decided on a specific career or postgraduate doctoral studies, but who want to deepen their understanding of research and children's developing cognitive, social-cognitive and communicative abilities.