ADP is a unique undergraduate experience that combines rigorous academic courses and hands-on care for infants and young children, all with an amazing cohort of peers who complete three “core” quarters of internship and coursework together.
 

We believe that students learn best in community, and when there is an ongoing dialogue between scholarship and practice, learning and service, and among people of all ages and stages of expertise and development. By participating first-hand in childcare centers throughout the community (and now extending to pilot community-engaged internships with a range of non-profit agencies supporting children and families), ADP students gain a better understanding of the knowledge they learn inside their classroom at UCLA. They thus enhance their own education while providing a valuable service to children, families, and communities.

The ADP academic courses (Psychology 134 A, B & C) focus on concepts, issues, and research in applied developmental psychology and are related to the student’s ongoing internship experience. Students engage in original research by observing a focal child at their internship site, and developing an in-depth case study of the child. In the second course of the ADP core sequence, they design and implement the original curriculum with the children at their site. In the third quarter, students explore advanced topics in applied developmental psychology, with special attention to pressing issues affecting families and communities today, including the impact of COVID-19, systemic poverty, trauma, and racism. Throughout the courses, students are challenged to develop their skills in critical thought and in both spoken and written communication. The unique structure of the minor engages students in an intensive, rewarding 3-quarter learning experience, all with a single cohort of fellow ADP students who complete the courses and internship together. There’s nothing like it!