Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center an NSF Science of Learning Center

The following posters and papers were presented at the 2008 International Conference on Infant Studies in Vancouver Canada:

Brooks, R., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2008, March). Social routes to language: Growth curve modeling. In M. Heimann (Chair), Memory and attention in infancy: Exploring pathways to language and cognition. Symposium at the International Conference on Infant Studies, Vancouver, Canada.

Conboy, B. T., Brooks, R., Taylor, M., Meltzoff, A. N., & Kuhl, P. K. (2008, March). Joint engagement with language tutors predicts brain and behavioral responses to second-language phonetic stimuli. Poster presented at the biennial International Conference on Infant Studies. Vancouver, Canada.

Meltzoff, A. N. (2008, April). Roots of social cognition; Self-other mapping and the “Like Me” hypothesis. In C. Dweck (Chair), Social-cognitive development in infancy: The new look. Invited symposium conducted at the International Conference on Infant Studies, Vancouver, Canada.

Pinkham, A., Williamson, R., Jaswal, V., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2008, March). 18- and 36-month-olds imitate sorting strategies. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, Vancouver, Canada.

Repacholi, B., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2008, March). Infants’ use of attentional cues to determine whether emotional information is relevant to self. In M. Lewis (Chair), The emerging self. Symposium conducted at the International Conference on Infant Studies, Vancouver, Canada.

Meltzoff, A. N., & Williamson, R. A. (2008, March). Children’s flexible imitation. International workshop on Evolution, Development, and Intentional Control of Imitation, Vienna, Austria.

Kuhl, P. K. (March, 2008). Early learning and the brain: How do children learn? Keynote Address, Annual Hearing, Speech & Deafness Center Conference. Seattle, WA.

Researchers: Cherie Percaccio (UW I-LABS), Gina Cardillo (UW I-LABS), Sheldon Levias (UW, College of Ed.)

A LIFE graduate student from the College of Education invited an I-LABS postdoctoral scholar and a doctoral student to discuss topics related to infant brain development with a PEPS (Program for Early Parent Support) chapter, a community group in Seattle composed of parents of newborn infants. Among the topics discussed at these two March, 2008 events were sensory processing and brain development; activities for infants that encourage brain plasticity, and strategies to facilitate child language; characteristics of infant-directed speech and relationships between infant-directed speech and language/brain development; relationships between perception & communication skills in infancy and later language: what early brain and behavior measures can predict about future language; and parent-child interaction behaviors and their relationship to early language development.

How everyday activities influence children’s ideas about health

NARST 2008 Conference Paper

Suzanne Reeve, Philip Bell

University of Washington, College of Eductaion

Abstract: In this paper, we explore children’s meanings for the terms “healthy” and “unhealthy” We argue that incorporating personal health into science education is not only fitting in terms of content and process domains, but also in line with recent calls for a focus on science literacy. We report on the results of a self-documentation task in which thirteen children were asked to photograph and write about the range of things they encountered in everyday life that they considered healthy and unhealthy. We present a brief review of results across the children, and then describe two in-depth case studies, focusing on the significant learning influences the children cite. The analysis shows how everyday experiences and activities can have great impacts on children’s health understandings, and suggests that such everyday understandings create opportunities for science educators to connect to and build upon.

Shared Personal Histories as Backgrounds for Collaboration: Are They Important, and How Can They Be Observed?

AERA 2008 Conference paper

Susan Mosborg, John Bransford, Nancy Vye

University of Washington, College of Education

Abstract. The authors explore the notion that shared personal history among long-standing work and learning teammates may affect collaborative problem solving in ways that are not fully captured by audio or video transcripts of their problem solving activities. A trio of researchers with a decade plus history of closely working together solved a collaborative design task in a laboratory setting. Think aloud transcripts and video data from the trio’s design session were analyzed inductively against a backdrop of findings from previous studies showing how undergraduates and professionals with several years experience in the workplace solved the same problem individually. After seeing the transcript data, the teammates in the trio each independently provided additional verbal commentary and annotation on the most salient video sections. The article presents a narrative account and themes of the trio’s problem solving approach, highlighting what was unstated but presumed common knowledge, and what helped and hindered the teammates individually and as a group. Conclusions address implications for the design of collaborative work and learning infrastructure, and for the value of bring the “participants’” perspectives into analyses of design.

On February 8-10, 2008, the first annual inter-Science of Learning Centers (iSLC) conference brought together graduate student and postdoctoral scholars from the six NSF-funded SLCs: LIFE, CELEST, PSLC, SILC, TDLC, and VL2. This NSF-sponsored meeting was hosted by PSLC at Carnegie Mellon University.

114 SLC students and postdocs attended the event, as well as 7 invited international participants. The purposes of this meeting were to provide a common place for junior learning sciences researchers to meet each other, share their various approaches to investigating the shared topic of learning, and to begin conversations across the Centers to foster future collaborative efforts.

Through poster sessions, symposia presentations and methodology workshops, participants shared current work occurring in each of the Centers. In addition, LIFE representatives led workshops on using ethnographic methods in everyday settings, using virtual environments for teaching and learning, and incorporating diversity into research. Preparations for next year’s meeting is now underway; The LIFE Center will host iSLC 2009 on February 6-8, 2009, in Seattle, WA.

Researcher: Patricia Kuhl

Patricia Kuhl gave the keynote address at the Speech, Hearing and Deafness Center’s annual breakfast meeting for professionals and the families served by HSDC’s parenting and communication skills programs. HSDC is a non-profit agency that promotes a stronger community through effective communication, and works with families of children who have communication disabilities.