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

Kuhl, P. K. (April, 2008). Language, bilingualism, and the infant brain. McCarty Memorial Lecture, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY.

Kuhl, P. K. (April, 2008). It’s not just talk: How children learn and how they acquire language. Parents & Science Lecture, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY.

Researcher: Andrew N. Meltzoff

Andrew Meltzoff was invited to give a keynote for 200 educators, parents, and school administrators on the connections between early learning and school readiness, with emphasis on closing the preparation gap for school and how math stereotypes affect children’s self-concepts.

Researcher: Andrew N. Meltzoff

Andrew Meltzoff was invited to be one of 4 scientists to engage in a public dialog with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The dialog focused on the scientific basis of compassion, including neuroscience and child development. A documentary film is being made of the event, which had 7000 attendees and simultaneous translations into 20 languages.

Researcher: Patricia Kuhl

Patricia Kuhl was invited to Rockefeller University to present the keynote address at the University’s “Science and Parents” Lecture. The presentation focuses on scientific findings as opposed to myths about early development and learning. Rockefeller University President Paul Nurse attended the lecture and hosted a dinner at his house for Kuhl and other neuroscience faculty at Rockefeller, and policy-makers in New York.

Authors: Heather Zimmerman and Philip Bell
Institutions: University of Washington

Abstract: In this paper, our goal is to examine learner meanings for what counts as scientific practices and when learners’ own activities count as science-related in order to better understand science learning. We then seek to leverage children’s meanings for scientific practice to develop design principles to be used in building educational interventions in science domains to reach youth in ways that make sense to them. To accomplish these objectives, we analyze how and when a group of 10- to 12-year-old children from the same multiethnic, multilingual elementary school participate in various activities across settings. We create grounded accounts for the individual, social, and cultural meanings attached to children’s understandings of scientific practices to understand the influences on children’s decisions to continue or to discontinue their affiliations with science-related activities. We first share findings in the form of an inventory of what activities the children in our study participated in and when these activities counted as science. Second, we show through one case study of a child interested in animals how participation in multiple activities included a range of epistemic, materials and social influences. Finally, we discuss how a study of changing make up activities can show indicators that may influence future participation in science-related contexts to create a possible trajectory into academic science.

Zimmerman, H.T., & Bell, P. (2008). Developing Scientific Practices: Understanding how and when children consider their everyday activities to be related to science. NARST 2008 Conference Paper.

LIFE researchers Leah A. Bricker, Tiffany R. Lee, Sheldon Levias, Laurie McCarthy, Veronique Mertl, Carrie Tzou, and Heather Toomey Zimmerman will collaborate to present an ICLS 2008 pre-conference workshop titled Using ethnography to further understandings of learning in everyday settings.

The workshop will be held on Tuesday 24th of June from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m. in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
To register, go to: http://www.isls.org/icls2008/. Workshop fee payable to ICLS 2008.

Workshop Summary: This workshop will give researchers an opportunity to interact with learning scientists employing ethnographic methods. The workshop presenters will use their own ethnographic research - leveraging thousands of hours of fieldwork - as an exemplar in order to describe this methodological approach, share “tricks of the trade” and discuss challenges associated with conducting cognitive ethnographic research. Workshop activities include presentations of theory and method, demonstrations, and discussions.

For a complete workshop description, click “Read the rest of this entry” below. Click for pdf of the workshop description (124 kb size).

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