Recent Projects
Knowledge Artifact Projects
These projects, included in my dissertation, examine the potential for knowledge artifacts and other information media to be avenues of self-directed learning across the lifespan.
Knowledge artifacts, or secondhand information sources such as books, webpages, or YouTube videos, are:
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Bounded units of information stored in a physical or digital object or record.
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Created, sourced, or authored by humans with the intent of relaying knowledge.
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Can be accessed independently by an individual.
Text-Trust Studies
Published in Cognitive Development
In collaboration with Kiki Ghossainy, Candice Mills, & Kathleen Corriveau
In a series of three studies using selective trust paradigms, we examined how four- to six-year-old children epistemically evaluate text-based knowledge artifacts. We found that children display a preference to trust text in the absence of other trustworthiness cues and this preference was associated with inferences they made about the epistemic authority of text as opposed to inferences about informant knowledge.
We also found, contrary to most other studies, this preference was not driven by children's early reading abilities. Additionally, children's decisions were not impacted by their age, schooling experiences, or whether human or puppet informants were used.
Authorship Studies
In Prep
In collaboration with Kiki Ghossainy & Kathleen Corriveau
In two studies using selective trust paradigms, we examined how four- to six-year-old children might use the knowledge (or lack thereof) of an author to epistemically evaluate text-based and audio-based knowledge artifacts. Further, we explored whether they continue to use preferences for text-based or audio-based regardless of their assessments of author knowledge. The results of the first study indicate that children may use both their assessments of author knowledge and a preference for text in general when making their decisions. The second study will reveal children use a similar process to evaluate audio-based artifacts or if such consideration is unique to text-based artifacts.
Learn more about this at SRCD 2023 as part of the following symposium:
Reasoning about epistemic processes:
Children’s understanding of how knowledge is acquired, transmitted and socially constructed
Early STEM learning projects
These projects utilize a strengths-based lens to examine pedagogical approaches to promoting children's active learning in informal STEM environments such as science museums.
These approaches include the potential of semi-structured interaction methods such as scientific inquiry activities for promoting active learning as well as examining mechanisms by which learning partners can promote children's verbal and nonverbal engagement, such as causal questions and autonomy-supportive speech.
*Image used with parental permission
Scientific Inquiry Study
Published in Frontiers in Psychology
In collaboration with Katie Leech & Kathleen Corriveau
This study examined the effects of two pedagogical training approaches on parent-child dyads’ discussion of scientific content in an informal museum setting.
We found that parents who were trained in scientific inquiry methods used a different process to talk about causal scientific concepts, as they were more likely to pose questions to their child than parents in the scientific statements condition. This difference translated into child verbal engagement, as children in the scientific inquiry condition were more responsive to parental causal talk and provided significantly more scientific content when they responded.
These findings provide evidence that training parents to guide their children using scientific inquiry-based approaches in informal learning settings can encourage children to engage in joint scientific conversations.
Autonomy Support Study
In Prep
In collaboration with Claire Manley, Shirley Duong, & Kathleen Corriveau
This study examined whether autonomy-supportive speech (e.g., offering children choices, providing positive feedback to children's actions) can promote young children's engagement in informal STEM-learning activities.
To examine this, five museum guides in the Museum of Science, Boston, interacted with 114 four- to six-year-old children (~23 children per guide) in dyadic, semi-structured “scientific investigations” with snap circuit boards based on methods developed by Chandler-Campbell et al. (2020).
Preliminary results of 93 of these interactions revealed significant variability in the proportion of guides' talk that was autonomy-supportive. Moreover, higher child verbal and nonverbal engagement was significantly associated with higher proportions of autonomy-supportive speech from guides.
Final analyses will provide valuable information on whether to encourage the use of autonomy-supportive speech in informal learning spaces to promote young children's engagement in STEM learning opportunities
