Description: Here is a scientific creativity problem for you. What might it mean to say that, in terms of how their minds are organized and how they engage with the world, that human adults and human small children are basically different species? Puzzle on that for a little bit, drawing upon what you know or… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Cognitive Development: The Information-Processing Approach
Is it Exercise or Nature That is Good For You? Or is it Both?
Description: Imagine you volunteer for a research study. As part of the study you are shown a pair of pictures (two men or two women) and you are asked to pick the one that is the most attractive. After you make your choice you are handed the picture you chose and asked to explain why… Read more »
Fred Rogers: Superhero!
Description: In a recent post I suggested that what the world needs a new superhero and that the best candidate I could think of was a man who wore red cardigan sweaters, spoke very clearly and slowly in ways that made him VERY understandable by preschoolers and who spoke about important things like strong emotions… Read more »
Why Watch Toddler TV?
Description: It is old news now, but do you recall any of the fuss about the Teletubbies TV show? When it first arrive to North American TV screens in 1997 there was an intense storm of media discussion about how very young children (2 and even younger) loved it and parents were perplexed as they… Read more »
School Recess is Not Just a Break, It is Very Important
Description: Think back to when you were in elementary school. What did you do during recess? Did you ever think of recess as an important component of your educational day or just as a cherished break away from the demands of the classroom? From a developmental psychological perspective how should we look at, think about… Read more »
Improve Your Exam Performances by Thinking Metacognitively
Description: Think about the last time you went into an exam feeling like you had the material down tight and were going to do well on the exam. How did you actually do on that exam? If you did not do as well as you thought you were going to do going in what did… Read more »
“Further Research” and the Growth Mindset: Applying Psychological Research
Description: I have written about Carol Dweck’s research on the “growth mindset’ before. Dweck’s research indicates that when students encounter difficult material (like say in Math) the attributions they make when their performance is not good on exams etc. makes a difference in their future performance. Performing poorly and deciding this reflects one’s basic lack… Read more »
Psychology Research and The Transition to Post-Secondary Developmental Pathways
Description: In discussing one of the courses I developed a couple of years ago (a dual credit course for high school students focused upon the psychology of student transition and adjustment to post-secondary developmental pathways) I often found myself consistently pointing out that Psychology as a discipline is uniquely situated to provide insight and opportunities… Read more »
SES and Academic Success: The Importance of Early Vocabulary
Description: Children raised in low socioeconomic status (SES) families do not do as well in school as children from high SES families. Why do you think that might be the case? You should be able to generate a long list of possible hypotheses. Perhaps the schools they go to are not as well supplied or… Read more »
Theory of Mind in Preschoolers: What’s in the Brain?
Description: We know that preschoolers have trouble with (but are quite cute about) their understanding of other people’s thoughts, especially when other people’s thoughts are different than their own. If you show a 3.5 year old that a box of smarties (they are like M and M’s but are British/Canadian) contains short golf pencils rather… Read more »
Books for Success!
