Welcome to the Social Learning Lab at Boston University!
Please watch our video below to learn more about our lab!
The Social Learning Laboratory researches children’s use of social and cognitive information when learning about the world, the processes through which they learn, and the environments in which they learn best. During the preschool period, the child’s social horizon expands dramatically. Increasingly, they can learn from teachers and peers as well as from their immediate family. An issue central to both social and cognitive development is how children navigate these diverse sources of information. An understanding of the cues that facilitate learning in young children can inform classroom practices, interventions, and the provision of digital information.
We question:
How do different parent-child interactions influence children’s learning across development?
How do children process varying information from different sources such as text and oral testimony?
How do children learn about scientific and religious concepts in different cultures? For example, how do children learn and think about things they cannot see like germs and angels cross culturally?
How do children learn about STEM concepts, and how does this learning change across different contexts?
What social factors influence STEM learning and how can teachers best facilitate STEM learning?