In our lab, we are interested in how infants and children learn about the world around them. For instance, we do research asking about how children learn language or how they learn to count. We have a variety of studies ongoing for children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years. Below, you can see some of our currently running studies. If you have any questions or are interested in participating please give us a call at 610-892-1294 or email us at bcdl@psu.edu. Also, please feel free to contact the Director of the Center with any questions – Dr. Jennifer Zosh (jzosh@psu.edu, 610-892-1438).
An investigation of toddler language development (2 year olds) – Participate in a study about language development!
Do you have a child between the ages of 24 and 36 months? Are you interested in learning more about their language development?
In our lab, we are currently investigating how young children develop language skills, in specific areas like vocabulary, how words go together to form sentences, and how children learn new words. To get a better understanding of their development, we are using an an online screener called QUILS, Quick Interactive Language Screener, that will ask a variety of questions to assess these language areas. Your child will follow along with a fun tablet game and answer questions within these areas. This information will be used to help researchers and educators determine what children typically know during this time period, and this will be used in the future to help create a tool that can be used to identify children who might need some support and intervention.
We are also interested in what types of technology your child uses on a daily basis and how long they use it for so we will also ask you to complete a survey. By learning more about what today’s children are experiencing, we can start to better understand how these experience may relate to things like language development.
If you and your family decide to participate in this research, all that is involved is a single visit to our Center, located on the campus of Penn State Brandywine. This study typically lasts about 20 minutes. Because we want you and your family to feel comfortable, we take the time to answer all of your questions so the visit lasts about 40 minutes to 1 hour. You will be with your child the entire time and your participation is completely voluntary. If you are interested, please email bcdl@psu.edu or give us a call at 610-892-1294.
An investigation of language development in early childhood (3 – 5 years) – Participate in a study about language development!
Do you have a child between the ages of 3-5 years? Are you interested in learning more about their language development?
In our lab, we are currently investigating how young children develop language skills, in specific areas like vocabulary, how words go together to form sentences, and how children learn new words. To get a better understanding of their development, we will use an online screener called QUILS, Quick Interactive Language Screener, that will ask a variety of questions to access these language areas. The child will follow along with the computer program to answer the questions within these areas. We are also interested in what types of technology your child uses on a daily basis and how long they use it for. After the screener is done we can assess the information given and give you an overview of your child’s language development.
If you and your family decide to participate in this research, all that is involved is a single visit to our Center, located on the campus of Penn State Brandywine. This study typically lasts about 20 minutes. Because we want you and your family to feel comfortable, we take the time to answer all of your questions so the visit lasts about 40 minutes to 1 hour. You will be with your child the entire time and your participation is completely voluntary. If you are interested, please email bcdl@psu.edu or give us a call at 610-892-1294.
How do parents and children interact with traditional toys versus non-traditional toys? (2-5 years)
For this specific study, we are interested in how parents and children interact with tablets and apps compared to traditional toys– for example, the iPad versus a traditional toy or a book. To ask about this topic, we would have you and your child play with either a traditional item like a toy or a book or an app on an iPad. Then, we will also examine how this experience impacts children’s ability to wait for a prize. We are interested in how these new types of toys change how children play and their ability to wait for something desirable.