Roberta Golinkoff | University of Delaware (original) (raw)

Papers by Roberta Golinkoff

Research paper thumbnail of Why Play = Learning: A Challenge for Parents and Educators

Oxford University Press eBooks, Sep 7, 2006

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Research paper thumbnail of Tuned in: Musical rhythm and social skills in adults

Psychology of Music, Jun 9, 2019

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Research paper thumbnail of Put Your Data to Use: Entering the Real World of Children and Families

Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2019

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Research paper thumbnail of Keeping the end in mind: Preliminary brain and behavioral evidence for broad attention to endpoints in pre-linguistic infants

Infant Behavior & Development, Feb 1, 2020

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Research paper thumbnail of Learning Landscapes: Where the Science of Learning Meets Architectural Design

Child Development Perspectives, Nov 2, 2018

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Research paper thumbnail of Assessing the language of 2 year‐olds: From theory to practice

Infancy

Early screening for language problems is a priority given the importance of language for success ... more Early screening for language problems is a priority given the importance of language for success in school and interpersonal relationships. The paucity of reliable behavioral instruments for this age group prompted the development of a new touchscreen language screener for 2‐year‐olds that relies on language comprehension. Developmental literature guided selection of age‐appropriate markers of language disorder risk that are culturally and dialectally neutral and could be reliably assessed. Items extend beyond products of linguistic knowledge (vocabulary and syntax) and tap the process by which children learn language, also known as fast mapping. After piloting an extensive set of items (139), two phases of testing with over 500 children aged 2; 0–2; 11 were conducted to choose the final 40‐item set. Rasch analysis was used to select the best fitting and least redundant items. Norms were created based on 270 children. Sufficient test‐retest reliability, Cronbach's alpha, and con...

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Research paper thumbnail of Classification accuracy of the Quick Interactive Language Screener for preschool children with and without developmental language disorder

Journal of Communication Disorders

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Research paper thumbnail of From green to turquoise: Exploring age and socioeconomic status in the acquisition of color terms

First Language

Previous research demonstrates that children delineate more nuanced color boundaries with increas... more Previous research demonstrates that children delineate more nuanced color boundaries with increased exposure to their native language. As socioeconomic status (SES) is known to correlate with differences in the amount of language input children receive, this study attempts to extend previous research by asking how both age (age 3 vs 5) and SES (under-resourced vs advantaged) might impact color name acquisition of preschool children. The results confirm the findings of previous research, showing that older children labeled the color continuum more accurately than did younger participants. In addition, we found that while SES did not make a difference in how children labeled the continuum using basic color terms (e.g. blue), basic color terms with achromatic modifiers (e.g. light blue), and compound terms (e.g. blueish-green), 5-year-olds from more advantaged economic environments used significantly more non-basic color terms (e.g. turquoise) compared to their counterparts from under-...

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Research paper thumbnail of Children and parents’ physiological arousal and emotions during shared and independent e-book reading: A preliminary study

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction

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Research paper thumbnail of The Ultimate Block Party: Bridging the Science of Learning and the Importance of Play

Design, Make, Play, 2013

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Research paper thumbnail of Portrait of early science education in majority dual language learner classrooms: Where do we start?

Journal of Childhood, Education & Society, 2021

Despite the growing interest in early science education, there is much left to be explored, parti... more Despite the growing interest in early science education, there is much left to be explored, particularly in majority Dual Language Learning (DLL) classrooms. The current study examined 1) early science opportunities across classroom contexts in majority Spanish-English DLL Head Start classrooms, 2) the languages (i.e., English and Spanish) that teachers used to engage DLL children in science, 3) and how teachers’ discussion of scientific and engineering practices and disciplinary core ideas related to children’s academic outcomes. In a sample of 411 children (ages 3-5) from 34 Head Start classrooms, the current study found that teachers discussed and encouraged more practices during science lessons than circle time, dramatic play, and story time. There were no differences in teachers’ discussion of core ideas across contexts. Teachers used the same amount of English and Spanish to discuss practices and core ideas. Teaching physical science was associated with children’s science outc...

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Research paper thumbnail of Translating cognitive science in the public square

Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2021

Public space interventions offer one example of how to translate cognitive science into the publi... more Public space interventions offer one example of how to translate cognitive science into the public square. Here, we detail several successful projects and the six principles of learning that underlie them that support caregiver-child engagement, interaction, and the use of content area-specific language. Policy and community implications are also discussed.

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Research paper thumbnail of Questions in a Life‐Sized Board Game: Comparing Caregivers' and Children's Question‐Asking across STEM Museum Exhibits

Mind, Brain, and Education, 2021

ABSTRACTParkopolis, the life‐sized board game, was designed to promote conversation and science, ... more ABSTRACTParkopolis, the life‐sized board game, was designed to promote conversation and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. We investigated whether this exhibit also prompted questioning. Caregivers' and children's STEM‐related question‐asking was compared between Parkopolis (i.e., experimental group) and a STEM‐themed control exhibit. Groups (N = 197) of children and caregivers visiting two exhibits in a museum were observed. Observations revealed that caregivers and children asked more mathematical questions in Parkopolis than in the control. Caregivers also asked more spatial questions in Parkopolis. In addition, when all STEM‐related question topics (i.e., mathematical, spatial, and scientific thinking) were combined, children asked more STEM‐related questions in Parkopolis than in the control. Finally, children responded to a higher proportion of caregivers' questions in Parkopolis than in the control. Factors that promoted this questi...

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Research paper thumbnail of Emergent Cues for Early Word Learning

The Emergence of Language, 2013

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Research paper thumbnail of Chapter 12. Event perception and language learning: Early interactions between language and thought

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Research paper thumbnail of Are Preschoolers Creative?

The Cambridge Handbook of Lifespan Development of Creativity, 2021

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Research paper thumbnail of How educational are “educational” apps for young children? App store content analysis using the Four Pillars of Learning framework

Journal of Children and Media, 2021

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Research paper thumbnail of Play-and-learn spaces: Leveraging library spaces to promote caregiver and child interaction

Library & Information Science Research, 2020

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Research paper thumbnail of Urban Thinkscape: Infusing Public Spaces with STEM Conversation and Interaction Opportunities

Journal of Cognition and Development, 2019

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Research paper thumbnail of Stakeholder Perceptions of the Effects of a Public School-Based Theatre Program for Children with ASD

Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities, 2019

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Research paper thumbnail of Why Play = Learning: A Challenge for Parents and Educators

Oxford University Press eBooks, Sep 7, 2006

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Research paper thumbnail of Tuned in: Musical rhythm and social skills in adults

Psychology of Music, Jun 9, 2019

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Research paper thumbnail of Put Your Data to Use: Entering the Real World of Children and Families

Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2019

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Research paper thumbnail of Keeping the end in mind: Preliminary brain and behavioral evidence for broad attention to endpoints in pre-linguistic infants

Infant Behavior & Development, Feb 1, 2020

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Research paper thumbnail of Learning Landscapes: Where the Science of Learning Meets Architectural Design

Child Development Perspectives, Nov 2, 2018

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Research paper thumbnail of Assessing the language of 2 year‐olds: From theory to practice

Infancy

Early screening for language problems is a priority given the importance of language for success ... more Early screening for language problems is a priority given the importance of language for success in school and interpersonal relationships. The paucity of reliable behavioral instruments for this age group prompted the development of a new touchscreen language screener for 2‐year‐olds that relies on language comprehension. Developmental literature guided selection of age‐appropriate markers of language disorder risk that are culturally and dialectally neutral and could be reliably assessed. Items extend beyond products of linguistic knowledge (vocabulary and syntax) and tap the process by which children learn language, also known as fast mapping. After piloting an extensive set of items (139), two phases of testing with over 500 children aged 2; 0–2; 11 were conducted to choose the final 40‐item set. Rasch analysis was used to select the best fitting and least redundant items. Norms were created based on 270 children. Sufficient test‐retest reliability, Cronbach's alpha, and con...

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Research paper thumbnail of Classification accuracy of the Quick Interactive Language Screener for preschool children with and without developmental language disorder

Journal of Communication Disorders

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Research paper thumbnail of From green to turquoise: Exploring age and socioeconomic status in the acquisition of color terms

First Language

Previous research demonstrates that children delineate more nuanced color boundaries with increas... more Previous research demonstrates that children delineate more nuanced color boundaries with increased exposure to their native language. As socioeconomic status (SES) is known to correlate with differences in the amount of language input children receive, this study attempts to extend previous research by asking how both age (age 3 vs 5) and SES (under-resourced vs advantaged) might impact color name acquisition of preschool children. The results confirm the findings of previous research, showing that older children labeled the color continuum more accurately than did younger participants. In addition, we found that while SES did not make a difference in how children labeled the continuum using basic color terms (e.g. blue), basic color terms with achromatic modifiers (e.g. light blue), and compound terms (e.g. blueish-green), 5-year-olds from more advantaged economic environments used significantly more non-basic color terms (e.g. turquoise) compared to their counterparts from under-...

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Research paper thumbnail of Children and parents’ physiological arousal and emotions during shared and independent e-book reading: A preliminary study

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction

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Research paper thumbnail of The Ultimate Block Party: Bridging the Science of Learning and the Importance of Play

Design, Make, Play, 2013

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Research paper thumbnail of Portrait of early science education in majority dual language learner classrooms: Where do we start?

Journal of Childhood, Education & Society, 2021

Despite the growing interest in early science education, there is much left to be explored, parti... more Despite the growing interest in early science education, there is much left to be explored, particularly in majority Dual Language Learning (DLL) classrooms. The current study examined 1) early science opportunities across classroom contexts in majority Spanish-English DLL Head Start classrooms, 2) the languages (i.e., English and Spanish) that teachers used to engage DLL children in science, 3) and how teachers’ discussion of scientific and engineering practices and disciplinary core ideas related to children’s academic outcomes. In a sample of 411 children (ages 3-5) from 34 Head Start classrooms, the current study found that teachers discussed and encouraged more practices during science lessons than circle time, dramatic play, and story time. There were no differences in teachers’ discussion of core ideas across contexts. Teachers used the same amount of English and Spanish to discuss practices and core ideas. Teaching physical science was associated with children’s science outc...

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Research paper thumbnail of Translating cognitive science in the public square

Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2021

Public space interventions offer one example of how to translate cognitive science into the publi... more Public space interventions offer one example of how to translate cognitive science into the public square. Here, we detail several successful projects and the six principles of learning that underlie them that support caregiver-child engagement, interaction, and the use of content area-specific language. Policy and community implications are also discussed.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Questions in a Life‐Sized Board Game: Comparing Caregivers' and Children's Question‐Asking across STEM Museum Exhibits

Mind, Brain, and Education, 2021

ABSTRACTParkopolis, the life‐sized board game, was designed to promote conversation and science, ... more ABSTRACTParkopolis, the life‐sized board game, was designed to promote conversation and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. We investigated whether this exhibit also prompted questioning. Caregivers' and children's STEM‐related question‐asking was compared between Parkopolis (i.e., experimental group) and a STEM‐themed control exhibit. Groups (N = 197) of children and caregivers visiting two exhibits in a museum were observed. Observations revealed that caregivers and children asked more mathematical questions in Parkopolis than in the control. Caregivers also asked more spatial questions in Parkopolis. In addition, when all STEM‐related question topics (i.e., mathematical, spatial, and scientific thinking) were combined, children asked more STEM‐related questions in Parkopolis than in the control. Finally, children responded to a higher proportion of caregivers' questions in Parkopolis than in the control. Factors that promoted this questi...

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Research paper thumbnail of Emergent Cues for Early Word Learning

The Emergence of Language, 2013

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Chapter 12. Event perception and language learning: Early interactions between language and thought

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Are Preschoolers Creative?

The Cambridge Handbook of Lifespan Development of Creativity, 2021

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of How educational are “educational” apps for young children? App store content analysis using the Four Pillars of Learning framework

Journal of Children and Media, 2021

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Research paper thumbnail of Play-and-learn spaces: Leveraging library spaces to promote caregiver and child interaction

Library & Information Science Research, 2020

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Research paper thumbnail of Urban Thinkscape: Infusing Public Spaces with STEM Conversation and Interaction Opportunities

Journal of Cognition and Development, 2019

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Research paper thumbnail of Stakeholder Perceptions of the Effects of a Public School-Based Theatre Program for Children with ASD

Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities, 2019

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Research paper thumbnail of Learning Landscapes: Playing the Way to Learning and Engagement in Public Spaces

Education Sciences, 2020

Children from under-resourced communities regularly enter formal schooling lagging behind their p... more Children from under-resourced communities regularly enter formal schooling lagging behind their peers. These deficits in areas such as language development, reading readiness, and even in the kind of spatial skills that predict later mathematical knowledge, may persist throughout their lifespan. To address such gaps, policymakers have focused largely on schooling as the great equalizer. Yet, children only spend 20% of their waking hours in school. How can developmental scientists and educators address this "other 80%" for the benefit of children's development? One answer is the Learning Landscapes initiative, which involves crafting carefully planned play experiences that focus on learning outcomes, particularly for children and families from under-resourced communities. Playful learning, a broad pedagogical approach featuring child-directed play methods, provides a unique way to foster learning and engagement organically within the built environment. Learning Landscapes already incorporates several well-documented projects. The Ultimate Block Party brought over 50,000 people to Central Park to engage in playful learning activities. Supermarkets became hotspots for caregiver-child interaction by simply adding prompts for caregiver-child interaction through signage in everyday "trapped" experiences. Urban Thinkscape transformed a bus stop and adjacent lot into a hub for playful learning while families were waiting for public transportation. Finally, Parkopolis is a life-size human board game that fosters STEM and reasoning skills in public spaces. This paper reflects on data from these projects while reflecting on lessons learned and future directions.

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Research paper thumbnail of The Role Classifiers Play in Selecting the Referent of a Word

Languages, 2023

An important cue to the meaning of a new noun is its accompanying classifier. For example, in Eng... more An important cue to the meaning of a new noun is its accompanying classifier. For example, in English, X in “a sheet of X” should refer to a broad, flat object. A classifier is required in Chinese to quantify nouns. Using children’s overt responses in an object/picture selection task, past re-search found reliable semantic knowledge of classifiers in Mandarin-reared children at around age 3. However, it is unclear how children’s semantic knowledge differs across different types of classifiers, and how this difference develops with age. Here we use an arguably more sensitive measure of children’s language knowledge (the intermodal preferential looking paradigm) to examine Mandarin-reared 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds’ semantic knowledge of four types of classifiers indicating animacy (human vs. animal distinction), configuration (how objects are arrayed), ob-ject shape, and vehicle function. Multiple factors were matched across classifier types: the number of classifiers, perceived familiarity and perceived typicality of the target, and the visual similar-ity of the two images paired together. Children’s performances differed across classifier types, as they were better with animacy classifiers than with configuration and vehicle-function classifiers. Their comprehension was reliable for animacy, object-shape, and vehicle-function classifiers but not for configuration classifiers. Furthermore, we did not find conclusive evidence for an age-dependent improvement in child performance. The analysis including the oldest (5-year-olds) and youngest (3-year-olds) children revealed a marginally significant age effect.

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