Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University. Her research examines the development of early language and literacy as well as the role of play in learning. An author of 12 books and hundreds of publications, she is the recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society, the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science, the Association for Psychological Science’s James McKeen Cattell Award, and the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Lecturer Award. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science, is the President Elect of the International Congress on Infant Studies, and served as the Associate Editor of Child Development. Her book Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Children Really Learn—and Why they Need to Play More and Memorize Less won the prestigious Books for Better Life Award as the best psychology book in 2003. Kathy received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jennifer M. Zosh is an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State Brandywine. As the Director of the Brandywine Child Development Lab, she involves undergraduate researchers in the study of developmental cognition and is the founding academic partner of the Living Laboratory at the Delaware Children’s Museum. Zosh was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award at Penn State Brandywine and is a National Living Laboratory 2014 stipend program award winner. She is driven to disseminate scientific research to the public and has authored multiple chapters and articles in the areas of working memory, mathematical cognition, language acquisition, and playful learning. As an advisory board member for the Ultimate Block Party, she served in a number of roles, including contributing to the “Playbook” distributed at the event and online and engaging the community as a social media consultant and blogger. She received a Ph.D. in psychological and brain sciences from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Delaware.
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff is the Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education, Psychology, and Linguistics and Cognitive Science at the University of Delaware and Director of the Child’s Play, Learning and Development Lab. She has held the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, the James McKeen Cattell sabbatical award, and the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science, as well as the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society (the last two with her long-standing collaborator Kathy Hirsh-Pasek). In 2015, she (with Hirsh-Pasek) will accept the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science. They were recently named as Distinguished Scientific Lecturers by the American Psychological Association. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Institute of Education Sciences. In addition to over 150 journal publications and book chapters, she has authored 12 books and monographs. Passionate about the dissemination of psychological science for improving our schools and families’ lives, she and Hirsh-Pasek also write books for parents and practitioners (How Babies Talk: The Magic and Mystery of Language in the First Three Years of Life, 1999; the award-winning Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Our Children Really Learn—and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less, 2004; and A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the Evidence, 2009). Dr. Golinkoff cofounded the Ultimate Block Party movement to celebrate the Science of Learning. You can follow Roberta and Kathy on Twitter at @KathyandRo1.
James (Jim) Gray is Vice President of Global Digital Content at Sesame Workshop, where he oversees curriculum and learning design for all interactive media content. His areas of expertise include children’s development, play, learning, and media design, with a career spanning academic research, teaching, product development, and business innovation. Jim has been a teacher of young children, researcher of innovative learning technologies, and Director of Learning at LeapFrog. Most recently, he has been education lead or advisor to a wide range of startups and established companies creating digital learning and play products for kids, with a special focus on mobile apps. His academic credentials include a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, an advanced degree in interactive media design, and a doctorate of education from Harvard. He has been an advisor to PBS KIDS Next Generation Media and Stanford University’s Learning, Design, and Technology program. As the father of two preschool children, he loves inventing toys and playful learning activities for his whole family.
Michael Robb is Director of Education and Research at the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media. He oversees the Early Learning Environment, a website that provides high-quality digital resources to families and educators of children from birth to age 5. He has published research on the impact of digital media on young children’s language development, early literacy outcomes, and problem solving. Dr. Robb holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Riverside.
Jordy Kaufman is a Senior Research Fellow and Academic Director of Research Training in the Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre at SwinburneUniversity of Technology. His key areas of research are developmental cognitive neuroscience and technology use by young children. His research has been funded by grants and fellowships from major agencies in multiple countries, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), the British Academy, and the Australian Research Council. He was recently awarded a Google Faculty Research Award to conduct research on the effects of touch-screen use on learning in preschool children. Jordy received his bachelor’s of science in cognitive science from Carnegie Mellon University and his Ph.D. from Duke University.
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Ellen A. Wartella is Al-Thani Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University and Director of the Center on Media and Human Development. Her research examines the role media and technology play in children’s development. She studies both how children learn with media technology and the influence of media content such as food marketing on children’s health. Her research currently is funded by the National Science Foundation and has been featured in media outlets including The New York Times, CNN, ABC News, and internationally on the BBC. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Sesame Workshop, the National Educational Advisory Board of the Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, and the Kids Advisory Board for the Public Broadcasting System. During 2006 and 2007, she was the Inaugural Fellow of the Fred Rogers Center. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Research in Child Development and is the past President and Fellow of the International Communication Association. She received the Steven H. Chaffee Career Productivity Award from the International Communication Association, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Communication Association, and the Krieghbaum Under-40 Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
