Sept. 22: Alison Miller Singley, "Relational Reasoning: Potential Implications for Mathematics Pedagogy"

Relational Reasoning: Potential Implications for Mathematics Pedagogy


The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics encourage reasoning about the relationships between math concepts. Relational reasoning is a skill that children develop and use spontaneously in non-mathematical contexts, but rarely do in math class. In particular, fractions and algebra are two major stumbling blocks for students, and both are highly relational in nature. Would engaging students' relational reasoning abilities help them to learn fractions and algebra? In this talk I'll discuss several ways in which I've approached this question and sketch out my plans for dissertation research.


This talk will be held in 3105 Tolman Hall, 12:00-1:30pm.

Sept. 29: Kathryn Paige Harden, "Sensation Seeking and the Development of Externalizing Behaviors during Adolescence"

Sensation Seeking and the Development of Externalizing Behaviors during Adolescence

K. Paige Harden

University of Texas at Austin

Department of Psychology

Population Research Center

www.labs.la.utexas.edu/harden/

Externalizing behaviors, including substance use and delinquency, escalate during adolescence and are leading contributors to mortality and morbidity in this age group. This presentation will describe research on sensation seeking and its role in driving adolescent increases in externalizing. First, I will describe a series of studies on age-related changes in sensation seeking and impulse control. Results from nationally-representative samples show that (a) average levels of sensation seeking increase markedly from childhood to mid-adolescence, (b) sensation seeking peaks earlier and declines more rapidly for females than males, (c) changes in sensation seeking are largely independent from changes in impulse control, and (d) individual differences in sensation seeking change are under strong genetic control, and (e) adolescents who show more rapid increases in sensation seeking also show the most rapid escalation in delinquent behavior. Part 2 will describe results from a behavioral genetic study of twins from the Texas Twin Project (Harden, Tucker-Drob, & Tackett, 2013). Factor analytic results indicate that self-reports of sensation seeking map to some – but not all – laboratory tasks designed to assess risk-taking or reward seeking, but there is substantial task-specific variance in individual tests. Studies of sensation seeking should use a multivariate measurement battery that can isolate theoretically distinct constructs (i.e., sensation seeking from impulsivity from cognitive ability). Finally, Part 3 will present hypotheses and preliminary data regarding the influence of testosterone and other pubertal hormones on the development of sensation seeking, including evidence for possible testosterone × cortisol interactions.

Institute of Human Development & Change, Plasticity and Development Seminar, Fall 2014

All talks will be held in 3105 Tolman Hall, 12:15-1:30pm.

Sept. 22- Alison Miller Singley, Graduate Student
       UCB Department of Psychology

Sept. 29- Kathryn Paige Harden, Assistant Professor of Psychology
                University of Texas, Austin

Oct. 13- Kristen Hawkes, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
               University of Utah

Oct. 20- Nicholas Allen, Professor of Clinical Psychology
               University of Oregon

Oct. 27- Zi Lin Sim, Graduate Student
       UCB Department of Psychology

Nov. 3- Christoph Konieczny, Graduate Student of Psychology
             Heidelberg University

Nov. 10-Tamar Kushnir, Assistant Professor of Child Development
               Department of Human Development, Cornell University

Nov. 17- Larry Nucci, Professor UCB Graduate School of Education

Dec. 1-Fumiko Hoeft, Associate Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry & Director of Laboratory for Educational Neuroscience (LENS)
UCSF Department of Psychiatry