Elida Laski
Boston College, Lynch School of Education
Assistant professor
counseling, developmental, and educational psychology department
Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, Developmental Psychology, Program in Interdisciplinary Educational Research (PIER)
M.S., Carnegie Mellon University, Developmental Psychology
Ed.M, Boston University, Early Childhood Education
B.A., Boston University
As an elementary-school teacher, I was constantly surprised by children’s errors and misconceptions as well as perpetually searching for information about how to help children overcome them. This experience led to an interest in research about how children acquire academic knowledge and the application of cognitive-developmental theory to educational practice.
As a psychology student in the PIER program, I worked under the supervision of Robert Siegler to investigate children’s numerical development. PIER played a pivotal role in fostering my interest in research with educational implications.
My dissertation investigated how instructional materials/processes and cognitive processes combine to produce learning. Playing a 0-100 number board game by counting-on from the current position (e.g., children on 13 who spin a 2 say, “14, 15,” as they move their token) increases kindergartners’ linearity of their numerical estimates as well as their counting and numerical identification knowledge of the numbers between 0 and 100. Playing the identical game by counting-from-1 (e.g., children on 13 who spin a 2 say, “1, 2”) led to less significant improvement on all measures. Encoding the numerals on the game board proved to be a key mechanism leading to the greater learning among children who counted-on.
Upon graduation, I began joined Boston College’s School of Education as an Assistant Professor (http://www.bc.edu/schools/lsoe/facultystaff/faculty/laski.html). My main line of research at Boston College continues to focus on children’s acquisition of numerical knowledge. One project examines differences in first grade girls’ number line estimation in relation to their spatial abilities. A second project examines the natural affordances of physical materials in terms of how they can promote better child-adult interactions.
In a second line of work, I have co-authored a 6-session curriculum that can be implemented in head start centers, family support centers, or other venues to help families and children in the transition to kindergarten. In collaboration with University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Child Development, the curriculum is currently being piloted in Pittsburgh and soon will be expanded to Boston. Future research will evaluate the efficacy of the program.