ROA M IN G T H E H A L L |
JEN A. MILLER
HOW WE LEARN Associate professor Amy Joh’s research seeks to unlock how children make sense of the world around them.
A
my Joh wants to know how our brains grow. As an associate professor of psychology
and director of Seton Hall’s Child Learning
they still expect things to fall straight down,” she said. Giving them hints before the exercise doesn’t help.
Lab, Joh studies how young children develop
Teaching kids a song about where the marble will roll
cognitive and motor skills, and how they
doesn’t make a difference either.
take information from the world around
What does work? Making each of the three tubes a
them and learn to do things that they later
different color. That helps children guess that the marble
take for granted.
will roll to the end of the tube. The kicker, though, is
“I’m really interested in bringing together the why
that once the tubes are changed back to all being the
or how we go about the world and get that perceptual
same color, the same kids will guess the marble will roll
information we need to do the things we have to do every
straight down again.
day,” she says. “Just getting up and brushing your teeth
“Studies like this can speak to how kids learn how to
and walking down the street and finding your way to the
do things in everyday life, what input they seek and how
office and typing on your computer are all things that
much experience is needed,” Joh says. “What happens
need cognition.”
when they get information that’s contrary to how they
Understanding how those cognitive skills are built can allow parents and caregivers to help develop them in children at a young age. Joh has a particular interest in how toddlers learn about spatial relationships. In one study, she brings out three tubes and puts a marble at the top of one tube and asks a preschool-age child where the marble will end up. If the tubes are
think the world works?” Shaziela Ishak, associate professor of psychology at Ramapo College, attended graduate school with Joh. She notes that “understanding the development of spatial abilities relates to so many different areas of development, such as tool use, problem solving, independent navigation, even eating.” Ishak enrolled her child in one of Joh’s studies,
perpendicular to the ground, the toddlers will guess that
knowing that it’s not always easy to recruit participants
the marble comes out of the bottom of the tube. But if the
and because she knew her son “would enjoy the study
tubes are on a diagonal, the toddler will still guess that
because it is set up like a little game.”
it flows straight down. “They’ve spent three years watching most things fall straight down. They also know that things follow paths.
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They’re putting most things [together] but at 3 years of age,
The studies help in understanding cognitive development, she adds, because children this age may not be able to accurately express their abilities in a verbal way.
