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CCL in the News!
Kelemen and Emmons Investigate Children’s Pre-Life Beliefs
"'There is so much secular as well as religious testimony about what it is to be a ghost,” Kelemen said. “You see it in Harry Potter films, in Disney films. Even if children aren’t being raised in religious homes, they’re surrounded by cultural ideas that would tell them what to... More
Why Kids Deserve Accurate COVID Information
"“Kids are often undersold, given less [information] than they deserve in terms of explanation,” says Deborah Kelemen, a Boston University College of Arts & Sciences professor of psychological and brain sciences. She specializes in cognitive and conceptual development in children. Kelemen says that kids are often privately ruminating on information they... More
Samuel Ronfard in NPR!
Click here to read about the CCL's very own Dr. Samuel Ronfard's work in NPR! Kids Start To Test Surprising Claims By Early Elementary School by Tania Lombrozo "... In short, children don't just soak up what they're told: They integrate what they hear with other sources of evidence, and they take into account... More
Child Cognition Lab Raised OVER 17K in Crowdfunding Campaign!
The Child Cognition Lab (PI: Dr. Deborah Kelemen) and Evolving Minds Project has raised $17,725 in a crowdfunding campaign to get their storybook on adaptation by natural selection into schools across the country! To learn more about their project, or to stay updated on their progress, visit their project website.
Child Cognition Lab Featured on BU Today!
The Child Cognition Lab's Evolving Minds Project was featured on BU Today! Read the article here.
How the Piloses Evolved Skinny Noses on BBC World Service
BBC World Service Newshour ran a segment on our storybooks this week. Listen here on the BBC's site starting at 46:25, or to the clip below!
How the Piloses Evolved Skinny Noses gets its BBC Radio 4 debut!
On Start the Week Andrew Marr asks whether scientists have failed in their task to communicate their work to the wider public. The 'passionate rationalist' Richard Dawkins has spent his career trying to illuminate the wonders of nature and challenge what he calls faulty logic. But he wonders whether Darwin would... More
Can Young Children Understand Complex Science?
Deborah Kelemen and fellow researchers discovered that children are able to grasp complex scientific concepts like adaptation by natural selection at a younger age than previously thought. Recent research indicates that children can understand complex scientific concepts—like natural selection—far beyond what anyone would have expected. To test this, cognitive developmental psychologist Deborah... More
Evolution Makes Scientific Sense. So Why Do Many People Reject it?
Child psychology studies have found a human bias toward the theory of intelligent design and pose a solution: teach evolution earlier. Evolution remains misunderstood by students and even science teachers, and although it is a mandatory program in the majority of the UK and the United States more than a third... More
Best Way To Teach Evolution
Science frequently challenges our intuitive understanding of the world. Even as an adult, I am constantly confronted with new scientific advancements and discoveries that don’t always line up with my preconceived notions. Such ideas are considered counterintuitive because they present themselves in ways that are counter to one’s intuitive notions... More
