I\u2019m Karima Elgamal, a Ph.D. student in Developmental Psychology at Boston University working with Dr. Deborah Kelemen in the Child Cognition Lab. My research examines how children learn, explain, and revise their understanding of the world. I am especially interested in how children\u2019s explanations reveal the structure of their thinking, including how different forms of reasoning, such as causal-mechanistic and teleological explanations, shape learning, generalization, and conceptual change.<\/p>\n
Before joining BU, I earned my M.A. in Psychological Sciences and B.A. in Psychology, with a minor in Cognitive Science, from Montclair State University. My prior research examined how children and adults use language to describe mechanical support relations and spatial configurations, connecting questions in cognitive development, language, and conceptual representation.<\/p>\n
Across my work, I use experimental methods, developmental theory, and quantitative analysis in R to investigate how explanation supports learning across domains, including the physical, biological, and social world. More broadly, I am interested in how insights from cognitive science can inform education, learning technologies, and tools that support deeper understanding.<\/p>\n
Outside the lab, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, cooking overly complicated meals, watching classic films, and traveling as much as I can.<\/p>\n