News & Information

Media Coverage |  Excerpt: Scientist in the Crib | FAQs

When Institute scientists are featured in newspapers, magazines, online publications, and radio and television programs, we'll post the information here.

Scientists at the Institute are involved in many events outside the laboratory to raise awareness of recent scientific findings. See the special events in which our scientists have participated.

The Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, along with the College of Education, are collaborating with Stanford University and SRI International on a 5-year project that links neuroscience and education, and examines the science of learning through the lifespan. Funding was obtained through a national competition held by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award provides for funds to establish The LIFE Center, to study Learning in Formal and Informal Environments. A recent article in the journal Nature profiles the research involved in this cutting-edge NSF initiative. Read the article describing "big plans for little brains". Also international coverage concerning the NSF Science of Learning Centers and our role in them was published in GEO (the National Geographic of Germany).

The LIFE Center has hosted visits from Dr. John Bruer, the president of the McDonnell Foundation, and chair of the LIFE Center Advisory Board; as well as Dr. Michael Posner, head of the Center's external Scientific Review Board.

LIFE Leaders Andrew Meltzoff and Patricia Kuhl have created a new undergraduate course at the University of Washington entitled “Introduction to the Science of Learning: From Biology to Behavior”. The course is jointly taught. This interdisciplinary course introduces students from all fields to the science of human learning. The course takes advantage of new findings in neuroscience and behavior to examine learning from early infancy to adulthood. It includes both historical descriptions and modern formulations. The course combines insights and contributions from developmental science, cognitive science, and neuroscience. The roles of both biology and culture in human learning will be examined. View classroom images here.

The inaugural Tools Workshop, a 3-day intensive to disseminate information about the latest neuroscience and education methodology and equipment, took place in July, 2005, on the Stanford campus.

In summer of 2003, the group convened for the first time in a two-day conference at the Institute to discuss plans for collaborating on a Science of Learning Center proposal.

The Institute is a not only a place where cutting-edge research is conducted, but it is home to a vibrant community of people, in a spectacular natural setting. To find out more about our Institute and activities outside the laboratory, take a peek at life inside the Institute.

The Scientist in the Crib (William Morrow & Co., New York) was written by the Institute's Co-Directors, Andrew N. Melzoff, Ph.D. and Patricia K. Kuhl, Ph.D., with Alison Gopnik, Ph.D. of the University of California Berkeley. Read an excerpt from the book here.

Have a question about the Institute? You may find the answer here.

More Information:
Media Coverage | Excerpt: Scientist in the Crib | FAQs | Contact the Institute