The Early Childhood Interaction Lab is located within the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland. The director of the lab is Dr. Geetha Ramani.
Lab Interests and Areas of Research
Children’s social worlds are central to their cognitive development. Interactions with adults and peers provide children with opportunities to learn new skills and practice existing abilities. Likewise, many of the types of play, games, and activities that children engage in daily can be motivating and engaging ways to learn about the world.
Our research focuses on understanding how young children’s social interactions with adults and peers influence their cognitive development. We are also interested in how play and informal learning activities can promote children’s thinking in the areas of mathematics, problem solving, and planning. Some of the specific areas we study include:
- How games can promote young children’s math abilities
- Parental communication to their children about numbers and problem-solving strategies
- How play with peers can influence children’s problem-solving skills
- Parental beliefs about young children’s number skills