Nancy L. Stein
Dr. Stein received her B.A. from University of California, Berkeley and her Ph.D. from Stanford University. Throughout her career, Dr. Stein has engaged in research that questions assumptions concerning theories of understanding, learning and instruction. Since 1986, Dr. Stein has been a faculty member of the Psychology Department and Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago. Prior to this appointment, she held professorships at Washington University, University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and Northwestern University. During this time, she also served in editorial roles for psychology periodicals and The American Journal of Education. Additionally, she has contributed many articles to these publications and authored books, particularly on linguistics, the role of emotions in memory and conflict, and science learning. She has just edited a book called, “Developmental Science goes to School,” the outcome of a conference focusing on developmental and cognitive principles applied to school learning. Dr. Stein has also served on multiple federal government advisory panels, such as the U.S. Department of Education panel for the Center for the Study of Learning (2006) and to the NIH Blueprints for Education Panel (2008).
Dr. Stein has been the principal investigator for a number of multi-year, grant-funded projects. Much of this research has pursued the concept of introducing science learning to children of a young age. For instance, she is currently working with a project that proposes introducing physics education at an earlier age than what is suggested by the typical curriculum. In 2009, she hopes to initiate a new inquiry into the cognitive, emotional, and cultural impact of early science learning, which will be tested across age, cultures, languages, ability levels, and socioeconomic status. She is engaged in building and testing a science curriculum that lays out a roadmap for the organization and content of core ideas in the physical sciences.
Her science curriculum not only focuses on core concepts in physical science, but also shows how people in the sciences and arts use physical elements. Her curriculum on glass focuses on the science of glass and then illustrates how this scientific knowledge is used in making glass art and in learning how to “blow” glass. Her curriculum on the element of carbon shows how differing pressure creates graphite, coal and diamonds. The curriculum proceeds through the critical elements until the core elements in the global warming process can be discussed. Dr. Stein has carried out analyses of how children learn in informal settings, like museums, and is in the process of formulating a more coherent in-depth approach to teaching children about science when they come to a museum.
Contact Information
n-stein@uchicago.edu
Courses
Theories of Emotion and the Psychology of Well Being; The Study of Conflict, Culture, Attitudes, and Persuasion; Social Psychology
Relevant Publications
Early Science Learning
Stein, N.L., Anggoro, F. K., & Hernandez, M.W. (in press). Making the invisible visible: Conditions for the early learning of science. In N. L. Stein and S. Raudenbush (Eds.). Developmental Science Goes to School. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis, Inc.
Stein, N.L., Anggoro, F. K., & Hernandez, M.W. (Science, revise, resubmit). Children learning about physics: The importance of modeling and explicating physical processes.
Stein, N.L. , Anggoro, F.K., & Hernandez, M.W. (Cognitive Science, revise, resubmit). A developmental study of science learning: The importance of starting early.
Stein, N.L., Hernandez, M., & Anggoro, F. (Developmental Science, under review). Understanding complex concepts: Unpacking the causal structure of physical events and state changes.
Stein, N.L. (submitted). The conditions for promoting early learning in science. Perspectives in Child Development. (This is an invited paper and will be published in the new SRCD journal (Editor, Nancy Eisenberg, Associate Editor, Steve Resnick).
Emotion, Negotiation & Conflict Resolution
Ross, H., Ross, M, Stein, N.L., & Trabasso, T. (2006) How siblings negotiate and end their conflicts. Child Development, November/ December 2006 - Vol. 77 Issue 6, 730-1745.
Stein, N.L. & Hernandez, M.W. (2007). Assessing Emotional Understanding in Narrative On- line Interviews: The Use of the Narcoder. In Coan, James A. and Allen, John J. B. (Eds.), Handbook of Emotion Elicitation and Assessment. Oxford University Press: New York.
Stein, N.L. and Hernandez, M.W. (2008). Advances in Modeling Emotion and Thought: TheImportance of Development, On-Line, and Multilevel Analysis. In M. Lewis, J.H. Jones, & L. Feldman-Barrett. Third Handbook of Emotion. New York: J. Wiley and Sons.
Stein, N.L. & Hernandez, M.( Child Development, submitted). Children’s understanding of emotional experience in the self and other.
Stein, N. & Boyce, W.T. (Child Development).The role of physiological reactivity in responding to and remembering an emotional event.
Stein, N.L., Hernandez, M.H. & Trabasso, T. (Child Development, submitted). Turning the tables: How well do children and mothers know each others’ emotions and thoughts during conflict resolution.
Hernandez, M.W. & Stein, N.L. (in prep). The effects of mediation training on mothers and children’s conflict resolution skill.
