The
Harvard Graduate School of
Education
Dynamic
Development Lab
Research in
the DDL
Welcome
An on-going research and study group, the Dynamic Development Research Group (DDRG) is organized and directed by Professor Kurt Fischer. The focus of the group has been to act as a forum for those doing research in all stages of the research process, that is, in cognitive development, developmental psychology, and in related disciplines. Traditionally, the majority of presenters have been doctoral students in Human Development and Psychology (HDP). Recently, however, students from the Master's program in HDP and students from Learning and Teaching (L&T) have also started to participate in the group. Also, the group has had presentations on research taking place at other local colleges and universities, as well as from visiting scholars and post-doctoral researchers at the School of Education.
The general format of DDRG meetings is first, a presentation of current or proposed research, and then a constructive discussion of the research with the objective of helping the researcher to strengthen, clarify, and focus any and all aspects of the research process. The advantages of having peers and faculty comment on one's work is generally agreed to be of enormous help in the challenging process of original research.
The topic that the DDRG focuses on is that of development -- the cognitive, affective, and social dynamics and their interactions -- that describe the growth and changes associated with learning in children. We feel the new cognitive and neuroscientific paradigms are changing the ways we think about development. Thus, it is an exciting time to be in developmental psychology! But it is also clear that the changes and the insights stemming from our research should be made available to those who work with children professionally on a daily basis, namely, teachers and administrators. We are pleased that students from L & T are beginning to attend our meetings and we would like to play a larger role in making cognitive developmental research available to our community.
Student coordinators will volunteer to undertake the organizational work of the group. This year, the coordinators are Todd Rose and Gabrielle Schlichtmann.
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