Category Archives: People

Editor’s Note: Want to join the Joan Ganz Cooney Center team? Apply to be the 2016-2017 Cooney Center Fellow! We are accepting fellowship applications now through April 4, 2016. We’ve all been there many times: “go around the table and introduce yourselves.”  There are certain times in our lives when this happens at an extremely frequent rate: the first weeks of college and when we start a new job being two of the most popular. For a new job as a research scientist, this introduction…

The Cooney Center Fellows Program encourages research, innovation, and dissemination to promote children’s learning. Fellows participate in a wide range of projects and, in doing so, develop broad exposure to scholarship, policy, and practice in the field of digital media and learning. This professional development program offers opportunities to:  – Conduct and/or support research on digital media use among elementary school-age children;  – Translate research to respond to practical industry and practitioner needs;  – Expand the influence research has in…

You’ve likely heard the saying “two heads are better than one” used in support of collaboration. Besides the increase in brainpower, the availability of different perspectives and experiences also contributes to the value of working together. On Sesame Street, this adage is embodied by the Two-Headed Monster, who literally puts his heads together to solve problems and explore the world:       While we at the Cooney Center fancy ourselves a bit more civilized than the Two-Headed Monster, we…

This op-ed was originally published in the Boston Globe’s “The Podium” on September 25, 2011.   For decades, America’s educational leadership has been the envy of the world. But now, in the face of globalization and economic realignment, adaptation and innovation are urgently needed. Retooling our education engine to produce better outcomes will drive our ability to compete in a complex, networked world powered by technology and efficiency. Transitioning to the digital age will define our children’s future career prospects…

Rebecca Herr Stephenson, Cooney Center fellow, has been in the New York office for a few days this week working with the Research team on the e-book QuickStudy out at the New York Hall of Science. We were thrilled that she brought a copy of her newly released book, Teaching Harry Potter: The Power of Imagination in Multicultural Classrooms, which she co-authored with Catherine L. Belcher. The authors interview teachers who choose to teach Harry Potter in their classrooms and…

As I finish up my last week at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, I cannot help but reflect on my experiences as an intern over the last few months.  When I came into the office on the first day I didn’t know what to expect, or even what type of work I would be given. My supervisor, Catherine Jhee, who was helpful as always, showed me to my desk and got me started on website work.  She put me in…

We are proud to announce our Cooney Fellow for 2011! Sarah Vaala will be joining the Joan Ganz Cooney Center in October of this year from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Sarah will be completing her Ph.D. in Communication this summer, with various research work surrounding the issue of how to uncover ways to maximize television’s potential to teach and motivate young children.   Amid clinicians’ and psychologists’ arguments for keeping children under the age…

I always love going to the Games, Learning and Society (GLS) conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Where else are you guaranteed access to a lakeside terrace, local microbrews, and warm Midwestern hospitality? In addition to these welcome amenities, GLS is also a place where games are taken quite seriously, albeit in a playful way. This year was no exception.   I attended the conference to present some of the early findings from my own research. With my collaborator LeAnne Wagner, I…

At long last, summer is finally here. And while things don’t necessarily slow down for us here at the Cooney Center, we still think of summer’s longer days as a time to tackle some new books – titles we’ve been meaning to read for awhile, perhaps, or have been recommended by friends and colleagues. We often ask each other what we’re reading, so we thought we’d share our most current lists with you! Our book lists range from popular bestsellers…

Tune into PBS this weekend to see Joan Ganz Cooney Center’s Executive Director Michael H. Levine, PhD on Richard Heffner’s The Open Mind. The program airs on Channel 13 in New York (check your local listings) this Saturday, April 23rd at 12:00 p.m. Together, Michael and Richard discuss some of the top concerns about kids, who are “Growing Up Digital.” The episode raises a question doubtlessly on many people’s minds: Is growing up digital good for kids, or bad? Amid…