Course Readings

We will meet every second week to discuss your Treehouse practicum  The meetings will involve a discussion of particular readings which you will find here.  The readings will be available for download here.

Week 1  What is  the Treehouse Children's Museum?  Complete the online Training to Serve modules and quizzes (click here). 

Amsel, E. & Goodwin, L. (2004). Making meaning together: Family literacy and museums.  Journal of Museum Education [Special issue on Museum and Literacy]. 29, 10-15. (get file) 

Week 2: What is the History and Impact of Children's Museums?

Henderson, T., & Atencio, D. (2007). Integration of play, learning, and experience: What museums afford young visitors. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35, 245-251. (get file)

Mayfield, M. (2005). Children’s museums: purposes, practices and play? Early Child Development and Care. 175, 179–192. (get file)

Week 3:  Learning in Children's Museums:  Foundational issues

Knutson, K. & Crowley, K. (2005). Museum as learning laboratory:  Developing and using a practical theory of informal learning (Parts 1 and 2). Hand to Hand, 18, 3, 4-6 (get file)

Week 4:  Research Findings

Crowley, K. & Jacobs, M. (2002). Islands of expertise and the development of family scientific literacy. In G. Leinhardt, K. Crowley, & K. Knutson (Eds.) Learning conversations in museums. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (get file)

Palmquist, S., & Crowley, K. (2007). From teachers to testers: How parents talk to novice and expert children in a natural history museum. Science Education, 91, 783-804.(get file)

Week 5:  Pretend Play and Learning

Lillard, A. S., Lerner, M. D., Hopkins, E. J., Dore, R. A., Smith, E. D., & Palmquist, C. M. (2013). The impact of pretend play on children's development: A review of the evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 1-34 (get file)

Week 6:  Responses to Lillard et al. (2013)

Bergen, D. (2013). Does pretend play matter? Searching for evidence: Comment on Lillard et al. (2013). Psychological Bulletin, 139, 45– 48. (get file)

Walker, C. M., & Gopnik, A. (2013). Pretense and possibility—A theoretical proposal about the effects of pretend play: Comment on Lillard et al. (2013). Psychological Bulletin, 139, 40 – 44. (get file)

Weisberg, D. S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2013). Embracing complexity: Rethinking the relationship between play and learning: Comment on Lillard et al. (2013). Psychological Bulletin, 139, 35–39. (get file)

Lillard, A. S., Hopkins, E. J., Dore, R. A., Palmquist, C. M., Lerner, M. D., & Smith, E. D. (2013). Concepts and theories, methods and reasons: Why do the children (pretend) play? Reply to Weisberg, Hirsh-Pasek, and Golinkoff (2013); Bergen (2013); and Walker and Gopnik (2013). Psychological bulletin, 139(1), 49-52 (get file).

Week 7-8:  Partici-plays and the Development of Narrative Understanding

Rall, J., & Harris, P. L. (2000). In Cinderella's slippers? Story comprehension from the protagonist's point of view. Developmental Psychology, 36(2), 202-212 (get file)

Harris, P. L. de Rosnay, M., Ronffard, S. (in press ). The mysterious emotional life of Little Red Riding Hood (get file)

Ronffard, S., & Harris, P. L. (2013).  When will Little Red Riding Hood become scared? Children’s attribution of mental states to a story character.  Developmental Psychology (get file)

Week 9-10: Forms of Interactions that Promote or Inhibit Learning.

Benjamin, N., Haden, C. A., & Wilkerson, E. (2010). Enhancing building, conversation, and learning through caregiver–child interactions in a children’s museum. Developmental Psychology, 46, 502-515. (get file)

Crowley, K., Callanan, M.A., Tenenbaum, H., & Allen, E. (2003).  Parents explain more to boys than girls during shared scientific thinking.  Psychological Science, 12,  258-261. (get file)

Grolnick, W. S., Gurland, S. T., DeCourcey, W., & Jacob K. (2002).  Antecedents and consequences of mothers' autonomy support: An experimental investigation. Developmental Psychology, 38, 143-155. (get file)

Week 11-12:  Learning scientific concepts in Children's Museums

Crowley, K., Callanan, M.A., Jipson, J., Galco, J., Topping, K., & Shrager, J. (2001). Shared scientific thinking in everyday parent-child activity. Science Education, 85, 712-732.  (get file)

 Haden, C. A. (2010). Talking about science in museums. Child Development Perspectives, 4, 62-67. (get file)

Tenenbaum, H. R., Rappolt-Schlichtmann, G., & Zanger, V. V. (2004). Children's learning about water in a museum and in the classroom. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 19(1), 40-58. (get file)