I am a developmental psychologist with interests mainly focused on how children learn in different contexts (e.g., outdoors, school, home etc). I use a range of methods and work mostly with young children (preschool or primary). My current research is focused on the effects of nature on learning.
I am a keen advocate for Open Science/Scholarship and try and share materials, pre-register methods wherever possible. You can find some of my work on the Open Science Framework.
I support my students with adopting Open practices to support their onward careers too.
My language acquisition research investigated how children learn new words from shared reading interactions, how storybook formats, illustrations and reading styles can impact learning and how young children acquire colour terms. and resulted in evidence which informs the design of early education materials. Other research has investigated parent-child shared reading interactions with different book formats, and home learning for children across a range of ages.
I am also interested in understanding the effects of different media types on emergent literacy skills and considering the role of the body and environmental conditions on children's attention and learning. This work typically includes experimental methods, such as eye tracking.
My other research has included community, participatory projects with home educating families in the South of England, and investigations into how learning environments (including online learning) support the timely acquisition of literacy skills, broader "life skills" and wellbeing.
Current projects investigate the role of nature (both indoors and outdoors) in improving different types of learning. Some of these projects are in partnership with community stakeholders in Brighton (e.g., Moulsecoomb Forest Garden) and schools (Moulsecoomb Primary School).
In addition, I am a keen advocate of Open Science/Scholarship practices which support fair access and integrity in research and teaching of research. As part of this work I enjoy contributing to research on how these practices impact the quality of research and research teaching. I have previously led ReproducibiliTea groups, and been a member of the UK Reproducibility Network. I am always keen to support others in these endeavours.
