Deborah Kelemen

From Darwin to Big Data with Richard Dawkins

July 3, 2017

BBC Start the Week interviewing Deborah Kelemen, College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Listen to full interview. 

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Evolution makes scientific sense. So why do many people reject it?

March 31, 2016

The Guardian Deborah Kelemen, College of Arts & Sciences Child psychology studies have identified a natural human bias toward the theory of intelligent design, and pose a solution: teach evolution earlier… View full article referencing expert Deborah Kelemen

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See Jane Evolve: Picture Books Explain Darwin

April 19, 2014

Wall Street Journal (subscription required) Deborah Kelemen, College of Arts & Sciences Evolution by natural selection is one of the best ideas in all of science. It predicts and explains an incredibly wide range of biological facts. But only 60% of Americans believe evolution is true… View full article featuring expert Deborah Kelemen

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Are you smarter than a 5-year-old? New research shows kindergarteners can learn more

April 10, 2014

KPCC (Southern California Public Radio) Deborah Kelemen, College of Arts & Sciences George Brown Elementary in San Bernadino is a glossy new school: Construction finished just two years ago. And what’s going on in the classrooms is just as cutting edge… Expert quote: “I think that we are generally underestimating, really, their capacity to understand some […]

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How challenging kids earlier means earlier success

March 22, 2014

Deseret News Deborah Kelemen, College of Arts & Sciences Two new studies show children learn advanced material much earlier than previously believed. Both studies also indicate that if educators do not teach the more challenging content, students are at a disadvantage… Expert quote: “Imagine what a curriculum spread over several years might do for scientific […]

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Study Shows Kids Understand Complex Science

March 15, 2014

Lab Manager Deborah Kelemen, College of Arts & Sciences It turns out kids can understand complex scientific concepts – like natural selection – far beyond what anyone would have expected… Expert quote: “It shows that kids are a lot smarter than we ever give them credit for.  They can handle a surprising degree of complexity […]

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Even Young Kids Can Understand How Evolution Works

March 13, 2014

Business Insider Deborah Kelemen, College of Arts & Sciences “The history of developmental psychology shows that the age at which children can reach cognitive milestones depends in no small part on the cleverness of the methods used to measure their ability.”… Expert quote: “Adaptation by natural selection is a core mechanism of evolution. It is […]

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Have we misjudged kids’ ability to learn science?

March 12, 2014

Futurity News Deborah Kelemen, College of Arts & Sciences It turns out kids can understand complex scientific concepts—like natural selection—far beyond what anyone would have expected, a new study suggests. Boston University psychologist Deborah Kelemen and colleagues created a 10-page picture storybook about a group of fictional mammals with long trunks called pilosas. Then they read […]

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Evolution Is Coming To A Storybook Near You

March 10, 2014

NPR “Cosmos & Culture Blog” Deborah Kelemen, College of Arts & Sciences Young children are notorious for their surfeit of why questions, often directed at aspects of the biological world… Expert quote: “There have been a slew of education studies over the past 30 years indicating that adults don’t tend to understand adaptation even after instruction. This […]

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Intuitions of Our Immortality: Visions of Life Before Conception

February 3, 2014

Pacific Standard Deborah Kelemen, College of Arts & Sciences Natalie Emmons, College of Arts & Sciences We’ve all ruminated about the possibility of life after death. But what about the notion of life before birth—or even conception?… Expert quote: Emmons — “Even kids who had biological knowledge about reproduction still seemed to think that they […]

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