Research Interests

My research has primarily examined literacy development and, more recently, video games.

Literacy

There are three main areas of literacy that I have explored.

I am interested in the processes and experiences (e.g., shared reading) associated with the development of early literacy processes (e.g., phonological sensitivity, letter knowledge) and interest.

I am interested in the development and structure of the home literacy environment (HLE) provided to preschool-aged children. For example: Why do parents read to their children? How does the HLE change as children mature?

I am interested in the education of teacher in training as well as experienced teachers. For example: How can we better prepare teachers to deliver high quality literacy experiences? What predicts how a teacher responds to different literacy programs? What predicts how a teacher reads to the class?

Video Games

We have used video games as a medium for examining stereotypes, stereotype threat, attitudes towards women, etc.

We are interested in the effects that playing video games has on the attitudes and behavior of individuals of differing levels of experience. For example: How do women feel about their body image after playing a VG with comic book sexy characters or that presents women as decoration?