Ji Son
PsychologyOffice: King Hall, C3061
Phone: 323-343-2261
E-mail: json2@calstatela.edu
Website: The Learning Lab
INTRODUCTION
I am an assistant professor at CSULA and enjoy teaching developmental and cognitive psychology. I am particularly interested in helping students gain skills and perspectives that will continue on with them beyond their time at CSULA.
TEACHING INTERESTS
I teach courses in developmental psychology and cognitive development. My classes are designed to get students interested in pursuing research, practiced in critical thinking, engaged in theoretical debate, and intent on real-world application. In an increasingly information-rich world, students need to understand how to pick out, attend to, and integrate relevant information. This need is the focus of my teaching philosophy as well as my research.
RESEARCH
I am interested in the development of abstract, intelligent, and flexible thinking – the kind of thinking that helps us tackle new problems and challenges. My research examines how children learn about the world and when they apply their old learning to new problems, a process commonly called generalization. Through a variety of creative games and activities, I test what aspects of the learning experience can lead to generalization. These research studies are done with very young children learning about shapes, colors, and patterns but also with school-age children learning about science and mathematics. (Get more information about this research at the Learning Lab website).
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Find more papers and downloads here.
| Title | Date |
|---|---|
| Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Contextualization in perspective. Cognition and Instruction, 27, 1-39 | 2009 |
| Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Fostering general transfer with specific simulations. Pragmatics & Cognition, 17, 1-42. | 2009 |
| Son, J.Y., Smith, L.B., & Goldstone, R.L. (2008). Simplicity and generalization: Short-cutting abstraction in children’s object categorizations. Cognition, 108, 626-638. | 2008 |
| Goldstone, R.L., & Son, J.Y. (2005). The transfer of scientific principles using concrete and idealized simulations. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 14, 69-114. | 2005 |
| Goldstone, R.L., & Son, J.Y. (2005). Similarity. In K.J. Holyoak & R.G. Morrison (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning (pp. 13-36). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | 2005 |
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
PhD Cognitive Science and Psychology 2007
- Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
BS Cognitive Science 2002
- UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
COURSE LISTING
| Course | Course Title | Day & Time | Room | Quarter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSY412A- | Human Development: Infancy & Childhood | Fall, 2009 |