Published Research

Children and family members visiting Children’s Discovery Museum provided valuable data for these studies.

Parallel developmental changes in children’s production and recognition of line drawings of visual concepts (2024)

Bria Long, Judith E. Fan, Holly Huey, Zixian Chai & Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44529-9

Long, B., Fan, J. E., Chai, Z., & Frank, M. C. (2024). Parallel developmental changes in children’s production and recognition of line drawings of visual concepts. Nature Communications, 15(1), Article 1191.

Parents’ spatial talk to boys and girls in museum settings: Variations by science topic and exhibit scale (2024)

Vera M. Umansky & Maureen A. Callanan

https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1399433

Umansky, V. M., & Callanan, M. A. (2024).Parents’ spatial talk to boys and girls in museum settings: Variations by science topic and exhibit scale. Frontiers in Education, 9, 1399433.

Explaining and exploring the dynamics of parent-child interactions and children’s causal reasoning at a children’s museum exhibit (2024)

Sam R. McHugh, Maureen Callanan, Garrett Jaeger, Cristine H. Legare, David M. Sobel

https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14035

McHugh, S. R., Callanan, M. A., Jaeger, G. J., Legare, C. H., & Sobel, D. M. (2024).Explaining and exploring the dynamics of parent-child interactions and children’s causal reasoning at a children’s museum exhibit. Child Development, 95(3), 845-861.

Angry, sad, or scared? Within‑valence mapping of emotion words to facial and body cues in 2‑ to 4‑year‑old children (2023)

Yang Wu, Hannah M. Matteson, Claire M. Baker, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.74333

Wu, Y., Matteson, H. M., Baker, C. M., & Frank, M. C. (2023). Angry, sad, or scared? Within‑valence mapping of emotion words to facial and body cues in 2‑ to 4‑year‑old children. Collabra: Psychology, 9(1), Article 74333.

Predicting pragmatic cue integration in adults’ and children’s inferences about novel word meanings (2022)

Manuel Bohn, Michael Henry Tessler, Megan Merrick, Michael C Frank

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35389743/

Bohn, M., Tessler, M. H., Merrick, M., & Frank, M. C. (2022). Predicting pragmatic cue integration in adults’ and children’s inferences about novel word meanings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Unusual artifacts: Linking parents’ STEM background and children’s animacy judgments to parent-child play with robots (2021)

Sam R. McHugh, Maureen A. Callanan, Kevin Weatherwax, Jennifer L. Jipson, Leila Takayama

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hbe2.286

McHugh, S.R., Callanan, M.A., Weatherwax, K., Jipson, J.L., & Takayama, L. (2021). Unusual artifacts: Linking parents’ STEM background and children’s animacy judgments to parent-child play with robots. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3, 525-539.

“He Fell in and That’s How He Became a Fossil!”: Engagement With a Storytelling Exhibit Predicts Families’ Explanatory Science Talk During a Museum Visit (2021)

Maureen A. Callanan, Claudia L. Castañeda, Graciela Solis, Megan R. Luce, Mathew Diep, Sam R. McHugh, Jennifer L. Martin, Judy Scotchmoor and Sara DeAngelis

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689649

Callanan, M., Castañeda, C., Solis, G., Luce, M., Diep, M., McHugh, S., Martin, J., Scotchmoor, J., & DeAngelis, S. (2021). “He fell in and that’s how he became a fossil!”: Engagement with a storytelling exhibit predicts families’ explanatory science talk during a museum visit, Frontiers in Psychology, 12.

How young children integrate information sources to infer the meaning of words (2021)

Manuel Bohn, Michael Henry Tessler, Megan Merrick & Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01145-1

Bohn, M., Tessler, M. H., Merrick, M., & Frank, M. C. (2021). How young children integrate information sources to infer the meaning of words. Nature Human Behaviour.

Exploration, explanation, and parent-child interaction in museums (2020)

Maureen A. Callanan, Cristine H. Legare, David M. Sobel, Garrett J. Jaeger, Susan Letourneau, Sam R. McHugh, Aiyana Willard et al.

https://doi.org/10.1111/mono.12412

Callanan, M., Legare, C., Sobel, D., Jaeger, G., Letourneau, S., McHugh, S., Willard, A., et al. (2020). Exploration, explanation, and parent-child interaction in museums. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 85, 1.

Children’s interpretation of ambiguous pronouns based on prior discourse (2020)

Manuel Bohn, Khuyen Nha Le, Benjamin Peloquin, Bahar Köymen, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13049

Bohn, M., Le, K., Peloquin, B., Koymen, B., & Frank, M. C. (2020). Children’s interpretation of ambiguous pronouns based on prior discourse. Developmental Science, 24, e13049.

The early parenting attitudes questionnaire: Measuring intuitive theories of parenting and child development (2020)

Emily Hembacher, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.190

Hembacher, E., & Frank, M. C. (2020). The early parenting attitudes questionnaire: Measuring intuitive theories of parenting and child development. Collabra: Psychology, 6(1), 16.

Children’s social information seeking is sensitive to referential ambiguity (2020)

Emily Hembacher, Benjamin deMayo, Michael C Frank

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32767767/

Hembacher, E., deMayo, B., & Frank, M. C. (2020). Children’s social information seeking is sensitive to referential ambiguity. Child Development, 91, 1178–1193.

The role of salience in young children’s processing of ad‑hoc implicatures (2019)

Erica J. Yoon, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2019.04.008

Yoon, E. J., & Frank, M. C. (2019). The role of salience in young children’s processing of ad‑hoc implicatures. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 186, 99–116.

Early understanding of pragmatic principles in children’s judgments of negative sentences (2018)

Ann E. Nordmeyer & Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2018.1463850

Nordmeyer, A. E., & Frank, M. C. (2018). Early understanding of pragmatic principles in children’s judgments of negative sentences. Language Learning and Development, 14(4), 262–278.

Family Science Talk in Museums: Predicting Children’s Engagement From Variations in Talk and Activity (2017)

Maureen A. Callanan, Claudia L. Castañeda, Megan R. Luce, and Jennifer L. Martin

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12886/abstract ($$)

Callanan, M. A., Castañeda, C. L., Luce, M. R. and Martin, J. L. (2017), Family Science Talk in Museums: Predicting Children’s Engagement From Variations in Talk and Activity. Child Dev, 88: 1492–1504. doi:10.1111/cdev.12886

The trouble with quantifiers: Explaining children’s deficits in scalar implicature (2017)

Alexandra C. Horowitz, Rose M. Schneider, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13014

Horowitz, A. C., Schneider, R. M., & Frank, M. C. (2017). The trouble with quantifiers: Explaining children’s deficits in scalar implicature. Child Development.

Preschoolers flexibly adapt to noisy linguistic input (2017)

Daniel Yurovsky, Sarah Case, and Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616668557

Yurovsky, D., Case, S., & Frank, M. C. (2017). Preschoolers flexibly adapt to noisy linguistic input. Psychological Science, 28(1), 132–140.

Beyond naïve cue combination: Salience and social cues in early word learning (2017)

Daniel Yurovsky, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12349

Yurovsky, D., & Frank, M. C. (2017). Beyond naïve cue combination: Salience and social cues in early word learning. Developmental Science, 20(2), e12349.

The development of children’s ability to track and predict turn structure in conversation (2017)

Marisa Casillas, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2016.06.013

Casillas, M. C., & Frank, M. C. (2017). The development of children’s ability to track and predict turn structure in conversation. Journal of Memory and Language, 92, 234–253.

Children’s pragmatic inferences as a route for learning about the world (2016)

Alexandra C. Horowitz, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12527

Horowitz, A. C., & Frank, M. C. (2016). Children’s pragmatic inferences as a route for learning about the world. Child Development, 87(3), 807–819.

Using tablets to collect data from young children (2016)

Michael C. Frank, Elise Sugarman, Alexandra C. Horowitz, Molly L. Lewis & Daniel Yurovsky

https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2015.1061528

Frank, M. C., Sugarman, E., Horowitz, A. C., Lewis, M. L., & Yurovsky, D. (2016). Using tablets to collect data from young children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 17(1), 1–17.

Tomorrow’s Museum: Multilingual Audiences and the Learning Institution (2015)

Jenni Martin and Marilee Jennings

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/1559689314Z.00000000034

Martin, J. and Jennings, M. (2015) Tomorrow’s Museum: Multilingual Audiences and the Learning Institution. Museums and Social Issues, Vol. 10, Issue 1, April, 2015.

Ad‑hoc implicature in preschool children (2015)

Alex J. Stiller, Noah D. Goodman & Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2014.927328

Stiller, A. J., Goodman, N. D., & Frank, M. C. (2015). Ad‑hoc implicature in preschool children. Language Learning and Development, 11(2), 176–190.

Young children’s developing sensitivity to discourse continuity as a cue for inferring reference (2015)

Alexandra C. Horowitz, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2014.08.003

Horowitz, A. C., & Frank, M. C. (2015). Young children’s developing sensitivity to discourse continuity as a cue for inferring reference. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 129, 84–97.

The role of context in young children’s comprehension of negation (2014)

Ann E. Nordmeyer, Michael C. Frank

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2014.08.002

Nordmeyer, A. E., & Frank, M. C. (2014). The role of context in young children’s comprehension of negation. Journal of Memory and Language, 77, 25–39.

Inferring word meanings by assuming that speakers are informative (2014)

Michael C. Frank, Noah D. Goodman

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2014.08.002

Frank, M. C., & Goodman, N. D. (2014). Inferring word meanings by assuming that speakers are informative. Cognitive Psychology, 75, 80–96.

Parents’ science talk to their children in Mexican-descent families residing in the USA (2008)

Harriet Tenenbaum & Maureen Callanan

https://jbd.sagepub.com/content/32/1/1.abstract ($$)

International Journal of Behavioral Development, Vol. 32 No 1, (2008), 1-12

Conversations about Science across Activities in Mexican-descent Families (2007)

Deborah Siegel, Jennifer Esterly, Maureen Callanan, Ramser Wright, & Rocio Navarro

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09500690701494100 ($$)

International Journal of Science Education, Vol. 29 No 12, (2007), 1447 – 1466

Parents Explain More Often to Boys than to Girls during Shared Scientific Thinking (2001)

Kevin Crowley, Maureen Callanan, Harriet Tenenbaum, & Elizabeth Allen

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40063590 ($$)

Psychological Science, Vol. 12, No. 3 (May, 2001), 258-261

Shared scientific thinking in everyday parent-child activity (2001)

Kevin Crowley, Maureen Callanan, Jennifer Jipson, Jodi Galco, Karen Topping, & Jeff Shrager

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sce.1035/abstract ($$)

Sci Ed 85 (2001), 712–732

Identifying and supporting shared scientific reasoning in parent-child interactions (1998)

Kevin Crowley & Maureen Callanan

https://www.museumlearning.org/crowley9.pdf

Journal of Museum Education, 23 (1998), 12-17