What are the goals of this project?

Over the first few years of elementary school, children’s thinking undergoes radical changes. Children start to think about information in different ways and they develop ideas about what they do or do not know. Two children who are the same age, even children in the same classroom, might have very different thoughts and feelings about their own knowledge.

The Mind, Attitudes, and Parenting (MAP) Project is studying how children think about what they know. Our goal is to better understand children’s thinking about their knowledge from a number of levels, including the influence of social experiences and the underlying brain processes involved. Our findings are not only intended to contribute to scientific knowledge, but also to help parents and educators better support children’s development.  
We are one of 18 research teams from around the world who are being funded by the Fuller Theological Seminary/Thrive Center in concert with the John Templeton Foundation to study different aspects of how people think about what they know.

On this blogger site, we will be sharing updates on our progress and providing links to interesting news articles and resources related to our project. We also welcome you to submit your questions about our project or children’s thinking more generally.