The inaugural twelve Learning Sciences Exchange fellows have been working for two years in three multidisciplinary teams. Each team of four Fellows, could draw on the know-how from an early learning research, journalism, entertainment, and policy expert. The goal was for each team to create innovative communication approaches to bring current scientific research findings to parents, caregivers and early educators in a language and medium they can understand.

The culmination of their collaborative work was presented on 26 August via webinar at the Learning Sciences Exchange Summit. The webinar was hosted by New America in conjunction with the Jacobs Foundation, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek of Temple University and Roberta Golinkoff of the University of Delaware.

Three exciting project prototypes

Each team presented their evidence-based project.

1. Grandfathers (Video): this public service announcement is based on infant reading-comprehension research. Two grandfathers vie for their granddaughter’s attention with their dramatic, and sometimes ridiculous, book readings. The announcement is deliberately humorous to grab caregivers’ attention. You can read more about this project here.
2. Bunny to Bunny (Video): a more literal storytelling approach with a book series. The hope is parents will use the books as both a bonding moment and reference tool for high-quality interactions with their baby. Caregivers get tips or “carrots” in the back of the book about the beneficial interactions the book promotes between caregiver and child. You can read more about this project here.
3. Talk With Me! (Video) this public service announcement uses stunning animations to remind parents they can do one very simple thing to help their child’s brain grow and develop—talk with them. Rich conversations in early childhood can impact on the rest of a child’s life. Find out more.

All three groups are hoping to bring their messages and prototypes to larger audiences by finding funders, publishers, and broadcasters to help them scale-up or continue their work.

The next cohort of Learning Sciences Exchange fellows will benefit from building on the solid groundwork of the first class of fellows to create their own unique projects. These projects will be featured at the next Learning Sciences Exchange Summit, in the summer of 2022.