A group of 15 talented mid-career professionals from journalism, policy, entertainment, social entrepreneurship, and research are enlisting their collective expertise in the Learning Sciences Exchange Fellowship to produce new and creative means of promoting early learning to help young children and families thrive.
Today the Jacobs Foundation, New America, and the International Congress on Infant Studies announce the second cohort of Learning Sciences Exchange (LSX) Fellows—a group of talented mid-career professionals hailing from one of five sectors: journalism, entertainment, research, policy, and social entrepreneurship.
The goal of the Learning Sciences Exchange Fellowship (LSX) is to disseminate insights on the early years in appealing, accurate, and efficient new ways. It offers a creative way to break through barriers, leading to both improved processes for communication and improved products that communicate the science.
The LSX was launched in 2018 with a first cohort of 12 LSX Fellows featuring researchers, policy influencers, journalists, and entertainment producers from Europe and North America. Fellows worked in three interdisciplinary groups over two years to produce innovative projects including public service announcements, parent-child activity cards and animated messages, and the first in a new series of children’s books. Their projects will be showcased at the upcoming virtual LSX Summit on August 26, 2020.
This new class of fellows includes professionals from a fifth sector: social impact entrepreneurship. By including experts from the world of socially conscious startups and entrepreneurship, LSX is aiming to help fellows and their cohorts learn new methods for scaling up innovations.
The new fellows are:
Journalism
- Lilian Anekwe, Assistant news editor, New Scientist
- Jack Graham, Freelance policy reporter
- Annie Murphy Paul, Book author, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Social Entrepreneurship
- Puja Balachander, CEO and Founder, Devie
- Tammy Kwan, Co-Founder and CEO, Cognitive Toybox
- Jakub Slawinski, Growth and Sales Freelancer
Research
- Judith Danovitch, Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville
- Elizabeth Gunderson, Associate Professor of Psychology, Temple University
- Medha Tare, Director of Research, Learner Variability Project, Digital Promise
Entertainment
- Jeff Kleeman, President, A Very Good Production
- John Sessler, Learning and Innovation Consultant
- Ariel Zekelman, Senior Product Manager, Osmo
Policy
- Brenda Bushouse, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Cathy Mitchell, Head of Market Insight and Analysis, Heriot Watt University
- Emmy O’Dwyer, Director of Early Childhood Workforce Development and Innovation, LA Dept of Education