Jennifer M. Zosh

About

Jennifer M. Zosh, Ph.D., is a Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University’s Brandywine campus. She directs the Brandywine Child Development Lab, where she studies how infants and young children learn about the world around them. Her expertise and publications focus on playful learning, the impact of technology on children, working memory, mathematical cognition, and language acquisition. A notable contribution includes her role as co-lead author on a 2015 publication in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, which emphasized integrating educational research into the design of educational apps to enhance children's learning experiences. Dr. Zosh regularly presents at professional meetings such as the Society for Research in Child Development, International Congress on Infant Studies, and the National Academy of Sciences Children and Screens colloquium, among others. She is deeply committed to disseminating and translating scientific discoveries to the public through blogging and media appearances, with her work featured on platforms including The Conversation, PBS Parents, the Brookings Institution, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, NPR Radio Times, and The Alliance for Early Childhood. Additionally, she contributes to developmental research dissemination through involvement with Living Laboratories in children’s museums and advisory roles for organizations like Ultimate Block Party, Urban ThinkScape, Philadelphia Playful Learning…

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Sociology
• Developmental psychology
• Mathematics
• Applied psychology
• Multimedia
• Linguistics
• Art

Selected publications

• How educational are “educational” apps for young children? App store content analysis using the Four Pillars of Learning framework

  Journal of Children and Media · 2021 · 166 citations

  < .0047) when compared to paid apps, due to the presence of distracting enhancements. These results highlight the need for improved design of educational apps guided by developmental science.

  DOI

• Play-and-learn spaces: Leveraging library spaces to promote caregiver and child interaction

  Library & Information Science Research · 2020 · 57 citations

  DOI

• Zooming through development: Using video chat to support family connections

  Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies · 2021 · 43 citations

  Video chat may allow young children and grandparents to develop and maintain bonds when they are physically separated because it enables them to share experiences with each other in real time. We used an ecological model framework to examine factors associated with the development of the grandparent–grandchild relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many families were experiencing reduced opportunities for in-person interaction. We analyzed survey data from grandparents (N = 855) and par…

  PublisherDOI

• Presence at a distance: Video chat supports intergenerational sensitivity and positive infant affect during COVID‐19

  Infancy · 2022-08-06 · 20 citations

  articleOpen access

  COVID-19 disrupted infant contact with people beyond the immediate family. Because grandparents faced higher COVID-19 risks due to age, many used video chat instead of interacting with their infant grandchildren in person. We conducted a semi-naturalistic, longitudinal study with 48 families, each of whom submitted a series of video chats and surveys, and most (n = 40) also submitted a video of an in-person interaction. Families were mostly highly-educated, White/Caucasian, and lived between 1 a…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Translating cognitive science in the public square

  Trends in Cognitive Sciences · 2021-07-23 · 13 citations

  reviewOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Kathy Hirsh‐Pasek

  Temple University

  30 shared

• Roberta Michnick Golinkoff

  25 shared

• Brenna Hassinger‐Das

  17 shared

• Georgene L. Troseth

  12 shared

• Gabrielle A. Strouse

  12 shared

• Rachel Barr

  Georgetown University

  11 shared

• Lisa Feigenson

  Johns Hopkins University

  10 shared

• Lauren J. Myers

  10 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Psychological and Brain Sciences

  Johns Hopkins University

  2009

• B.A., Psychology

  University of Delaware

  2003

Awards & honors

• Penn State University’s Brandywine campus Distinguished Teac…

Similar researchers at Pennsylvania State University

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• Marinda K. Harrell-Levyh-6