From her earliest research into how infants learn language, Dr. Roberta Golinkoff has been passionate about helping the public understand the science of child development and learning. She has written 16 books and hundreds of publications, including the award-winning Einstein Never Used Flash Cards (Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 2004). In 2005 she co-organized the Play=Learning research conference at Yale University with Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Dr. Dorothy Singer, which was followed in 2006 by their book Play=Learning. Her latest project, Playful Learning Landscapes, installs activities in parks, playgrounds, and other everyday gathering places to inspire playful learning. Dr. Golinkoff directs the University of Delaware Child’s Play, Learning, and Development Laboratory, consults for a variety of public and private organizations, writes extensively, and lectures worldwide. She has received numerous prestigious awards and fellowships, and her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, among others. She is a coauthor of the influential American Academy of Pediatrics paper on play.
Most Influential Work:
- A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the Evidence (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008; with Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Laura E. Berk, and Dorothy Singer) makes practical recommendations for reintroducing play in preschool classrooms that have been increasingly focused on academic learning.
View all books and articles on our site by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff:
- A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Applying the Scientific Evidence
- Play = Learning: How Play Motivates and Enhances Children’s Cognitive and Social-Emotional Growth
- Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn–and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less
- Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children
- The Wisdom of Play – How Children Learn to Make Sense of the World
