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I pursued a graduate degree to seek explanations to multidisciplinary inquiries: Why do we learn? How do we learn? Can our environments impact the ways we learn? Currently, my research explores the effects of disfluent verbal instruction (i.e., filler words such as “hm”, “ooh”, “um”, etc.) on exploratory behaviours and feelings of confidence in school-aged children. Despite our ability to gather meaning from disfluencies, we are never explicitly taught how – we all just seem to do it. As such, the effects of instructional disfluencies on children’s behaviour can provide unique insight into the role of social learning in cognitive development. This work has broad implications for pedagogy: understanding the effects of instructional delivery may help teachers and parents better construct environments conducive to exploration and student confidence.
I integrate the developmental and educational research skills I have acquired to implicate solutions to real-world educational issues experienced by children and adolescents. I am a volunteer researcher with the Simbi Foundation, which aims to increase access to education through digital curricula for Sudanese refugees living in Uganda.
Academic research has historically, purposefully, and systemically excluded diverse perspectives. Both my short- and long-term goals include ensuring the diversity of my data in collection and reach. This will require designing and using novel paradigms, as well as continuously relearning the ways I as a researcher, view the benefits and importance of diversity in local research and science as a whole.
