April 30, 2020
The Boston University Child Cognition Lab, directed by Deb Kelemen, has an opening for a full-time Post-Doctoral Research Fellow funded by the National Science Foundation Award “Evolving Minds: Promoting Causal-Explanatory Teaching and Learning of Biological Evolution in Elementary School.” This inter-disciplinary project explores children’s learning of counterintuitive concepts in context of a novel guided inquiry life science curriculum. Applicants should have particular interest in children’s and adults’ knowledge acquisition (especially biological knowledge), inquiry learning, development of scientific and religious cognition, conceptual change, and the application of basic cognitive developmental research to STEM education.
Postdoctoral fellows participate deeply in the life of Child Cognition Lab, the BU Developmental Science Program (http://www.bu.edu/psych/graduate/devscience/) and the Boston area’s vibrant intellectual atmosphere. The successful candidate will receive substantive career mentoring and opportunities for independent research and professional development.
Responsibilities include: Conducting research and supervising multi-site data collections in elementary school classrooms with teachers and students; conducting lab and online studies with children and adults; engaging with a cross-site multi-disciplinary team of cognitive developmentalists and education researchers; quantitative and qualitative data analyses (experience with Design-Based Research approaches is desirable but not required); supervision of an undergraduate research team; co-writing reports for funding agencies; presentations at conferences and workshops; authorship of publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Job requirements: Graduate training in cognitive and/or developmental psychology, cognitive science or (science) education; background in experimental and intervention research design, quantitative and qualitative data analytic methods; excellent capacity for independent, creative scholarship and strong authorship /writing skills, evidence of productivity in peer-reviewed journals. This postdoc position is for 2 years with possibility of further renewal. BU Postdoctoral Fellows are evaluated each year for renewal.
Applications: Please email in one PDF document: a cover letter including a 1-2 page statement of research interests and explanation of suitability for the position, a CV, and contact details for 3 referees who will be contacted for short-listed candidates. Include a link to, or attach, up to 3 representative publications or manuscripts. Place CCL Postdoctoral Position 2020 in the subject line of your email application and send to: Deb Kelemen (childlab@bu.edu). Please familiarize yourself with our research before applying by exploring www.evolvingmindsproject.org andwww.bu.edu/childcognition. Review of applications will begin immediately with priority given to applicants who submit by June 30.