Note from Dr. Junlei Li, Co-Director and Associate Professor: This blog post is written by Abbey Zorzi, an undergraduate psychology student at Saint Vincent College, the academic home of the Fred Rogers Center. Abbey was in my Child Development class in the fall of 2014. In her class essays, she relayed tidbits of her powerful personal story about addiction and...
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“Imagining something may be the first step in making it happen,” Fred wrote, “but it takes the real time and real efforts of real people to learn things, make things, turn thoughts into deeds or visions into inventions.” At the start of the school year, we shared this whimsical illustration by the artist (and orthodontist!) Grant Snider on “how to grow...
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Sometimes it takes staying true to your roots to discover your voice. By focusing on the themes that were central to Fred Rogers’ life we’re connecting with people in news ways to advance his legacy. On January 2, 2014, I walked through the doors of the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College to start my role as Executive Director. It...
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“… The very best kinds of playthings are open-ended ...
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When I speak about educational technology, one of the first questions I am asked is, “What does the research say?” This is a fantastic question because we want the work we do at the Fred Rogers Center to be evidence-based. But it is a very difficult question to answer. Technological innovation and change rapidly outstrip the ability of research to...
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It is the season of commencement speeches again. From high school auditoriums to college athletic fields, graduates are exhorted to “be all that you can be,” “let what you love be what you do,” “be somebody,” “serve somebody,” and, of course, “change the world.” Last weekend, as I watched my own students march in their caps and gowns, I couldn’t help...
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Do you ever feel that technology has become too much of a part of your child’s life—or your own? How do you decide, as a parent, what and when is simply too much? Fred Rogers Center research psychologists and parents Michael Robb and Junlei Li ponder Fred’s lessons and grapple with the question of how to set boundaries and model...
Read MoreHave you ever studied the label on a tube of toothpaste? A good number of years ago, out of sheer boredom, I picked up the tube while supervising my daughters as they brushed their teeth for the proverbial and interminable “two minutes.” The label reads: “Active ingredient: sodium fluoride.” Its function: cavity prevention. And just below that was a list of...
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“What would Mister Rogers do?” I asked myself, over and over again, as I stared ineptly at a classroom full of unruly eighth graders barely paying attention to anything I was teaching. It was 2003, and the fact I had just received my doctorate in child psychology merely accentuated the irony. It was also the year Fred Rogers passed away. Having...
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Yvonne Atkinson knows toddlers. She understands where they’re at developmentally, how to cultivate their listening skills, and when they just need some unstructured playtime. When Kidsburgh asked Pittsburgh families to identify five exceptional early childhood educators, Atkinson—programs manager at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh—came out on top. No surprise, given her 45 years of experience as a beloved teacher. Fred Rogers...
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