11 October
at the Book Nook
6:30pm-7:30pm
This engaging University of Stirling talk and Q and A will explore research about play and curiosity, and their benefits for children’s lives. How do children learn from the world around them? Children are active learners, and will actively explore the world, finding new challenges and learning as they do so. This is expressed through their curiosity as children encounter new and uncertain experiences and ask questions (sometimes constantly!) and during play, as they test out new ideas and skills.
In this talk, Dr Lily FitzGibbon will discuss the science of play and curiosity – what they’re for, how researchers study them, and how parents, teachers, and society more generally can promote and protect these important aspects of childhood. Dr Lily FitzGibbon is a lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of Stirling. Her research focuses on decision making under uncertainty in children and adults.
She investigates how people think, feel, and behave when they are faced with uncertain situations, and why some people respond differently than others. She also addresses this overarching topic from multiple angles including curiosity, adventurous play, risk taking, and counterfactual, hypothetical, and strategic reasoning.
Dr FitzGibbon uses a range of research methodologies including experimental research, observation, surveys, and participatory research. She also uses tools like eye-tracking to understand attentional and executive processes that underpin these thoughts and behaviours, and investigates how responses to uncertainty affect important outcomes like learning and well-being.
Dr Lily FitzGibbon