Infants are more likely to learn from on-screen instruction when paired with another infant as opposed to viewing the lesson alone, according to a new study. You read that correctly: Infants. Researchers at the University of Connecticut and University of Washington looked at the mechanisms involved in language learning among nine-month-olds, the youngest population known to be studied in relation to on-screen learning. They found neural evidence of early learning among infants who were coupled with a peer, as compared to those infants who viewed the instruction alone. Critically, the more often that new, unfamiliar, partners were paired with the infants, the better results the babies showed. “Novelty increased learning,” says Patricia K. Kuhl, Bezos Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning at the University of Washington. “What this study introduces for the first time is that part of the reason we learn better when we learn collaboratively is that a social partner increases arousal, and arousal in turn increases learning. Social partners not only provide information by showing us how to do things, but also provide motivation for learning.” Kuhl worked with Adrian Garcia-Sierra, assistant professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences at UConn; and Sarah Roseberry Lytle, director of outreach and education, …

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Students who are undeclared, those who are looking to switch majors, and those interested in adding another program of study found plenty of food for thought at the annual Major Fair this week. The event, which is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Academic Center for Exploratory Students (ACES), is the first step for many students in exploring the breadth of majors offered by the University. Out of more than 110 majors offered at UConn, more than 50 set up tables and displays, staffed by faculty, staff, and students, in the Student Union Ballroom on Wednesday, creating an interactive catalogue that enabled attendees to connect with each major’s content in a way that is impossible through a screen or page. “Having so many UConn majors, departments, schools, and colleges available in one space makes it easier for students to explore,” said Julie Lynch, academic advisor in ACES and coordinator of the Major Fair. “It’s nice for students to talk to other students who are in the major they might be interested in.” Matthew McCarthy ’20 (CLAS), a philosophy major, co-hosted a table with associate professor of philosophy Thomas Bontly. McCarthy’s pitch was equal parts informative and persuasive. “Philosophy is something …

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Powerful hurricanes leave a lasting legacy, and in Puerto Rico humans are not the only ones devastated by storms such as last year’s Hurricane Maria. UConn professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Michael Willig is part of an international team that has spent the past 30 years studying elements of the ecosystem in hurricane-prone Puerto Rico, and how that ecosystem responds to weather-driven disturbances. The team’s study is part of a National Science Foundation program called Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER). Each summer over the past few decades, members of the team have traveled to the study site to run experiments and make observations. Some summers have followed a quiet year weather-wise, and in other years the ecosystem has been in ‘recovery mode’ following a storm or drought. During the study, Willig has documented population data and number of species for invertebrates, such as snails. While he has noticed decreases in snail populations after hurricanes over the years, nothing was as striking as the drop in numbers after Maria hit. When the researchers compared recently collected data to those collected after Hurricane Georges in 1998, they found a 60 per cent decrease in the total snail population caused by Maria – a 20 per cent …

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Sharing health information such as dieting and fitness activities on social media sites can result in improved health outcomes; but those outcomes could suffer depending on the comments, according to a study by UConn researchers published in the journal Health Communication. “If users share tracked health information and receive supportive comments, particularly [social] network support, they can improve their health outcomes,” the researchers say. “When people’s sharing of health information falls on deaf ears, however, their health can suffer.” The study, “Count Your Calories and Share Them: Health Benefits of sharing mHealth Information on Social Networking Sites,” was led by UConn researchers Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch, assistant professor of communication, and John Christensen, associate professor of communication, and their colleague Andrew High, associate professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State University. The researchers described the study as one of the first empirical tests of the social network sharing component of the integrated theory of mHealth (mobile health), which was introduced in 2016 by researchers at the University of Colorado in Denver to improve the development and evaluation of mobile health programs. According to recently published reports, there are 259,000 health applications available for mobile devices (Research2guidance 2016) for the 77 percent of adults …

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A new UConn study is helping provide a better understanding of the association between breastfeeding and infant health in the first year of life. The study, published in the journal Social Science & Medicine: Population Health, found that pregnant women who said they intended to exclusively breastfeed, but then used formula once the baby was born, had children with health outcomes similar to exclusively breastfed infants. Only about half of mothers who intend to breastfeed are able to do so, and often their ability to breastfeed is beyond their control and not known until their baby is actually born. Kerri Raissian, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Policy, and co-author Jessica Su, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Buffalo, say the findings suggest that the benefits of breastfeeding reported in the vast majority of prior research could be influenced by the mother’s characteristics, such as socioeconomic advantages as well as what they know about health and nutrition. The results from the study – “The best of intentions: Prenatal breastfeeding intentions and infant health” – could help guide policy makers and health care professionals when it comes to providing critical information to expectant mothers about feeding their newborns. The …

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For two years, Daisy Verduzco Reyes, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut, sat quietly in the background during Latino student organization meetings at three different colleges. She listened to determine how students thought and talked about what it meant to be Latino and paid attention to what was discussed, what kinds of events were planned and whether or not the group was political. Beyond that, she also listened to see how the students deliberated with each other, recruited new members to their organizations and fostered (or didn’t foster) a sense of community. Reyes presents her findings in her new book, Learning to Be Latino: How Colleges Shape Identity Politics (Rutgers University Press), which walks the reader through Latino student experiences at the three unnamed institutions. She answered some questions from Inside Higher Education about her book. Q: Your book examines how students at three different types of institutions – a liberal arts college, a research university and a regional public university – determine what it means to be Latino. What are the biggest differences you found among students at each type of each institution? A: I found that each of these institutions has a distinct racial climate, which is created through several campus features …

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A young Cara Battersby once scrawled out the phrase “Science is curious” in a school project about what she wanted to do when she grew up. This simple phrase still captures Battersby’s outlook on her research about our universe. Recently shortlisted for the 2018 Nature Research Inspiring Science Award, Battersby has been working on several projects aimed at unfolding some of the most compelling mysteries of galaxies near and far. “I’m really interested in how stars are born,” Battersby says. “They’re the source of all life on Earth.” Many of the “laws” we know about how stars are formed are based exclusively on observations of our own galaxy. Because we don’t have as much information about how stars form in other galaxies with different conditions, these laws likely don’t apply as well as we think they should. Battersby is leading an international team of over 20 scientists to map the center of the Milky Way Galaxy using the Submillimeter Array in Hawaii, in a large survey called CMZoom. She was recently awarded a National Science Foundation grant to follow-up on this survey and create a 3D computer modeled map of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The center of our galaxy has extreme conditions similar to …

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The CLAS New Heads Series talks with incoming heads and directors of departments, centers, and institutes in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. We ask them questions about their department’s research, education and outreach mission, and how they fit into the multidisciplinary context of a liberal arts and sciences education. Professor of Anthropology Sam Martinez began as director of El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies in August 2018. What would you say are El Instituto’s areas of strength in your field? El Instituto stands out nationally for the seamlessness and harmony with which the field of Latinx and Latin American studies have been united. When El Instituto was formed in 2012 by joining the former Institute for Puerto Rican and Latino Studies and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, a process of intellectual exchange had already been growing the two faculties together for years before. What interests students in studying Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American studies? Our undergrads and grads have in common with most of our faculty that they seek to turn their family heritage identification with their Caribbean or Latin American origins into an aspect of their professional aspirations. The MA program in …

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Students from the land-locked Storrs campus gained a deeper appreciation for New England maritime history by participating in their own sea voyage off the coast of Avery Point this September. The trip was part of HIST 2210: History of the Ocean, a course co-listed with the maritime studies program, which is being offered on the Storrs campus for the first time this semester. Students in the class explore the cultural, environmental, and geopolitical significance of the oceans, and how the relationships between people and oceans have changed over time due to processes like industrialization and modernization. “The purpose of the trip is for the students to get some hands-on experience with the ocean to put some of the stuff we’re talking about in class into context,” says course instructor Jason Chang, associate professor of history and director of the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute. Students tried their hands at traditional nautical chart navigation and learned about lobster traps, plankton trawls, and other commercial fishing methods. They also came face-to-face with some of the marine life that inhabits the Long Island Sound, including clearnose skate, broad claw hermit crabs, and summer flounder. The tour was led by instructors from Project Oceanology, a marine science …

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Rocky Marciano rose from a working class immigrant neighborhood in Brockton, Massachusetts to the heights of fame in postwar America. As the only heavyweight boxing champion in history to retire with an undefeated record, he was sought after and befriended by everyone from Frank Sinatra to President Dwight Eisenhower. But at the zenith of his success, he walked away from boxing and never came back to it. In Unbeaten: Rocky Marciano’s Fight for Perfection in a Crooked World (Henry Holt & Co.-U.S. Macmillan, 2018), UConn journalism professor Mike Stanton presents not only the definitive biography of a legendary athlete, but offers a vivid reconstruction of a now-vanished world where boxing was popular with everyone from factory workers to socialites, despite the omnipresent shadow of Mafia corruption that hung over the sport. Using the original Rocky’s 46 years on earth as a microcosm of the American mid-century experience, Stanton shows why Marciano’s life still resonates today in everything from debates over immigration to concerns about the safety of athletes who play high-risk, big-money sports. Listen to Tom Breen’s interview with Stanton on UConn Today   -- By: Tom Breen | Story courtesy of UConn Today

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