UTSA psychologist Brenda Hannon studies learning skills in pre-readers
(April 28, 2010)--How do pre-reading children use cognitive thinking skills and word skills to understand spoken text? That's the mystery Brenda Hannon, UTSA assistant professor of psychology, is trying to solve.
"There are no good tools to identify if a young child is going to have problems learning and reading, so I'm working on developing, testing and comparing measures that would help make that determination," said Hannon.
Hannon is working with children and parents in the UTSA community. The kids spend two hours in a lab on the UTSA Main Campus viewing animated pictures and listening to various texts. The children are tested for their understanding of the pictures, auditory text and auditory words. The children also are asked to compare similarities and differences between images, and a researcher records the data.
According to Hannon, the children's prior knowledge from memory is tested and their deductive and inductive reasoning skills also are being tested when new information is presented in some of the tasks.
When the study is over, both children and parents leave in good spirits. Kids receive a $10 package that consists of toys such as coloring books, puzzles and bubbles. Parents are given a gift card to Barnes and Noble.
More volunteers are needed. Requirements call for children to be four to six years of age, free of known learning disabilities and predominantly English speaking. Children must be accompanied by a parent or adult.
For more information, contact Brenda Hannon at 210-458-7479.
Events
The UTSA Office of Undergraduate is proud to celebrate National Undergraduate Research with an annual event sponsored by the (OUR) featuring students will showcase undergraduate student research and creative endeavors from all disciplines across campus.
Various LocationsDía en la Sombrilla, formerly Fiesta UTSA, is a festival hosted each spring as a part of Fiesta® San Antonio events. Sponsored by Roadrunner Productions, the event features music, food, confetti, games, event t-shirts, and more.
Sombrilla Plaza and Central Plaza, Main CampusFiesta Arts Fair features contemporary art from more than 100 artists from across the U.S., Fiesta favorite foods, drinks, live music by local and regional performers, and a Young Artists Garden providing opportunities for budding artists to learn, explore and express their creativity.
UTSA Southwest CampusJoin the PEACE Center and Wellbeing Services for Denim Day, a day of learning about the importance of consent and why we wear denim on the last Wednesday of the month each April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Stop by our Denim Day display to take a photo in front of our Denim Wall, spin the "Is It Consent?" Wheel, and get a Concha or goodie.
Student Union Window Lounge, Main CampusLearn to use Zotero®, a citation manager that can help you store and organize citations you find during your research. Zotero can generate bibliographies in various styles, insert in-text citations and allow you to share sources with collaborators.
Virtual EventCelebrate the accomplishments of College of Education and Human Development, College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Sciences and University College.
AlamodomeCelebrate the accomplishments of Alvarez College of Business, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.
Alamodome