INTRODUCTION
I am a Professor of Psychology at CalStateLA and enjoy teaching statistics and cognitive psychology. My teaching goal is to equip students with modern skills and perspectives that will continue on with them beyond their time at CalStateLA. My research is focused on figuring out how to teach hard things to all students at scale. My interdisciplinary approach weaves together improvement science methodology, technology development, and learning science theory. The thing that keeps me going is that this work, at its core, knits together joyful communities of instructors, researchers, and developers all focused on improving the educational experience for students.
When I am not teaching courses or conducting research with my excellent students and collaborators, you can find me parenting two tween boys, attempting to go viral on twitter, baking muffins with vegetables in them, pushing for housing policy so that kids who live in apartments can have access to high quality public schools, and obsessively reading NYTimes and the Economist.
TEACHING INTERESTS
I teach courses in research methodology, statistics, developmental psychology and cognitive development. My classes are designed to get students interested in pursuing research, practiced in critical thinking, engaged in theoretical debate, and intent on real-world application. In an increasingly information-rich world, students need to understand how to pick out, attend to, and integrate relevant information. This need is the focus of my teaching philosophy as well as my research.
As a researcher who also teaches, I lament the lack of data-based design in learning materials. Funded in part by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, I have co-authored an interactive introductory statistics textbook with James Stigler, author of the acclaimed Teaching Gap and the Learning Gap. The book, Statistics and Data Science: A Modeling Approach, is available at CourseKata.org. In addition to being designed fundamentally with how people learn in mind, this book continues to improve based on embedded assessments and user-feedback. Additionally, I am also the director of the CalStateLA Statistics Teaching Collaboration and have a General Statistics Online Course featured on Educator.com.
RESEARCH
I research the development of abstract, intelligent, and flexible thinking – the kind of thinking that helps us tackle new problems and challenges. My research examines how people learn about the world and when they apply their old learning to new problems, a process commonly called generalization. With a variety of methodologies, I test what aspects of the learning experience can lead to generalization. These research studies are done with very young children learning about shapes, colors, and patterns but also with school-age children and adults learning about statistics, data science, and mathematics.
In addition to laboratory-based research, I have also been active in helping institutions (e.g., schools, districts, departments, universities, and systems of universities) build infrastructure to help improve teaching and learning. Many professors, especially in the CSU, consider themselves to be teacher-scholars. My goal is to innovate methods for professors to apply their data and theory-driven instincts that are natural in a laboratory to teaching/learning situations. Often professors simply execute what they think is best but institutionally have very little mechanisms for examining our intuitions and design decisions with data. I am currently on several projects with CalStateLA and the CSU to build infrastructure and protocols for how to engage in improvement science with teaching.
This translational work -- to use data to improve teaching and learning at scale -- is embodied in a series of STEM textbooks and learning materials (in statistics, data science, algebra, physics) at CourseKata.org used in over a hundred institutions (universities, colleges, and high schools). To date, more than 20,000 students have completed a semester- or year-long course on our platform, and over 1,000 instructors have signed up for accounts. This work has been funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, CA Learning Lab, Valhalla Foundation, and the Gates Foundation.
Get more information about research at CourseKata.org and the CalStateLA Learning Lab website.
PUBLICATIONS
Find more papers and downloads here.
| Title | Date |
|---|---|
| Xu, A., Son, J. Y., & Sandhofer, C. M. (2024). A library for innovative category exemplars (ALICE) database: Streamlining research with printable 3D novel objects. Behavior Research Methods, 1-23. | 2024 |
| Jackson, M. C., Remache, L. J., Ramirez, G., Covarrubias, R., & Son, J. Y. (2024). Wise interventions at minority-serving institutions: Why cultural capital matters. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000570 | 2024 |
| Tucker, M. C., Wang, X. W., Son, J. Y., & Stigler, J. W. (2024). Prediction versus production for teaching computer programming. Learning and Instruction, 91, 101871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2023.101871 | 2024 |
| Sutter, C. C., Jackson, M. C., Givvin, K. B., Stigler, J. W., & Son, J. Y. (2024). The “better book” approach to addressing equity in statistics: Centering the motivational experiences of students from racially marginalized backgrounds for widespread benefit. Education Sciences, 14, 487. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14050487 | 2024 |
| Zhang, I., Guo, X. H., Son, J. Y., Blank, I. A., & Stigler, J. W. (2024). Watching videos of a drawing hand improves students’ understanding of the normal probability distribution. Memory & Cognition, 1-20. | 2024 |
| Salas, J.L., Wang, X.W., Tucker, M.C., & Son, J.Y. (2024). Memorization and performance during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence of shifts from an interactive textbook. Online Learning Journal. | 2024 |
| Remache, L.J., Covarrubias, R., Ramirez, G., Jackson, M., & Son, J.Y. (2023). The impact of a tailored psychologically-wise intervention on academic outcomes during COVID-19. Understanding Interventions. | 2023 |
| Zhang, I. (Y.), Gray, M. E., Cheng, A. (X.), Son, J. Y., & Stigler, J. W. (2023). Representational-mapping strategies improve learning from an online statistics textbook. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000474 | 2023 |
| Eghterafi, W., Tucker, M.C., Zhang, Y., & Son, J.Y. (2022). Effect of feedback with video-based peer modeling on learning and self-efficacy. Online Learning Journal. | 2022 |
| Tucker, M.C., Shaw, S.T., Son, J.Y., & Stigler, J.W. (2022). Teaching statistics and data science with R. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, . | 2022 |
| Lawson, A.P., & Son, J.Y. (2021). Priming students to calculate inhibits sense-making. Journal of Cognitive Science, 29, 41-69. | 2021 |
| Zhang, I., Givvin, K. B., Sipple, J. M., Son, J. Y., & Stigler, J. W. (2021). Instructed hand movements affect students’ learning of an abstract concept from video. Cognitive Science, 45, 12-40. | 2021 |
| Ramirez, G., Covarrubias, R., Jackson, M., & Son, J.Y. (2021). Making hidden resources visible in a minority serving college context. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. | 2021 |
| Son, J.Y., Blake, A.B., Fries, L., & Stigler, J.W. (2021). Modeling first: Applying learning science to the teaching of introductory statistics. Journal of Statistics Education. | 2021 |
| Ford, B., Chilton, K., Endy, C., Henderson, M., Jones, B. A., & Son, J. Y. (2020). Beyond big data: Teaching introductory US history in the age of student success. Journal of American History, 106(4), 989-1011. | 2020 |
| Fries, L., Son, J.Y., Givvin, K.B., & Stigler, J.W. (2020). Practicing connections: A framework to guide instructional design for learning in complex domains. Educational Psychology Review. | 2020 |
| Stigler, J.W., Son, J.Y., Givvin, K.B., Blake, A., Fries, L., Shaw, S.T., & Tucker, M.C. (2020). The Better Book approach for education research and development. Teachers College Record. | 2020 |
| Lawson, A.P., Davis, C., & Son, J.Y. (2019). Not all flipped classes are the same: Using learning science to design flipped classrooms. Journal of Scholarship in Teaching and Learning. | 2019 |
| Lawson, A.P., Mirinjian, A., & Son, J.Y. (2018). Can preventing calculations help students learn math? Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 2, 178-197. https://doi.org/10.1891/1945-8959.17.2.178 | 2018 |
| Son, J.Y., Ramos, P., DeWolf, M., Loftus, W., & Stigler, J.W. (2018). Exploring the practicing-connections hypothesis: Using gesture to support coordination of ideas in understanding a complex statistical concept. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-017-0085-0 | 2018 |
| Geller, E.H., Son, J. Y., & Stigler, J.W. (2017). Conceptual explanations and understanding fraction comparisons. Learning and Instruction, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.05.006 | 2017 |
| DeWolf, M., Son, J. Y., Bassok, M., & Holyoak, K. J. (2017). Relational priming based on a multiplicative schema for whole numbers and fractions. Cognitive Science, doi:10.1111/cogs.12468 | 2017 |
| Son, J.Y., & Rivas, M.J. (2016). Designing clicker questions to stimulate transfer. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 2, 193-207. | 2016 |
| Son, J.Y., Narguizian, P., Beltz, D., & Desharnais, R.A. (2016). Comparing physical, virtual, and hybrid flipped labs for general education biology. Online Learning Journal, 20, 228–243. | 2016 |
| Lin, Y.I., Son, J.Y., & Rudd, J.A. (2016). Asymmetric translation between multiple representations in chemistry. International Journal of Science Education, 38, 644-662. | 2016 |
| Thai, K.-P., Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2016). The simple advantage in perceptual and categorical generalization. Memory & Cognition, 44, 292-306. | 2016 |
| Fyfe, E.,R., McNeil, N., Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2014). Concreteness fading in mathematics and science instruction: A systematic review. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 9-25. | 2014 |
| Son, J.Y., Smith, L.B., Goldstone, R.G., & Leslie, M. (2012). The importance of being interpreted: Grounded words and children's relational reasoning. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 3, 45. | 2012 |
| Kuwabara, M., Son, J.Y., & Smith, L.B. (2011). Attention to context: U.S. and Japanese children's emotional judgments. Journal of Cognition and Development, 12, 502-517. | 2011 |
| Son, J.Y., Smith, L.B., & Goldstone, R.L. (2011). Connecting instances to promote children's relational reasoning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 108, 260-277. | 2011 |
| Goldstone, R. L., Son, J. Y, & Byrge, L. (2011). Early perceptual learning. Infancy, 16, 45-51. | 2011 |
| Son, J.Y. (2010). Abstracting the Concrete: How Symbols, Experiences, and Language Act as Forces of Contextualization. Saarbrücken, Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing. | 2010 |
| Son, J.Y., Doumas, L.A.A., & Goldstone, R.L. (2010). When do words promote analogical transfer? Journal of Problem Solving, 3, 52-92. | 2010 |
| Goldstone, R.L., Landy, D.H., & Son, J.Y. (2010). The education of perception. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2, 265-284. | 2010 |
| Kellman, P.J., Massey, C.M., & Son, J.Y. (2010). Perceptual learning modules in mathematics: Enhancing students' pattern recognition, structure extraction, and fluency. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2, 285-305. | 2010 |
| Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Contextualization in perspective. Cognition and Instruction, 27, 1-39. | 2009 |
| Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Fostering general transfer with specific simulations. Pragmatics & Cognition, 17, 1-42. | 2009 |
| Son, J.Y., Smith, L.B., & Goldstone, R.L. (2008). Simplicity and generalization: Short-cutting abstraction in children’s object categorizations. Cognition, 108, 626-638. | 2008 |
| Goldstone, R.L., & Son, J.Y. (2005). The transfer of scientific principles using concrete and idealized simulations. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 14, 69-114. | 2005 |
| Goldstone, R.L., & Son, J.Y. (2005). Similarity. In K.J. Holyoak & R.G. Morrison (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning (pp. 13-36). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | 2005 |
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Post-Doctoral Training, Psychology 2007-2009
- UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
PhD, Cognitive Science and Psychology 2007
- Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
BS, Cognitive Science 2002
- UCLA
Los Angeles, CA