New research from the 天美影视传媒 finds, though, that while some teens do experience negative feelings when using Instagram, the dominant feeling they have around the platform is boredom. They open the app because they鈥檙e bored. Then they sift through largely irrelevant content, mostly feeling bored, while seeking interesting bits to share with their friends in direct messages 鈥� the most constant source of connection they found on the platform. Then, eventually bored with what researchers call a 鈥渃ontent soup,鈥� they log off.

The study tracked the experiences of 25 U.S. teens moment by moment as they used the app. Teens leaned on a few techniques to stabilize their experiences 鈥斅爏uch as using likes, follows and unfollows to curate their feeds, and racing past aggravating content. The researchers used these results to make a few design recommendations, including prompts to cue reflection while using the app or features that clarify and simplify how users can curate their feeds.

The team on June 18 at the ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference in Delft, Netherlands.

鈥淎 lot of the talk about social media is at the extremes,鈥� said lead author , a UW doctoral student in the Information School. 鈥淵ou either hear about harassment or bullying 鈥� which are real phenomena 鈥� or this kind of techno-utopian view of things, where companies like Meta, among others, seem to say they are thinking about wellbeing constantly but we’ve yet to see concrete results of that. So we really wanted to study the mundane, daily experience of teens using Instagram.鈥�

To capture this in-the-moment experience, the team first trained the participants in mindfulness techniques and had them download an app called AppMinder. The simple interface, which the researchers developed, would pop up five minutes after the teens started using Instagram and have them fill out a quick survey about how they were feeling emotionally and why. The pop-ups came once every three hours. Teens were supposed to use Instagram and fill out at least one response a day for seven days, though many submitted multiple responses each day.

Finally, researchers interviewed teens about their responses and had them open Instagram again and narrate how they were feeling in real time and explain how they were experiencing certain features.

鈥淲e saw teens turning to Instagram in moments of boredom, looking for some kind of stimulation,鈥� said co-senior author , a UW associate professor in the iSchool. 鈥淭hey were finding enough moments of closeness and connection with their friends on the app to keep them coming back. That value is definitely there, but it鈥檚 really buried in gimmicks, attention-grabbing features, content that鈥檚 sometimes upsetting or frustrating, and a ton of junk.鈥�

Much of what Instagram鈥檚 algorithm served up was not what the teens were looking for. Yet they鈥檇 keep wading through hundreds of posts to find a single meme or piece of fashion inspiration to share with their friends. Overall, they found the most value in the app鈥檚 direct message function, not in this scrolling.

Because they found value in specific experiences, teens employed several mitigation strategies to focus their time on the app:

• Trying to curate their feeds to emphasize posts that made them feel good rather than bad or bored, by following, unfollowing, hiding and liking
• Scrolling quickly, skipping or logging off when content made them feel bad
• Toggling Instagram features 鈥� hiding like-counts, turning off certain notifications 鈥斅爐o reduce negative emotions

鈥淚nstagram鈥檚 push notifications and algorithmically curated feeds forever hold out the promise of teens experiencing a meaningful interaction, while delivering on this promise only intermittently,鈥� said co-senior author , a UW associate professor in the iSchool. 鈥淯nfortunately, it鈥檚 much easier to identify the problem than to fix it. The current business model of most social media platforms depends on keeping users scrolling as often and for as long as possible. Legislation is needed to compel platforms to change the status quo.鈥�

Based on their findings, the researchers offered three design changes to improve teens鈥� experiences:

• Notifications, like those from AppMinder, that prompt teens to consider what they鈥檙e on Instagram to do and to reflect in the moment
• Features that make curating feeds easier, such as a 鈥淭his is good for me鈥� button that clearly highlights positive content
• The use of data to track signs of well-being and its opposite 鈥� for example, tracking when users skip past content or log off and pairing this with other data

This summer, the team will take the data from the study and examine it with a separate group of teens, aiming for further insights and recommendations.

鈥淚t is not and should not be the sole responsibility of teens to make their experiences better, to navigate these algorithms without knowing how they work, exactly,鈥� Landesman said. 鈥淭he responsibility also lies with companies running social media platforms.鈥�

Additional co-authors include , a UW doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering; , a UW doctoral student in the iSchool; , a UW doctoral student in psychology; and , a UW assistant professor of psychology. This research was partially funded by the Oread Fund and the CERES network.

For more information, contact Landesman at roteml@uw.edu, Hiniker at alexisr@uw.edu and Davis at kdavis78@uw.edu.

One fear about generative artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, is that students will outsource their creative work and critical thinking to it. But , a 天美影视传媒 associate professor in the Information School, is also interested in how researchers might use AI tools to make learning more creative.

In her book, 鈥�,鈥� Davis examines how technology affects kids, teens and young adults. She distills research in the area into two key qualities of technologies that support development: They should be 鈥渟elf-directed鈥� (meaning the kids are in control, not the tech makers) and 鈥渃ommunity-supported鈥� (meaning adults and peers are around to engage with the kids鈥� tech use).

Davis spoke with UW News about her research and how generative AI might support learning, instead of detracting from it, provided kids can keep their agency.

What issues do you study around young people and technology?

Katie Davis: My research focuses on the impact of new and emerging technologies on young people’s learning, development and well-being 鈥� especially on early teens up through college-age kids. Over the years, I鈥檝e explored a variety of topics, but I always come back to this broad question: How are the technologies around young people shaping their sense of self and how they move through the world?

Since ChatGPT was released under a year ago, what are you paying attention to as research develops around AI and learning?

KD: I’m fascinated by emerging research on what kids are doing with generative AI, such as ChatGPT, when they have free time and want to explore. How are they thinking and making sense of generative AI and its potential 鈥� not just for learning, but for going about their daily lives?

It seems like with generative AI, there鈥檚 been a lot of focus on whether kids will use it to outsource their creativity, but you’re also looking at how they can support their creativity by playing with these tools.

KD: Some of the questions I ask in my research are: When does technology support young people’s agency in their learning? When do they feel like they’re in the driver’s seat of their technology use? And when does technology do the work for them and direct them one way instead of another?

My hope is that kids will learn to give ChatGPT and other AI tools creative prompts and use chatbots as a source of inspiration rather than an answer bank. But teaching kids to use AI creatively and critically isn鈥檛 easy. Plus, I鈥檓 mindful that there鈥檚 an unfortunate pattern in education technology whereby innovative uses are traditionally found in more affluent, well-resourced schools. Whereas the same technologies, when they’re introduced into less well-resourced schools, are often used more for drill-type activities, or even to control kids and make sure that they鈥檙e on task.

Are you researching generative AI? What questions are you asking?

KD: In my lab, we want to see if generative AI can make teen social media experiences better. We鈥檝e found that teens often go onto social media for one purpose, only to find themselves quickly sucked down a rabbit hole of unintended scrolling. After 20 or 30 minutes, they’re thinking: What have I just done with my time? It鈥檚 a very common experience in adults as well. We’re exploring whether we can use generative AI to reorient teens鈥� initial entry into social media experiences toward meaningfulness, toward their values or goals and away from habitual use.

We鈥檙e also looking at disparities in how generative AI tools are being taken up in different schools and school systems. We鈥檙e hoping to understand how young people use AI chatbots outside of school and in their daily lives, and then use those emerging mental models to shape what’s possible in schools and for learning.

Can you describe a way that people have been using ChatGPT without instructions that surprised you?

KD: I’m most interested in kids who try to break ChatGPT because that suggests to me that they’re using a tinkerer鈥檚 mindset, which suggests that they are in control. They鈥檙e asking: What can I do with this tool? How can I push it and stretch it?

Kids are sophisticated users of technology. And they’re not afraid to break things. I think that’s one reason they tend to learn how to use new technologies so quickly, because they don’t care if they make mistakes. That mindset provides a real opportunity that schools can take advantage of, to teach critical understandings of AI and other emerging technologies. Otherwise, I worry that the technology will start to use us and we鈥檒l lose some of our agency. But I don’t think that’s inevitable.

Are there ways to design AI tools to emphasize 鈥渟elf-directed鈥� and 鈥渃ommunity-supported鈥� experiences of the sort you recommend in your book?

KD: One example is Khan Academy, which has come out with an AI chatbot, Khanmigo. The company is framing Khanmigo as a tutor that’s not just going to give you answers, but actually ask you open-ended questions to help you come to your own answer. That鈥檚 a great vision. Now, my understanding is that it’s not quite there yet. It’s not perfect, but I think the goal is a good one.

It鈥檚 fascinating: Generative AI is really rattling some notions around learning through rote exercises, because it basically takes away these exercises.

KD: Even in my university teaching, I have had to think carefully about the kinds of assignments that I’m giving students. I can’t just ask them to write a paper on some topic, because, odds are, they’re going to use ChatGPT to write it. So I have to really think about what is it that I want them to know and be able to do. It’s not easy, but I love the conversations we鈥檙e having as educators. AI is bringing up all these meaty questions: How can we use AI to teach better? Are there new things that we need to teach? Are there things we don’t need to teach anymore? This upheaval is unsettling for teachers at all levels, including me. But I think it’s a good unsettling. It’s one that really forces us as educators to focus on the goals of teaching.

What approach have you been taking with generative AI for teaching? Have your policies changed going into this new school year?

KD: I was fortunate to not be teaching for the first two quarters when ChatGPT was introduced! So I got to watch my colleagues try things out and see what worked and what didn鈥檛. I started teaching again in the spring and decided to lean into ChatGPT. In a course on child development and learning with technology, I asked students to use ChatGPT to help them create a lesson plan and then critique what it gave them. The students and I found that ChatGPT creates perfectly reasonable lesson plans, but they鈥檙e all a bit 鈥榖lah.鈥� They鈥檙e uninspired. I wanted students to make them better, and so did they.

This fall, I’m teaching a course on research methods. And I want students to use ChatGPT to help them scope and develop their research projects. They鈥檒l discover that ChatGPT may give them a good starting point, but it鈥檚 also likely to give them some bogus citations, which are completely made up. I want them to engage with these benefits and limitations head on.

For more information, contact kdavis78@uw.edu.

Video updated 9/26/2023 to show Davis is an associate professor, not an assistant professor.

Three new faculty books from the 天美影视传媒 cover topics ranging from children鈥檚 use of technology to the life experiences of Black women to neuroscience and brain research. UW News talked with the authors to learn more.

Guiding healthy interactions between children and technology

Technology plays a fundamental role in nearly every aspect of our lives, but finding ways to guide healthy usage of technology among young minds remains a tumultuous process.

In 鈥�,鈥� , associate professor in the UW Information School, explains how technology affects children in the various stages of their childhood. Published in March by MIT Press, the book provides parents and teachers with ideas to help kids navigate the digital world in a healthy way.

鈥淚’ve been researching technology鈥檚 role in child development for almost 20 years now, and throughout that time I have repeatedly gotten questions like, 鈥業s technology good or bad for my kid?鈥欌�� Davis said. 鈥淪o I really wanted to take this complicated landscape of research that has accumulated over the last couple of decades and make sense of it in a way that could offer something concrete for parents, teachers and policymakers, and even for technology designers and researchers.

鈥淭he goal here is to offer a concrete framework for making sense of what we know about the interaction between technology design and child development that will guide good decisions on these different levels.鈥�

Using her experiences as a researcher, parent, teacher and older sister, Davis highlights the difficulties in identifying a clear approach to dealing with technology and children.

鈥淲e have accumulated quite a bit of research over the last couple of decades. It doesn’t point to one clear answer,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭hat’s partly because technologies are different. But also children are very different, and their circumstances are very different. A one-size-fits-all approach really doesn’t work when we’re talking about kids and technology.鈥�

In the book, Davis introduces the idea of the 鈥済ood enough digital parent,鈥� updating the mid-twentieth century theory of the 鈥済ood enough mother鈥� to fit the modern world.

鈥淭he good enough digital parent is trying to do their best,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭hey’re trying to steer their children towards self-directed, community supported digital experiences, but with the recognition that they’re not going to be perfect all the time. It’s the idea that, with your child, you’re both developing and figuring this out together, making mistakes and adjusting along the way, and then also importantly recognizing that these are challenging things to deal with.鈥�

Davis concludes that some of the onus must be taken off the family unit and placed back on industry and government regulation. It鈥檚 important, she said, to think of ways in which the different levels of society can pitch in and help solve these challenges.

For more information, contact Davis at kdavis78@uw.edu.

Emotion, creativity and knowledge intertwine in 鈥楩eelin鈥�

Early in her new book exploring the art, emotion and life experiences of Black women, makes clear the title, 鈥淔eelin,鈥� is intentional, to be written, uttered and understood exactly as is.

鈥淚’m grounding it in the cultural space of African American language and knowledge production. The context in which the word feelin would be used — I’m feelin that, I’m not feelin that, you feel me — that marks knowledge, a kind of complete understanding of something,鈥� says Judd, an associate professor of gender, women and sexuality studies. 鈥淚 consider the word whole in its own right, and to use an apostrophe would mark where something is missing. To take seriously the cultural meanings of the term, the language from which it comes from, I’m no longer using the standard English reference. I’m using the cultural term.鈥�

Published by Northwestern University Press, 鈥溾�� is a book that, like the very meaning of the title, Judd wants the reader to experience. Each chapter delves into an issue, idea or perspective through the lens of creative works.

A chapter on song as ecstatic practice delves into the music of a series of vocalists and in particular, of Aretha Franklin and Avery*Sunshine. Another chapter confronts the stereotype of the angry Black woman, and the emotion of anger, through Nina Simone鈥檚 song 鈥淢ississippi Goddam鈥� (and the backlash she faced for it), and Judd鈥檚 own poetry and haunting video reflecting on Sandra Bland, who died in police custody after a 2015 traffic stop in Texas.

That video is just one of many works Judd invites the reader to view, listen to or read by scanning QR codes scattered throughout the book. But they鈥檙e not meant to be supplementary, like the CD-ROMS that used to be tucked inside covers, Judd says. 鈥淚 think of it as a part of the experience of the book. It’s not bonus material. It IS the material.鈥�

Judd sees 鈥淔eelin鈥� as a coalescing of ideas over time.

鈥淚t was understanding the depth of how these Black women artists, writers and musicians were calling on people to detach themselves from this idea that valuable knowledge is non-emotional and exists only in the realm of what one set of people thinks is rational, and that desire to remove us from knowledge that is felt is another way of discounting our stories, another way of discounting our experience,鈥� Judd said.

And the cover art? Judd鈥檚 own, a mixed media piece called 鈥淔ollowing the Bright Back of the Woman.鈥�

For more information, contact Judd at bjudd@uw.edu.

Look inside your brain with 鈥楴europedia鈥�

Neuroscience and brain research is a vast and deeply complicated field. A new book by , research associate professor in the UW Department of Bioengineering and executive director of the UW , is written specifically to take a public audience inside the fascinating world of the brain.

鈥攑ublished by Princeton University Press as part of their Pedia series and illustrated by Chudler鈥檚 daughter, Kelly Chudler 鈥� explores the mysteries of the brain and offers a peek behind the curtain of what really goes on inside our heads.

鈥淭his kind of book is more for the general public. It鈥檚 not supposed to be a textbook,鈥� Chudler said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the many ways that I can communicate neuroscience and brain research to the public.鈥�

Chudler hopes the book will help audiences develop a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of the brain and the field of neuroscience.

鈥淭here are many misconceptions, what we call neuro-myths, about the brain,鈥� Chudler said. 鈥淪o, I鈥檇 like people to get a basic understanding of the structure and function of the nervous system and some of the controversies involved. I hope that people will be able to appreciate and even empathize with people who are affected by diseases of the nervous system.鈥�

Neurological and psychiatric diseases are a part of human life, and Chudler wants to help combat some of the negative beliefs associated with these diseases.

鈥淚 hope that people can better understand what鈥檚 going on with friends and family,鈥� Chudler said, 鈥渁nd maybe even reduce stigma attached to neurological and mental disorders and perhaps even help people affected by these conditions.鈥�

Written like an encyclopedia of all things neurological, the book functions like an extended glossary with entries from A-Z.

鈥淧eople don鈥檛 have to read it from cover to cover. They can just flip through and read the short three or four paragraphs for each entry,鈥� Chudler said. 鈥淏ecause each entry is short, you can鈥檛 get into too much depth. I hope people will read a particular entry and want to learn more and do some of their own research, because an entire book can be written about each entry.鈥�

The book also includes references, illustrations and resources for those who want to learn more about various topics like Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, Parkinson鈥檚 disease and even the neurological effects of COVID.

鈥淭hey鈥檒l be provided with a basic understanding of how the nervous system works, some of the limitations of our understanding of the brain, the current state of research and maybe learn some facts or figures for the next time they鈥檙e on Jeopardy or at a trivia night,鈥� Chudler said.

For more information, contact Chudler at chudler@uw.edu.

A teacher discusses respectful world travel, a historian explores Silicon Valley鈥檚 evolution, a professor and violist plays the music of Robert Schumann and a late English faculty member’s meditation on Seattle returns 鈥�

Here鈥檚 a quick look at some gift-worthy books and music created by UW faculty in the last year 鈥� and a reminder of some recent favorites.

O’Mara’s ‘Code’: History professor Margaret O’Mara provides a sweeping history of California’s computer industry titans in her book 鈥�,鈥� published by Penguin Press. Publishers Weekly wrote: “O’Mara’s extraordinarily comprehensive history is a must-read for anyone interested in how a one-horse town birthed a revolution that has shifted the course of modern civilization.” The New York Times called it an “accessible yet sophisticated chronicle.” 聽 for a 2020 Pacific Northwest Book Award.

Seattle stories: 天美影视传媒 Press is republishing UW English professor 鈥榮 well-loved 1976 reflections on his city, its history and its possible futures, 鈥�.鈥� Pacific Northwest Quarterly called the book 鈥渁n exhilarating critique of Seattle鈥檚 birth, growth, sickness, health, promise and fulfillment. Any serious student of Seattle or of recent urban history will now read Roger Sale, and with good reason.鈥� Sale, who taught at the UW for decades, died in 2017. The new edition has an introduction by Seattle writer Knute Berger.

Mindful travel: How can travelers respectfully explore cultures with lower incomes, different cultural patterns and far fewer luxuries? Anu Taranath, lecturer in English and the Comparative History of Ideas program, explores such questions in “,” published by Between the Lines. Taranath has led student trip to India, Mexico and other locations. “Mindful travel in an unequal world,” she says, is about “paying attention, and noticing positionality in relation to each other. It鈥檚 about understanding that we are all living in a much longer history that has put us in different positions of advantage and disadvantage, and equipped us with very few tools to talk about it.鈥�

Salish Sea fishes: , curator emeritus of fishes at the Burke Museum and a professor emeritus of aquatic and fishery sciences, teamed with James Orr of the Alaska Fisheries Center for “,” the first-ever documenting of all the known species of fishes that live in the Salish Sea. Published by UW Press, this three-volume set represents the culmination of 40 years of work and features striking illustrations by and details about 260 species of fish, complete with the ecology and life history of each species.

Watras plays Schumann: , professor of viola, offers new music and a masterwork by composer in “Schumann Resonances,” a CD released on Seattle’s Planet M Records. Schumann’s is the centerpiece and artistic jumping-off point for the CD, which is inspired by fairy tales and folklore, and features UW faculty colleagues and . The music and culture blog An Earful wrote: “Besides having a burnished tone and monster technique, violist Watras has a gift for contextualizing the music of the past 鈥� with ‘Schumann Resonances,’ Watras continues to prove herself a curator, performer and composer of unique abilities.”

Solo cello, Icelandic composers: Assistant professor of music and cellist has a new release on the Sono Luminus label titled “,” which features music for solo cello by several Icelandic composers and a return to an earlier composition, “Solitaire.” In liner notes, writes: “This project is a compilation of pieces by composers that not only share my mother-tongue and culture, in language and music, but also bring their unique perspective and expression in their compositions 鈥� I couldn’t have asked for more generous artists to come into my life and allow me to explore my voice through their music.”

Fanfiction examined: Fan fiction has exploded in popularity in recent years. In their book, 鈥�,鈥� and examine fanfiction writers and repositories and the novel ways young people support and learn from each other through participation in online fanfiction communities. Davis is an associate professor in the UW ; Aragon is a professor in the . Published by MIT Press.

Here are a few other notable 2019 titles from UW Press.

Seawomen, Icelandic waters: “ by Margaret Willson, affiliate professor of anthropology and a faculty member in the Canadian Studies Center has been released in a paperback edition. The book, first published in 2016, was a finalist for a Washington State Book Award.

Asian American voices: A new, third edition of “,” published in 1974 and co-edited by , UW professor of English. The New York Times Book Review : 鈥淭he stories are 鈥� strewn with new insights buried in the flesh of the narrative; they illuminate areas of darkness in the hidden experiences of a people who had been little more than exotic figments of someone else鈥檚 imagination.鈥�

Haag remembered: A paperback edition of 鈥�,鈥� which explores the career of the founder of the UW Department of Landscape Architecture, best known in Seattle for his . Written by UW architecture professor , who said Haag鈥檚 legacy is found in the places he designed, which 鈥渋nspire students to think beyond what they know 鈥� they ignite civic engagement and public service, for Rich鈥檚 most important work was in the public realm.”

Staff discounts: UW Press is offering a 40% discount on all titles during the holidays. Staff and faculty get a 10% discount year-round when ordering through their website using the code WUWE.

• Joanne De Pue, School of Music communications director, assisted with this story.

UW Notebook is a section of the UW News site dedicated to telling stories of the good work done by faculty and staff at the 天美影视传媒. Read all posts here.

Recent notable books by 天美影视传媒 faculty members explore the legal history of Indigenous nations and the mentoring benefits of fan fiction. Plus, a UW anthropologist鈥檚 book is honored, a former English faculty member is remembered in a biography, and UW Press brings out paperback editions of three popular titles.

Alexandra Harmon’s ‘Reclaiming the Reservation’ examines effects of 1978 Supreme Court decision on tribal sovereignty

A new book by , UW professor of , explores the legal history of Indigenous nations claiming regulatory power over their reserved homelands 鈥� and the “promises and perils” of relying on the U.S. legal system in such matters.

Harmon’s “” was published in July by 天美影视传媒 Press.

In the 1970s, Harmon writes, the Quinault and Suquamish tribes, among dozens of Indigenous nations across the United Stated, asserted their sovereignty by applying their laws to all people on their reservations, and this included arresting non-Indians for minor offenses.

“Tribal governments had long sought to manage affairs in their territories, and their bid for all-inclusive reservation jurisdiction was an important, bold move, driven by deeply rooted local histories as well as pan-Indian activism,” Harmon wrote. “They believed federal law supported their case.”

However, this effort ended with a 1978 that non-Indians were not subject to tribal prosecution for criminal offenses. “The court cited two centuries of U.S. legal history to justify their decision but relied solely on the interpretations of non-Indians,” Harmon writes.

In “Reclaiming the Reservation,” Harmon looks at the histories of Quinault, Suquamish and other tribes to explore the roots of their claims of regulatory power in their reserved homelands. She also shows how tribes have responded in the decades since 1978, “seeking and often finding new ways to protect their interests and assert their sovereignty.”

“Harmon brilliantly explains how tribal nations have sought to assert sovereignty through the extension of civil and criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians living within the boundaries of their nations,” wrote reviewer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “‘Reclaiming the Reservation’ is precisely the kind of history that the field desperately needs.”

For more information, contact Harmon at aharmon@uw.edu.

* * *

Katie Davis, Cecilia Aragon find mentoring lessons in the world of fan fiction

Fan fiction has exploded in popularity in recent years, with more than 1.5 million amateur writers 鈥� most in their teens or twenties 鈥� publishing 7 million stories and 176 million reviews on a single online site, Fanfiction.net, alone.

In their new book, “,” and examine fanfiction writers and repositories and the novel ways young people support and learn from each through participation in online fanfiction communities. Davis is an associate professor in the UW ; Aragon is a professor in the .

They find that “these sites are not shallow agglomerations and regurgitations of pop culture but rather online spaces for sophisticated and informal learning.”

Aragon and Davis call this novel system of interactive advice and instruction “distributed mentoring,” and describe its attributes 鈥� each supported, they write, by an aspect of networked technologies.

The two authors combine qualitative and quantitative analyses in a nine-month study of three fanfiction sites, and also analyze the “lexical diversity in the 61.5 billion words on the Fanfiction.net site.”

They consider how distributed mentoring could improve not only other online learning platforms but also formal writing instruction in schools.

“” was published this month by MIT Press.

For more information, contact Aragon at aragon@uw.edu or Davis at kdavis78@uw.edu.

* * *

Seawomen and Seattle architects: Paperback editions coming from UW Press

天美影视传媒 Press will release paperback editions of three popular UW-related books in September.

• “,” by . This is the paperback version of a second edition published in 2014. The book was first published in 1994. This edition includes four additional profiles. Ochsner, a UW professor of architecture, said the book seeks to show “the wide variety of kinds of architectural achievement and the extraordinary diversity of those who contributed to making Seattle’s built environment.”
• “” explores the career of the founder of the UW Department of Landscape Architecture, best known in Seattle for his . Author and UW architecture professor said Haag’s legacy is found in the places he designed, which “inspire students to think beyond what they know 鈥� they ignite civic engagement and public service, for Rich’s most important work was in the public realm.”
• “” uses extensive historical and field research to document the women who have withstood the trials of fishing in Iceland from the historic times of small open rowboats to today’s high-tech fisheries. A finalist for the 2017 Washington State Book Award in general nonfiction/history, the book is by , affiliate associate professor of anthropology, also with the Canadian Studies Arctic Program.

Other book notes:

Honor for Sareeta Amrute’s ‘Encoding Class’: The has given its top book honor in social sciences for 2019 to “,” by UW associate professor of anthropology. The group presented the award to Amrute at its annual conference, in Leiden, the Netherlands. “Encoding Class” was published in 2016 by Duke University Press.

Joanna Russ, who taught at UW, remembered in biography: “Experimental, strange, and unabashedly feminist, ‘s groundbreaking science fiction grew out of a belief that the genre was ideal for expressing radical thought,” states from fellow sci-fi writer . Russ was a Hugo and Nebula award-winning writer who from 1977 to 1991; her work is widely taught and studied. In 2006, editors of the UW alumni magazine Columns named Russ’s 1975 novel “” among the top .

天美影视传媒 researchers and think music may be the answer for some kids. They studied the ability of music videos to enhance students’ understanding of scientific concepts.

Davis will present “Sing about Science: Leveraging the Power of Music to Improve Science Education” on Friday (April 4) at the .

Davis and Crowther aren’t just talking about music as a mnemonic device to help students memorize facts. Previous research has shown that music can reduce stress and increase student engagement in the learning process, so the researchers theorized that music videos could help some students process and retain information better.

“It makes sense that we shouldn’t teach all kids in the same way; we should individualize,” said Davis, an assistant professor in the UW’s Information School. “We need to provide multiple entry points in all subject matters. Music is a different entry point into scientific concepts.”

Crowther is a biologist but is so interested in music that 10 years ago he created a website with a database of songs about science and math; now has links to more than 7,000 of them (the majority do not have video). Teachers can type in a topic and find music relevant to what they are teaching.

For their current research, they set up laptop computers at five science-related outreach events in Washington state. Most targeted students in K-12, but adults also participated. Participants in the study ranged from 3 to 76 years old, with a median age of 12. Each person sat in front of a laptop and selected a science-based music video to watch.

For instance, one video is titled “,” and is a parody of the hip-hop song “Party Rock Anthem.” It shows a dancing paleontologist, graphics of fossils and ground striations and continental plates drifting. It’s a catchy tune with fun, colorful graphics.

Participants took a pre-video quiz of four questions related to information in the video, plus a bonus question not covered by the video. They were also asked to rate their confidence in their answers. They were randomly assigned to watch either a visually-rich music video or a music video that showed only the lyrics on screen. Then they took a post-video quiz that included the same content and confidence questions.

In two-thirds of the music videos (10 out of 15), participants had more correct answers after watching the videos. Quiz scores rose by an average of one more correct answer after watching the videos. The lyrics-only music videos were as beneficial to improving quiz scores as the visually-rich videos.

Participants improved their scores not only on factoid-type questions, but also the more complex comprehension questions, which shows that the videos improved people’s scientific understanding and not just memorization.

Pre- and post-quiz scores were no different for the bonus questions, which did not cover material from the videos. This finding suggests that the boost in quiz scores was due to watching the video, and not by some other variable.

The researchers say everyone learns in different ways, and past research has shown that students learn best with hands-on, personally relevant tools that utilize powers of observation and audio-visuals. They also note that a person’s memories can change based on an emotionally charged atmosphere. Since music is an emotional medium, it makes sense that our educational memory could be enhanced by it.

“We’re not saying this is the only way you should teach science, it’s just a different way,” Davis said. “We鈥檙e hoping it can engage a broader array of students, to help them find success and create identities as science learners.鈥�

Added Crowther, “There wasn’t a teacher breathing down students’ necks telling them they had to learn this for a test. People voluntarily watched these videos for fun. This is exactly the type of opportunity we should be creating more of. Students will seek it out just because it’s fun and interesting.”

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Davis can be reached at kdavis78@uw.edu or 617-820-9421; Crowther can be reached at crowther@uw.edu 206-290-8826.

But new research from the and Harvard University, closely studying 20 years of student creative writing and visual artworks, hints that the dynamics of creativity may not break down as simply as that.

Instead, it may be that some aspects of creativity 鈥� such as those employed in visual arts 鈥� are gently rising over the years, while other aspects, such as the nuances of creative writing, could be declining.

The paper will be published in Creativity Research Journal in January 2014. The lead author is Emily Weinstein, a doctoral student in the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

, UW assistant professor, and fellow researchers studied 354 examples of visual art and 50 examples of creative writing by teenagers published between 1990 and 2011. The question they pursued, Davis said, was “How have the style, content and form of adolescents’ art-making and creative writing changed over the last 20 years?”

The artwork came from a monthly magazine for teens, the writing from a similar annual publication featuring student fiction. The researchers analyzed and coded the works, blind as to year, looking for trends over that time.

The review of student visual art showed an increase in the sophistication and complexity both in the designs and the subject matter over the years. The pieces, Davis said, seemed “more finished, and fuller, with backgrounds more fully rendered, suggesting greater complexity.” Standard pen-and-ink illustrations grew less common over the period studied, while a broader range of mixed media work was represented.

Conversely, the review of student writing showed the young authors adhering more to “conventional writing practices” and a trend toward less play with genre, more mundane narratives and simpler language over the two decades studied.

Still, Davis said, it’s too simple to just say creativity increased in one area and decreased in another over the years.

“There really isn’t a standard set of agreed-upon criteria to measure something as complex and subjective as creativity,” she said. “But there are markers of creativity 鈥� like complexity and risk-taking and breaking away from the standard mold 鈥� that appear to have changed.”

The researchers also note that the period of study was a time of great innovation in digital art, with new tools for creative production and boundless examples of fine art a mere click or two away, serving to inform and inspire the students in their own work.

Davis said that while previous research has typically studied creativity in a lab setting, this work examined student creative work in a more “naturalistic” setting, where it is found in everyday life.

She added that with data from such a naturalistic setting, researchers cede a degree of control over the characteristics of the sample being studied, and the findings cannot safely be generalized to all American youth.

“It remains an open question as to whether the entire U.S. has seen a decline in literary creativity and a parallel increase in visual creativity among its youth over the last 20 years,” Davis said. “Because society 鈥� indeed any society 鈥� depends on the creativity of its citizens to flourish, this is a question that warrants serious attention in future creativity research.”

The paper’s other co-authors are Zachary Clark and Donna DiBartolomeo, former graduate students at Harvard.

The findings are also discussed in Davis’ recent book with Howard Gardner, “.” The research was funded by the James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation.

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For more information or a copy of the paper, contact Davis at 206-221-7741 or kdavis78@uw.edu; or Weinstein at 914-420-1454, or emily_weinstein@mail.harvard.edu.

, assistant professor in the , collaborated on the book with Harvard educator and author . Their work, she said, asked the question, “How are kids today different from kids 20 years ago, and to what extent can we attribute those differences to digital media technologies?”

The researchers conducted extensive research and reviewed existing literature relating to important spheres of young people’s lives: identity, intimacy and imagination.

They interviewed about 200 young people in New England and Bermuda, held focus groups with educators and others with long experience working with youth, and spoke with 20 young women who had written blogs as teenagers. They also conducted in-depth analyses of fiction writing and artwork by middle and high school students over the last two decades, documenting changes content, structure and how the young writers and artists referred to technology.

“Our research points to the emergence of what we’re calling an ‘app mentality’ where young people increasingly come to see the world in terms of a collection of apps,” Davis said. To find information or communicate with peers, “they look toward technology first, embodied by the app as a central metaphor.”

But many apps are narrow in focus and scope, performing but a single, circumscribed task. Davis said young users can come to feel such “cut-and-dried,” app-provided answers are the only ones worth knowing, “and that the ones they can’t answer are maybe not worth asking.”

She said young users of technology can become “app-dependent” by relying too much on such narrowly focused tools. The authors propose striving instead to be “app-enabled” by choosing and using more flexible, open-ended digital tools that engage the imagination and encourage creative thinking.

“When one is app-enabled, technology is used as a springboard for new experiences,” Davis said. “It does not dictate the form these experiences take.”

The authors cite an app called “Digicubes” as an example of enabling rather than limiting its users. The app allows users to explore its world in their own style and toward their own ends. Gardner and Davis note, however, that even such open-ended apps can be used in limiting ways.

Davis also relates app-dependence to a trend that emerged in their adult focus groups, where educators pointed to a decrease in risk-taking behavior 鈥� “in putting yourself out there in relationships, in the comfort of exploring who you are.” Digital media may not be directly responsible for this trend, but the ease of filtering one’s actions and interactions through a screen, she said, can be seen to support it.

The question of enabling versus dependence-causing apps plays out in education as well, the authors note. Rather than encourage creativity and exploration, many early educational apps reflect the constrained, schoolroom-style inquiry of the pre-app era. Davis and Gardner view this as a missed opportunity in danger of becoming baked into the system for years to come.

“I think that overall this book is a call for us all to pause for a second and reflect on how we are using 鈥� and being used by 鈥� technology,” Davis said. “And then to figure out how to use technology to become the people we want to be.”

Gardner is a professor of cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Research for the book was funded by the James and Judith K. Dimon Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

“” will be published in October by Yale University Press.

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For more information, contact Davis at 206-221-7741 or kdavis78@uw.edu.