Contact us if you are interested in participating!  fulcherlab@gmail.com

Duplo Castles

Does your child enjoy playing with Duplo Legos? Yes? Then this is the study for you! Come in with your child and build a Lego Castle. In this study, we will be looking at interactions between the child and parent and it’s relation to the castle they are building. This will take anywhere from 30-60 minutes, and your child will come home with a small toy of their choice!

Role Models For Girls  

Recognizing the lack of female representation in STEM classrooms and workplaces partly due to limited exposure to relatable female models in science and technology, we are interested in examining what serves as a positive role model for girls. Using interactive magnet boards and zoom white boards participants can create characters that reflect their own aspirations–selecting appearances, interests and skills. Through this study we aim to to identify models that resonate with girls, fostering their confidence and interest in STEM from an early age.

Foldscope

This study aims to understand whether presenting science activities in different ways can help spark rural children’s interest in science, especially among girls who often face more barriers to STEM fields. Children will use the microscopes to examine slides featuring either “feminine” (like flower petals) or “masculine” (like bugs) objects. Some kids will also see flyers about local science-related jobs featuring professionals of the same gender as the child. The study hopes to reveal strategies for encouraging rural children, particularly girls, to view science as exciting and attainable, even within their communities.

Characteristics of Boys and Girls Toys 

Blakemore and Center’s (2005) study aimed to rate children’s toys as to whether they were suitable for boys, girls, or both. Almost 20 years later, this study aims to provide an updated version, with raters categorizing popular children’s toys on the same scale as before. Raters will view non-colored photos of toys to try to take out any bias colors can bring (e.g. pink toy for girls, blue toy for boys) and rate them as they seem fit.

Attitudes About Flexible Children 

This project seeks to establish which traits are viewed by adults as typical for girls, boys and nonbinary children, as well as what traits are viewed as desirable for those same three groups. The methodology largely replicates that of Martin (1995) Study 1, in which the author tested a list of traits assumed to be different in boys and girls in terms of how common and or desirable they are in each gender.