Michele W. Berger

Five tips for talking to young children about COVID-19 today

Many vaccinated adults have started going maskless, but most children still cannot. Some states are now fully open. Psychologist Caroline Watts offers parents language they can use to talk openly as a family about this newest phase of the pandemic.

Michele W. Berger

The ins and outs of research, through a yearlong practicum

The course, which just completed its third iteration, takes undergrads through the process, from generating a hypothesis and creating experiments to analyzing results and writing a paper. The most recent cohort studied mentorship and educational inequality.

Michele W. Berger

A link between childhood stress and early molars

Penn researchers discovered that children from lower-income backgrounds and those who go through greater adverse childhood experiences get their first permanent molars sooner.

Michele W. Berger

Scientists say active early learning shapes the adult brain

Through the Abecedarian Project, an early education, randomized controlled trial that has followed children since 1971, Penn and Virginia Tech researchers reveal new discoveries about brain structure decades later.

Michele W. Berger

A mental health checkup for children and adolescents, a year into COVID

As a whole, this group experienced a significant short-term psychological toll. Though the long-term consequences aren’t yet known, particularly given how the year disproportionately exacerbated adverse childhood experiences, Penn experts remain cautiously optimistic.

Michele W. Berger

Turning an archaeological practice on its head

In a new book, Megan Kassabaum challenges the field to take a forward-looking approach, rather than one that looks backward. She does this through the study of a Native American architectural feature called platform mounds.

Michele W. Berger