FACULTY

Contact Information

sonnensc@umbc.edu

Lab:
Sondheim Hall 502
p.410-455-3180

Status:

Susan Sonnenschein, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Education

Area of Study

Children's cognitive and educational development and social/cultural facilitators of such development.

Research Interests

Dr. Susan Sonnenschein is the director of the Applied Developmental Psychology program. Her  research interests focus mainly on academic and educational development of children from different  sociocultural backgrounds. Children’s development takes place in a context and it is necessary to understand cognitive and social processes to facilitate children’s educational development. Dr. Sonnenschein’s work considers such issues as children’s motivation, parents’ beliefs and practices, teachers’ beliefs and practices and how these vary with sociocultural factors (income, ethnicity).  She (with several colleagues) recently completed a 5-year longitudinal study of literacy development in young children from different sociocultural groups. A large focus of that study was a consideration of parental beliefs and practices and their impact on children’s development. A follow-up study of the now adolescents indicated the continued importance of the early home environment for later literacy development. She is currently beginning a study investigating the role of parental beliefs and practices in math development of children from different sociocultural groups. Dr. Sonnenschein also has conducted numerous evaluations of school- and community-based educational intervention programs.

Selected Publications

Sonnenschein, S., Baker, L., & Serpell, R. (2010). The Early Childhood Project: A 5-Year Longitudinal Investigation of Children’s Literacy Development in Sociocultural Context. In D. Aram, & O. Korat (Eds.), Literacy: Development and enhancement across orthographies and cultures (pp.85- 96). NY: Springer.

Sonnenschein, S., Stapleton, L., & Benson, A. (2010). The relation between the type and amount of instruction and growth in children's reading competencies. American Educational Research Journal, 47, 358-389.

Serpell, R., Baker, L., & Sonnenschein, S. (2005). Becoming literate in the city: The Baltimore Early Childhood Project. NY: Cambridge.

Sonnenschein, S. (2002). Engaging children in the appropriation of literacy. The importance of parental beliefs and practices. In O. Saracho & B. Spodak (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives in early childhood education (pp.127-149). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishers.

Sonnenschein, S., & Munsterman, K. (2002). The influence of home-based reading interactions on 5-year-olds’ reading motivations and early literacy development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 17, 317-338.

Baker, L., Mackler, K., Sonnenschein, S., & Serpell, R. (2001). Mothers’ interactions with their first grade children during storybook reading and relations with reading activity and achievement. Journal of School Psychology, 38(5), 1-24.

Sonnenschein, S. & Schmidt, D. (2000). Fostering home and community connections to support children’s reading development. In L. Baker, M.J. Dreher, &  J.T. Guthrie, J.T. (Eds.) (2000). Engaging young readers: Promoting achievement and motivation. New York: Guilford.