Recent News
In July 2024, Dr. Lillard was quoted in this article about Montessori Education
In May 2024, Dr Lillard spoke at Montessori Public France in Paris, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha in Madrid, and the International Seminar of Neuroscience and Education Centre in Girona, Spain.
Lee LeBoeuf successfully defended her dissertation in April and is doing research at the University of Pottsdam in Berlin prior to her August graduation.
Abby Krissinger completed the Educational Psychology- Applied Developmental Science: M.Ed. program in UVA's School of Education and Human Development.
Dr. Lillard was recently awarded the United States Center of Union Internationale de la Marionnette’s Nancy Staub Award for Excellence in Writing on the Art of Puppetry (for article invited to Cognitive Development), 2024! Who knew?
Dr. Lillard spoke at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland on November 13!
In January 2024, Dr. Lillard spoke at the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology Conference in Bonita Springs, Florida.
In March 2024, Dr. Lillard spoke giving a talk at Washington and Lee University.
In May 2024, Dr Lillard spoke at the Montessori Palau Research and Training Centre in Girona, Spain at the International Seminar of Neuroscience and Education.
Christina Carroll successfully defended her dissertation, Teachers’ Learning Orientation Scale Development and Validation. Congratulations, Dr. Carroll!
Dr. Lillard spoke at the University of Kansas' Montessori Research Working Group meeting on October 13.
Silvia Guerrero Moreno, the Early Development Lab's Fall 2022 visiting scholar from Madrid, Spain, will be a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid in the School of Psychology!
Our lab members presented at the American Education Research Association Conference in Chicago, IL in April, 2023! See what they presented:
Dr. Angeline Lillard presented the papers "Racial and Ethnic Parity in Preschool: Public Montessori vs. Lottery Waitlist Alternatives" and "The Preschool Learning Study: Preliminary Findings from a Survey of Montessori and Control Teachers". Christina Carroll presented the paper "Likert-scale Measures Assessing Teacher Learning Orientations: A Literature Review". Lee LeBoeuf gave talks titled "Longitudinal Analysis of Racial Disparities Using Multilevel Modeling: A Demonstration Using Suspension Data" and "Examining Racial Equity in Montessori Lesson Presentation and Mastery Rates".
Christina Carroll presented the poster "Openness and Teacher Beliefs Among Conventional and Montessori Teachers". Click here to view the poster!
Angeline Lillard presented the paper "Children's assessment of morally ambiguous characters" at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Salt Lake City, Utah in March, 2023!
Corey Borgman spoke about leveraging research for equity and access at the annual conference of the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector in May, 2022. An all access pass to view recorded conference sessions can be purchased here.
Ian Becker successfully defended his dissertation, which focuses concentration in preschool settings, and graduated in May, 2022. Ian was awarded the department's Becky Boone Graduate Teaching Award.
Lee LeBouef was accepted as an Institutes for Education Sciences VEST 2-year Fellow beginning Fall, 2022; her second mentor will be Prof. Jason Downer.
Christina Carroll and Lee LeBouef were co-recipients of the American Montessori Society MA thesis prize for 2022.
Dr. Lillard's Letter to the Editor of the Wall Street Journal was published March 18, 2022.
In December, 2021 Forbes magazine published an article on the laboratory's study of long term wellbeing.
Dr. Lillard's book Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius is now an audiobook on audiobooks.com!
Dr. Lillard was interviewed by Jesse McCarthy for MontessoriEducation.com's podcast! Check it out here.
A year ago, the lab celebrated Drs. Sierra Eisen and Jessica Taggart with a socially distant hooding ceremony! Congratulations!
Dr. Lillard's book Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius has been selected by Recorded Books to become an audiobook! Learn more about the book here, and check back for updates about its release as an audiobook!
Dr. Lillard wrote a commentary for Child & Family blog about "lockdown learning" during the COVID-19 crisis. Read it here!
Dr. Lillard spoke at the AMI conference in Mexico City.
Dr. Lillard recently spoke in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Dr. Lillard's article "Shunned and Admired: Montessori, Self-Determination, and a Case for Radical School Reform" was featured in Springer Nature 2019 Highlights as the second most highly viewed article of the year!
Our lab's latest article "What Shall We Do: Pretend or Real? Preschoolers' Choices and Parents' Perceptions" was published today! You can read it here.
Dr. Lillard's article on Montessori preschool and child outcomes has been viewed by over 115,000 people! Read it here: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01783. This news article also cites the study.
Archives
2019
Graduate student, Jessica Taggart, organized an Undergraduate Research Conference where undergraduate students involved in developmental psychology research in the department presented their projects. See our research assistants below!
Maeve and Sydney presented their poster: Maternal Quesiton-Asking During Children's Play with Physical and Digital Spatial Toys
Mary and Meimei (with their mentor, Jess) presetend their poster: Children's Perceptions of Pretend Play as a Way to Develop Efficacy and Competence
Drake and Caroline (with their mentor, Abha) presented their poster: Number Understanding Among Preschool Children
Momna presented her poster: Exploring How Race Affects Children's Preferences for Diverse Characters in Storybooks
Dr. Lillard was interviewed recently by Linda Geddes for an article on children's television: This is why children's TV is so weird - and so mesmerising
Dr. Lillard attended the Access Montessori Conference in Seattle.
Dr. Lillard spoke at the German Society of Psychology Joint Conference of the Divisions for Educational and Developmental Psychology in Leipzig.
Dr. Lillard spoke at the 100th Anniversary of Montessori in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Lillard spoke to the Vancouver Island Montessori Association (VIMA) in Victoria, British Columbia.
Dr. Lillard was cited in a recent media article on the impact of Montessori education: A Public School Makes the Case for 'Montessori for All' Edutopia, April 25, 2019.
Dr. Lillard spoke at George Mason University in Washington D.C.
Dr. Lillard spoke at the Montessori Institute of North Texas and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
Dr. Lillard spoke to the Massachusetts Montessori Teachers' Association in Boston, MA.
The Early Development Lab said "goodbye" to their lab coordinator, Eren Fukuda, and "hello" to their new one, Allyson Snyder. Post-doc, Dermina Vasc made traditional Romanian food for the occassion.
Post doc Dermina Vasc organized an Undergraduate Research Conference where undergraduate students involved in developmental psychology research in the department presented their projects. Some of our very own research assistants participated as well!
Mary and Parsa presented their poster titled "Young Children on Why Children Engage in Pretend and Real Activities" with their graduate student mentor Jess
Rana presented her poster titled "How to Wash a Table: Montessori Teaching in the Lab" with her mentor Dermina
Hyerin presented her poster: "The Role of Mothers in Children's Physical and Digital Spatial Play" with her graduate student mentor Sierra 
Graduate student, Abha Basargekar, taught the lab to make Indian food.
2018
Dr. Lillard spoke at the Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, IL
Graudate student Jessica Taggart and Dr. Lillard wrote an article about pretend play and real activities for the Child and Family Blog: "Pretend play is less beneficial for early child development than play that's rooted in real life" Child & Family Blog , November 19, 2018
Graduate student Sierra Eisen was awarded an American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award!
More news articles about Jeff Bezos's plan for Montessori preschools have recently cited Dr. Lillard and collegues' studies:
- "The 'Montessori Mafia': Why Tech Titans Like Jeff Bezos Support the Model" Education Week, September 24, 2018
- "Jeff Bezos and the Trap of the Charitable-Industrial Complex" The New York Times, September 23, 2018
- "Jeff Bezos Cites a Big Number, but Few Details, in Plan for Low-Income Montessori Preschools" The New York Times, September 21, 2018
Dr. Lillard was interviewed by Michele Molnar from EdWeek Market Brief, and was quoted in the following article about the announcement from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos that he is contributing $2 billion to start "Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities": "Amazon's Jeff Bezos Announces $2 Billion Philanthropic Fund for Preschools, Homeless Families" EdWeek Market Brief, September 13, 2018
Dr. Lillard, along with Dr. Ann-Marie Faria and Ms. Karen Manship at the American Institutes for Research, received funding from the Institute of Education Sciences to conduct the first federally-funded study devoted to Montessori education. Click here to read more!
Graduate student Sierra Eisen was awarded the American Psychological Association Division 15 Dissertation Research Grants Award!
Dr. Lillard spoke to the Canadian Council of Montessori Administrators in Toronto.
The Early Development Lab members celebrated the end of another productive year! Thank you to all the families and schools that have participated in our studies, and we look forward to the exciting new studies we are running this summer and beyond!
Dr. Lillard spoke as a keynote speaker at the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) 2018 in Amsterdam, and spoke to teacher trainers in the Annual General Meeting.
Distinguished Majors Daniel Yonas and Meghan Ellwood presented their honors theses at the L. Starling Reid Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference in Charlottesville, VA!
Dan gave a talk titled "Do Second Thoughts Matter? Children's Moral Evaluations of Characters with Conflicted Thoughts"
Meghan presented her poster titled "Shall We Pretend? Parents Ask More Questions and Take on Different Roles During Pretend Versus Real Interactions with Children"
Dr. Lillard attended the American Montessori Society Conference in Denver. She spoke as a Keynote Speaker at the Teacher Trainer preconference on March 21st, and had a presentation and book sigining on the other days.
The 2017 study by graduate student Jess Taggart, former laboratory coordinator MJ Heise, and Dr. Lillardshowing that children prefer to do actual activities rather than their pretend counterparts has been picked up by more media outlets:
- "Children Prefer the Real Thing to Pretending" The Science Breaker, March 1, 2018
- "When it's playtime, many kids prefer reality over fantasy" Science News, February 6, 2018
Dr. Lillard spoke in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Dr. Lillard spoke at the Chesterfield Montessori School in St. Louis, Missouri.
The longitudinal Montessori study conducted by Megan J. Heise, Eve Richey, Xin Tong, Alyssa Hart, Paige Bray, and Dr. Lillard, published last October, was the most viewed article of 2017 in Frontiers of Psychology!
More media outlets have mentioned this study in 2018:
- "How 3 States Are Closing the Opportunity Gap by Bringing High-Quality Personalized Learning Programs Into Free Public Schools" The 74 Million, May 13, 2018
- "New Research Suggests that Montessori Schools Close Income Achievement Gap" NBC29, February 26, 2018
- "Are Montessori Schools a Better Approach for Teaching Low-Income Children?" Education Post, January 3, 2018
- "Studies Shed Light on Merits of Montessori Education" U.S. News, January 2, 2018
- "Rival studies shed light on the merits of a Montessori education" The Hechinger Report, January 1, 2018
2017
Dr. Lillard spoke at the Forest Bluff School north of Chicago.
Dr. Lillard was interviewed by Bob Greenberg from The Brainwaves Video Anthology. View her talk about Montessori education below! You can also click here to hear her talk about how her fifth-grade teacher made a difference in her education.
Dr. Lillard spoke at two locations in the Washington DC area -the Crossway Montessori in Kensington, Maryland, and the AMI Training Center at Loyola University.
Dr. Lillard spoke as a Keynote Speaker at the AMI-China Conference in Hangzhou.
A longitudinal Montessori study conducted by Megan J. Heise, Eve Richey, Xin Tong, Alyssa Hart, Paige Bray, and Dr. Lillard, Montessori elevates and equalizes child outcomes: A longitudinal study, is now on Frontiers in Psychology!
After this article was published, the study got picked up by numerous media outlets:
- "Psychology professor studies Montessori education, finds benefits for disadvantaged students" The Cavalier Daily, November 27, 2017
- "Montessori closes attainment gap for pre-school children" Nursery World, November 27, 2017
- "Q&A: How Montessori School Helps Low-Income Children Close the Gap" UVA Today, November 13, 2017
- "New study shows Montessori can level the playing field for low-income kids" The Dallas Morning News, November 8, 2017
- "Piu bravi alle elementari se il metodo scolastico e Montessori" la Repubblica.it, November 7, 2017
- "New Study: Public Montessori Raises Achievement, Closes Gaps" Montessori Public, November 2, 2017
- "Study: Montessori Education Erases Income Achievement Gap" UVA Today, November 1, 2017
- "Study finds Montessori schools helps lower-income children" CBS19 NEWS, October 31, 2017
Dr. Lillard was awarded grants from the LEGO Foundation and the Wildflower Foundation, respectively.
Graduate student Jessica Taggart and Dr. Lillard were awarded a grant from the American Montessori Society to study how pretend and real activities affect children in Montessori classrooms! Read more about their research on Our Research page.
Dr. Lillard's article Why do the children (pretend) play? is now in press in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Former student Lili Ma, now a professor at Ryerson University, and Dr. Lillard published a new article examining how two-year-olds' interpretation of behavioral cues in pretend play. You can read the article here.
Dr. Lillard was a Keynote Speaker at the 28th International Montessori Congress in Prague!
Graduate student Jess Taggart, laboratory coordinator MJ Heise, and Dr. Lillard found that children prefer to do actual activities rather than their pretend counterparts. Read about their findings in Developmental Science.
After this article was published, the study got picked up by media outlets:
Former graduate student Rebecca Dore and Dr. Lillard have recently published findings on White children's pain perception of Black and White children. By age 5, White American children attributed lower value possessions to Blacks than Whites, indicating a recognition of racial group differences in economic hardship. Read the full article in the European Journal of Social Psychology.
Dr. Lillard was invited to speak as a Keynote Speaker at at Montessori Asia Conference in Hong Kong!
- "Doing it for Real" The Dallas Morning News, August 29, 2017
- "Put Aside Those Toys: Your Kids Want The Real Deal" UVA Today, August 23, 2017
Distinguished Majors Sky Cardwell, Caroline Chamberlain, and Julia Rauen presented their honors thesis posters at the L. Starling Reid Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference in Charlottesville, VA!
Sky presented "Pretend Play as a Potential Regulator of Emotion in Young Children"
Caroline presented "The Impact of Prosocial Media on Children's Prosocial Behavior and Empathy"
Julia presented "Children's Preferences for Pretend and Real Activities and Roles"
Graduate students Jessica Taggart and Sierra Eisen, and lab coordinator MJ Heise presented research posters at the Society for Research in Child Development in Austin, TX.
2016
Former graduate students Rebecca Dore and Eric Smith have published findings illustrating that children adopt the traits of a character that they have read about in a story.
Graduate student Sierra Eisen and lab coordinator MJ Heise presented research projects at the Society for Research in Child Development's Technology and Media in Children's Development Meeting in Irvine, CA.
Media mention: "How creative learning could benefit Southeast Asia's children." Southeast Asia Globe, October 3, 2016
Dr. Lillard was a Keynote Speaker at the Hsin Yi Early Childhood Conference in Taipei, Taiwan on early childhood education.
The UVA Child Development Labs were recently featured in C'ville Kids! Read the article here.
When do children begin pretending to use bananas as telephones? This game is actually an illustration of a child's ability to separate the meaning of an object from the physical item. Dr. Lillard and colleagues recently published an article on children's understanding of object pretense in the Journal of Cognition and Development. Link to PDF
2015
The Early Development Lab welcomes its new lab coordinator, MJ Heise!
Graduate student Jessica Taggart was accepted as a Fellow to the Lifespan Development, International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (LIFE). Learn more about LIFE.
Graduate student Sierra Eisen was awarded a grant from the American Montessori Society to study how children learn from apps compared with hands-on materials. Thanks to all the children and families who have participated in her research!
Congratulations to Rebecca Dore, who successfully defended her dissertation this week! This fall, Rebecca will be beginning an Institute for Education Sciences post-doctoral position in the lab of Roberta Golinkoff at the University of Delaware. Thanks to all the families who participated in her research!
2014
Media mention: "This Is When Racial Bias Begins To Impact A Child's Empathy For Pain, Study Suggests." Huffington Post, March 4, 2014
2013
Media mention: "If you are reading this article, your kid probably doesn't need preschool." Slate, January 16, 2013.
2012
Media mention: "Pretend play may not drive child development as much as once thought." APA Monitor, December 2012.