Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D.

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Professor in the Department of Psychology at Temple University, where she serves as director of the Infant Language Laboratory and co-founder of the Center for Re-Imagining Children’s Learning and Education. Her research in the areas of early language development, literacy, and infant cognition has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and Human Development, resulting in 11 books and over 100 publications. She is a recipient of APA Award for Distinguished Service; Temple University’s Great Teacher Award and the Paul Eberman Research Award, is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society, served as the associate editor of Child Development and is treasurer of the International Association for Infant Studies.

Hirsh-Pasek’s book, Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Children Really Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less, won the prestigious Books for Better Life Award as the best psychology book in 2003. She is deeply invested in bridging the gap between research and practice. To that end, she was a researcher on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, co-developed the language and literacy preschool curricula for the State of California and has consulted with toy companies and media programs like Sesame Workshop.

One of Hirsh-Pasek’s endeavors, as co-founder of Play for Tomorrow, a consortium of educators, business leaders, authors, and researchers, was to organize the “Ultimate Block Party” in 2010 in Central Park in New York City. Play for Tomorrow is dedicated to shining a light on the vital role of playtime in children’s development and education. The Ultimate Block Party was the first of several events in a national campaign intended to promote that message.

Hirsh-Pasek has developed a system for both instructional design and assessment backed up by her own research in learning development for the college age level student. She believes that “Memorizing content and regurgitating will never help students become critical thinkers themselves” and uses her system in her own teaching.

Hirsh-Pasek received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.