If you have come to this site, you are, no doubt, searching for information on language development, multiple types of literacy, or the possible cognitive and linguistic benefits for adolescents of long-term engagement in art or science projects. Or you may be interested in community organizations and informal learning environments, such as studios, rehearsals, and laboratories, in which arts and sciences work together when young people take part in sustained projects.
Follow any of these interests here, and let me know if you have further questions.
February-March, 2010
Center for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research.
Australian National University, Canberra
With Inge Kral, Jerry Schwab, and faculty of the Centre, Heath joined in planning publications and further development with Aboriginal youth in remote communities of projects based in the arts and historical and ecological knowledge. While in Canberra, Heath gave the Toyota lecture for the University (Slides, Transcript & Audio podcast of lecture). Post-doctoral scholar Inge Kral will join Heath in the United States in November and December 2010, when both will attend the American Anthropological Association in New Orleans. Heath and Kral are completing several articles reporting the processes of learning by Aboriginal youth who live in remote communities.
March 28-31, 2010
University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming
Heath gave the inaugural lecture for a new literacy studies center to be established at the University. George Kamberelis, Endowed Professor, will direct the center which will be an innovative model of decentering research and practice in literacy studies across the state for the benefit of teachers, parents, and education advocates.
Schedule of events
April 2010
April 27-29, 2010
Southeast Conference on Linguistics, University of Mississippi, Oxford
Keynote address: Artful science: Rethinking language in the learning of today's young.
April 30-May 4, 2010
American Education Research Association, Denver, Colorado
Speaker: Presidential Session: What neuroscience tells us about complex ecologies of learning.
Speaker: Literature SIG: New directions for research on children's literature, Saturday, May 1, 6:45 p.m. [This occasion launches The Handbook of Research on children's and youth adult literature (Eds. Shelby A. Wolf, Karen Coats, Patricia Enciso, & Christine Jenkins, forthcoming from Routledge).]
June 2010
June 18: Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Conference: Thinking in Pictures, London, England
Keynote: Children drawing, thinking and meaning making [Children's book author, Anthony Browne, Laureate of Children's Literature, and Evelyn Arizpe of the University of Glasgow, will also be giving keynotes. Contact info@clpe.co.uk for more information.]
Reflecting Heath's recent work in informal science learning and connections between art and science, the following publications are in press.
Just out! Bringing Literacy Home ( KaiLonnie Dunsome and Douglas Fisher, Eds.) with analyses and case studies of family literacy.
This volume, published by International Reading Association, opens with an historical overview by Heath on family literacy. The chapter argues that contemporary economic realities may be forcing family literacy increasingly into community literacy. (PDF Available)
Forthcoming. Seeing our way into learning science in informal environments. In Research on schools, neighborhoods, and communities: Toward civic responsibility. W.F. Tate & C.C. Yeakey, eds. Washington DC: AERA.
This chapter analyzes the role of observation and specific genres of inquiry that science learning plays in children's lives.
Forthcoming. The Book as Home? It all depends. In Handbook of Research on Children's and Young Adult Literature. S.A. Wolf, P. Encisco, eds. New York: Lawrence Earlbaum.
This autobiographical chapter draws on Heath's childhood with books to emphasize the fact that the majority of children do not grow up with children's literature. Falling in love with this genre later in life, as Heath did, carries many benefits, and an early life of fantasy play, oral narratives, and project work alongside adults carries lifetime benefits.
Forthcoming. Language socialization in art and science. In The handbook of language socialization. A. Duranti, E. Ochs, & B. Schieffelin, eds. London: Blackwell Publishers.
Emphasizing the roles of observation, experimentation, and intent communal participation, this chapter draws heavily on Heath's work with colleagues who have studied children and youth in remote indigenous communities.