she/her
Social Sciences Division
Professor and Chair
Faculty
Social Sciences 2
Room 257
Monday 10-11 am
Psychology Faculty Services
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.S., M.S., National Taiwan University
Learning in everyday context; cultural ways of learning; young children's use of technology; parent-child interaction; infant cognition; causal reasoning
Su-hua Wang’s research investigates cognitive development situated in sociocultural contexts, including technology, parent-child interaction, and children’s play.
She studies children’s use of interactive technologies to see how it affects communication and children’s development. For example, in a current project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF 1617253), she collaborates with researchers in Computer Science and Computational Media to study how interactive technologies facilitate cleft speech therapy; they do so by considering the development of language and communication skills and the role of individual differences.
Her research on parent-child interaction shows that when attempting to teach their babies, parents provide the type of guidance that is supported by their unique cultural values and beliefs. These cultural variations in parental guidance underscore the importance of considering diverse approaches and activities in studying or supporting young children's learning.
She also continues her research program on early childhood cognition. For example, this work has shown that infants under a year of age can learn a new concept through watching just a few examples, and that hands-on experience reduces the amount of examples needed. Furthermore, infants transfer their learning across different modalities, from visual perception to hands-on action, and vice versa.
Selected External Grants
2024-2028 NSF IGE Grant: Mobilizing Community Cultural Wealth to Transform STEM Graduate Education ($999,985)
2019-2021 Spencer Foundation Learning Communities Program: Advancing Learning Sciences for a New Generation, ALSiNG ($150,000)
2019 Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Collaborative Grants: Comprehensive Child Development ($10,000), with non-profit organizations New Orleans We Play Center and Detroit Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program
2018-2023 NIH Research Grant: Play & Learning Across a Year ($6,340,000, subaward to UCSC: $18,527)
Lin, H., Lee, Y., Gross, I., & Wang, S. (2025). Social interaction in different contexts of screen-media activities: The case of Chinese-heritage children and caregivers in Taiwan. Journal of Children and Media, 1-20.
Wang, S. (2025). Parental guidance fosters hands-on learning by infants in culturally different ways. Developmental Psychology, 61, 19-36.
Wang, S., Antrilli, N. K., Shoda, A. A., & Akhtar, N. (2025). Does device use harm cognitive functioning in early childhood? Exploring the effects on inhibitory control with 3.5-year-olds in the U.S. Early Years.
Basch, S., & Wang, S. (2024). Causal learning by infants and young children: From computational theories to language practices. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Cognitive Science, 15(4), Article e1678.
Gross, I., & Wang, S. (2024). Exploring modalities and functions of toddlers’ social interaction during touchscreen play. Journal of Children and Media, 1-19.
Wang, S., & Basch, S. (2024). A cultural perspective of action-based learning by infants and young children. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 67, 164-199.
Dasgupta, A., Duan, J., Lin, Y., Wang, S., Baillargeon, R., & Tan, C. (2023). A benchmark for modeling violation-of-expectation in physical reasoning across event categories. In M. Goldwater, F. K. Anggoro, B. K. Hayes, & D. C. Ong (Eds.), Proceedings of the 45th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 45, 1755-1762