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Christine Howe

Position/Status
Academic Groups
E-mail Address

cjh82@cam.ac.uk

Qualifications

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Recognition

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Profile

Christine is a developmental psychologist, whose research lies at the interface between Psychology and Education. Her main interests are children's conceptual knowledge, particularly in the domains of science and mathematics, and children's peer relations and communicative competence. For the past 20 years, she has also been bringing the two interests together, via research and consultancy on 'interactive learning' in peer group, tutor-led and computer-mediated settings. As well as resulting in numerous publications and research grants, Christine's research on collaborative learning in science has attracted considerable media attention and has had significant impact on policy and practice.

Christine is past or present editor of the journals Social Development, Cambridge Journal of Education and Psychology Learning and Teaching, and she sits on the Editorial Boards of British Journal of Educational Psychology, Computers and Education, First Language, Human Development, and Learning and Instruction. In 2006, she was elected Chair of the British Psychological Society's Developmental Section, followed by election to the Academy of the Social Sciences in 2008. Christine served on the ESRC's Training and Development Board between 2004 and 2008. She has been a Nuffield Foundation Research Fellow, and a Visiting Scholar at St John's College Oxford. Christine is married with two children, and enjoys music, art, film, theatre, travel, hiking, tennis, learning languages, and playing bridge.

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Research

Interests

Research Students

Recent Research Projects

Effecting principled improvement in STEM education: Student engagement and learning in early secondary-school physical science and mathematics. (ESRC 2008 to 2012)

Primary school children's tacit and explicit understanding of object motion, (ESRC 2007 to 2009)

Bullying, ethnic identity, coping and adjustment among minority ethnic pupils, (ESRC 2005 to 2006)

Peer collaboration and conceptual understanding: contradiction, co-construction and the mechanisms of growth, (British Academy 2005 to 2006)

5-14 Mathematics in Scotland: the relevance of intensive quantities, (ESRC-TLRP 2003 to 2005)

Supporting group work in Scottish schools: age and the urban/rural divide, (ESRC-TLRP 2003 to 2004)

Group work and conceptual change in science: clarification of delayed effects, (ESRC 2000 to 2002)

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Teaching

Topics

Cognitive and social development

Courses

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Selected Recent Publications

Howe, C., Nunes, T., and Bryant, P. (2011). Rational number and proportional reasoning: Using intensive quantities to promote achievement in mathematics and science. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 9, 391-417.

Baines, E. and Howe, C. (2011). Discourse topic management and discussion skills in middle childhood: The effects of age and task. First Language, 30, 508-534.

Howe, C. (2010). Peer groups and children's development. Oxford: Blackwell.

Littleton, K. and Howe, C. (2010). Educational dialogues: Understanding and promoting productive interaction. London: Routledge.

Howe, C., Nunes, T. and Bryant, P. (2010). Intensive quantities: Towards their recognition at primary school level. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28, 307-329.

Howe, C. (2009). Collaborative group work in middle childhood: Joint construction, unresolved contradiction and the growth of knowledge. Human Development, 39, 71-94.

Howe, C., Tolmie, A., Thurston, A., Topping, K., Christie, D., Livingston, K., Jessiman, E. and Donaldson, C. (2007). Group work in elementary science: organizational principles for classroom teaching. Learning and Instruction, 17, 549-563.

Howe, C. and McWilliam, D. (2006). Opposition in social interaction between children: why intellectual benefits do not mean social costs. Social Development, 15, 205-231.

Howe, C., McWilliam, D. and Cross, G. (2005). Chance favours only the prepared mind: incubation and the delayed effects of peer collaboration. British Journal of Psychology, 96, 67-93.

Howe, C. and Tolmie, A. (2003). Group work in primary school science: discussion, consensus and guidance from experts. International Journal of Educational Research, 39, 51-72.