Ji Son

College of Natural & Social Sciences
Department of Psychology
Office KH3061
Phone
(323) 343-2261
Email
json2@calstatela.edu

INTRODUCTION

I am a Professor of Psychology at CalStateLA and enjoy teaching statistics and cognitive psychology. My teaching goal is to equip students with modern skills and perspectives that will continue on with them beyond their time at CalStateLA. My research is focused on figuring out how to teach hard things to all students at scale. My interdisciplinary approach weaves together improvement science methodology, technology development, and learning science theory. The thing that keeps me going is that this work, at its core, knits together joyful communities of instructors, researchers, and developers all focused on improving the educational experience for students.

When I am not teaching courses or conducting research with my excellent students and collaborators, you can find me parenting two tween boys, attempting to go viral on twitterbaking muffins with vegetables in them, pushing for housing policy so that kids who live in apartments can have access to high quality public schools, and obsessively reading NYTimes and the Economist.

  Better Book Project at Google's EngEdu Summit

TEACHING INTERESTS

I teach courses in research methodology, statistics, developmental psychology and cognitive development. My classes are designed to get students interested in pursuing research, practiced in critical thinking, engaged in theoretical debate, and intent on real-world application. In an increasingly information-rich world, students need to understand how to pick out, attend to, and integrate relevant information. This need is the focus of my teaching philosophy as well as my research.

As a researcher who also teaches, I lament the lack of data-based design in learning materials. Funded in part by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, I have co-authored an interactive introductory statistics textbook with James Stigler, author of the acclaimed Teaching Gap and the Learning Gap. The book, Statistics and Data Science: A Modeling Approach, is available at CourseKata.org. In addition to being designed fundamentally with how people learn in mind, this book continues to improve based on embedded assessments and user-feedback. Additionally, I am also the director of the CalStateLA Statistics Teaching Collaboration and have a General Statistics Online Course featured on Educator.com


RESEARCH

I research the development of abstract, intelligent, and flexible thinking – the kind of thinking that helps us tackle new problems and challenges. My research examines how people learn about the world and when they apply their old learning to new problems, a process commonly called generalization. With a variety of methodologies, I test what aspects of the learning experience can lead to generalization. These research studies are done with very young children learning about shapes, colors, and patterns but also with school-age children and adults learning about statistics, data science, and mathematics.

In addition to laboratory-based research, I have also been active in helping institutions (e.g., schools, districts, departments, universities, and systems of universities) build infrastructure to help improve teaching and learning. Many professors, especially in the CSU, consider themselves to be teacher-scholars. My goal is to innovate methods for professors to apply their data and theory-driven instincts that are natural in a laboratory to teaching/learning situations. Often professors simply execute what they think is best but institutionally have very little mechanisms for examining our intuitions and design decisions with data. I am currently on several projects with CalStateLA and the CSU to build infrastructure and protocols for how to engage in improvement science with teaching.

This translational work -- to use data to improve teaching and learning at scale -- is embodied in a series of STEM textbooks and learning materials (in statistics, data science, algebra, physics) at CourseKata.org used in over a hundred institutions (universities, colleges, and high schools). To date, more than 20,000 students have completed a semester- or year-long course on our platform, and over 1,000 instructors have signed up for accounts. This work has been funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, CA Learning Lab, Valhalla Foundation, and the Gates Foundation.

Get more information about research at CourseKata.org and the CalStateLA Learning Lab website.


PUBLICATIONS

Find more papers and downloads here.

Title Date
Xu, A., Son, J. Y., & Sandhofer, C. M. (2024). A library for innovative category exemplars (ALICE) database: Streamlining research with printable 3D novel objects. Behavior Research Methods, 1-23.  2024
Jackson, M. C., Remache, L. J., Ramirez, G., Covarrubias, R., & Son, J. Y. (2024). Wise interventions at minority-serving institutions: Why cultural capital matters. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000570 2024
Tucker, M. C., Wang, X. W., Son, J. Y., & Stigler, J. W. (2024). Prediction versus production for teaching computer programming. Learning and Instruction, 91, 101871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2023.101871 2024
Sutter, C. C., Jackson, M. C., Givvin, K. B., Stigler, J. W., & Son, J. Y. (2024). The “better book” approach to addressing equity in statistics: Centering the motivational experiences of students from racially marginalized backgrounds for widespread benefit. Education Sciences, 14, 487. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14050487 2024
Zhang, I., Guo, X. H., Son, J. Y., Blank, I. A., & Stigler, J. W. (2024). Watching videos of a drawing hand improves students’ understanding of the normal probability distribution. Memory & Cognition, 1-20.  2024
Salas, J.L., Wang, X.W., Tucker, M.C., & Son, J.Y. (2024). Memorization and performance during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence of shifts from an interactive textbook. Online Learning Journal. 2024
Remache, L.J., Covarrubias, R., Ramirez, G., Jackson, M., & Son, J.Y. (2023). The impact of a tailored psychologically-wise intervention on academic outcomes during COVID-19. Understanding Interventions.   2023
Zhang, I. (Y.), Gray, M. E., Cheng, A. (X.), Son, J. Y., & Stigler, J. W. (2023). Representational-mapping strategies improve learning from an online statistics textbook. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000474  2023
Eghterafi, W., Tucker, M.C., Zhang, Y., & Son, J.Y. (2022). Effect of feedback with video-based peer modeling on learning and self-efficacy. Online Learning Journal. 2022
Tucker, M.C., Shaw, S.T., Son, J.Y., & Stigler, J.W. (2022). Teaching statistics and data science with R. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, . 2022
Lawson, A.P., & Son, J.Y. (2021). Priming students to calculate inhibits sense-making. Journal of Cognitive Science, 29, 41-69. 2021
Zhang, I., Givvin, K. B., Sipple, J. M., Son, J. Y., & Stigler, J. W. (2021). Instructed hand movements affect students’ learning of an abstract concept from video. Cognitive Science, 45, 12-40. 2021
Ramirez, G., Covarrubias, R., Jackson, M., & Son, J.Y. (2021). Making hidden resources visible in a minority serving college context. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. 2021
Son, J.Y., Blake, A.B., Fries, L., & Stigler, J.W. (2021). Modeling first: Applying learning science to the teaching of introductory statistics. Journal of Statistics Education. 2021
Ford, B., Chilton, K., Endy, C., Henderson, M., Jones, B. A., & Son, J. Y. (2020). Beyond big data: Teaching introductory US history in the age of student success. Journal of American History, 106(4), 989-1011. 2020
Fries, L., Son, J.Y., Givvin, K.B., & Stigler, J.W. (2020). Practicing connections: A framework to guide instructional design for learning in complex domains. Educational Psychology Review. 2020
Stigler, J.W., Son, J.Y., Givvin, K.B., Blake, A., Fries, L., Shaw, S.T., & Tucker, M.C. (2020). The Better Book approach for education research and development. Teachers College Record. 2020
Lawson, A.P., Davis, C., & Son, J.Y. (2019). Not all flipped classes are the same: Using learning science to design flipped classrooms. Journal of Scholarship in Teaching and Learning. 2019
Lawson, A.P., Mirinjian, A., & Son, J.Y. (2018). Can preventing calculations help students learn math? Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 2, 178-197. https://doi.org/10.1891/1945-8959.17.2.178 2018
Son, J.Y., Ramos, P., DeWolf, M., Loftus, W., & Stigler, J.W. (2018). Exploring the practicing-connections hypothesis: Using gesture to support coordination of ideas in understanding a complex statistical concept. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-017-0085-0 2018
Geller, E.H., Son, J. Y., & Stigler, J.W. (2017). Conceptual explanations and understanding fraction comparisons. Learning and Instruction, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2017.05.006 2017
DeWolf, M., Son, J. Y., Bassok, M., & Holyoak, K. J. (2017). Relational priming based on a multiplicative schema for whole numbers and fractions. Cognitive Science, doi:10.1111/cogs.12468 2017
Son, J.Y., & Rivas, M.J. (2016). Designing clicker questions to stimulate transfer. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 2, 193-207. 2016
Son, J.Y., Narguizian, P., Beltz, D., & Desharnais, R.A. (2016). Comparing physical, virtual, and hybrid flipped labs for general education biology. Online Learning Journal, 20, 228–243. 2016
Lin, Y.I., Son, J.Y., & Rudd, J.A. (2016). Asymmetric translation between multiple representations in chemistry. International Journal of Science Education, 38, 644-662. 2016
Thai, K.-P., Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2016). The simple advantage in perceptual and categorical generalization. Memory & Cognition, 44, 292-306.  2016
Fyfe, E.,R., McNeil, N., Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2014). Concreteness fading in mathematics and science instruction: A systematic review. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 9-25. 2014
Son, J.Y., Smith, L.B., Goldstone, R.G., & Leslie, M. (2012). The importance of being interpreted: Grounded words and children's relational reasoning. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 3, 45. 2012
Kuwabara, M., Son, J.Y., & Smith, L.B. (2011). Attention to context: U.S. and Japanese children's emotional judgments. Journal of Cognition and Development, 12, 502-517. 2011
Son, J.Y., Smith, L.B., & Goldstone, R.L. (2011). Connecting instances to promote children's relational reasoning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 108, 260-277. 2011
Goldstone, R. L., Son, J. Y, & Byrge, L. (2011). Early perceptual learning. Infancy, 16, 45-51. 2011
Son, J.Y. (2010). Abstracting the Concrete: How Symbols, Experiences, and Language Act as Forces of Contextualization. Saarbrücken, Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing. 2010
Son, J.Y., Doumas, L.A.A., & Goldstone, R.L. (2010). When do words promote analogical transfer? Journal of Problem Solving, 3, 52-92. 2010
Goldstone, R.L., Landy, D.H., & Son, J.Y. (2010). The education of perception. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2, 265-284. 2010
Kellman, P.J., Massey, C.M., & Son, J.Y. (2010). Perceptual learning modules in mathematics: Enhancing students' pattern recognition, structure extraction, and fluency. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2, 285-305. 2010
Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Contextualization in perspective. Cognition and Instruction, 27, 1-39. 2009
Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Fostering general transfer with specific simulations. Pragmatics & Cognition, 17, 1-42. 2009
Son, J.Y., Smith, L.B., & Goldstone, R.L. (2008). Simplicity and generalization: Short-cutting abstraction in children’s object categorizations. Cognition, 108, 626-638. 2008
Goldstone, R.L., & Son, J.Y. (2005). The transfer of scientific principles using concrete and idealized simulations. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 14, 69-114. 2005
Goldstone, R.L., & Son, J.Y. (2005). Similarity. In K.J. Holyoak & R.G. Morrison (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning (pp. 13-36). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2005

 


 

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Post-Doctoral Training, Psychology 2007-2009

  • UCLA
    Los Angeles, CA

PhD, Cognitive Science and Psychology 2007

  • Indiana University
    Bloomington, IN

BS, Cognitive Science 2002

  • UCLA
    Los Angeles, CA