Naomi Polinsky
Papers
1
Total Citations
4
H-Index
1
About
Naomi Polinsky investigates how children learn in collaborative, technology-rich environments, with a focus on the cognitive and social processes underlying early computational thinking. Her work bridges developmental psychology and education, examining how parent-child interactions shape symbolic understanding during coding activities. In her highly cited 2021 study, "Symbolic Relations in Collaborative Coding," Polinsky conducted detailed interaction analysis of parent-daughter dyads programming a codable robot, revealing how families negotiate meaning across multiple symbol systems—numerical inputs, spatial reasoning, and code commands—to achieve shared goals. This research illuminates the subtle scaffolding strategies parents use to help children map between abstract symbols and concrete robot actions, contributing foundational insights to the design of playful learning technologies. With 4 citations and growing influence, Polinsky’s work is notable for its methodological rigor in capturing real-time collaborative problem-solving. Her findings have implications for STEM education, particularly in understanding how informal coding activities can foster symbolic reasoning and joint attention. By foregrounding the relational dynamics of learning, Polinsky offers a nuanced view of how children develop computational literacies through guided participation.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
- 1