Emily J. Hopkins, Ph.D.

Education

B.S., Brown University
M.A., Ph.D., University of Virginia

Research Interests

Dr. Hopkins completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. Her research focuses on the role of play and fictional media in early childhood, particularly in how play and stories can be used as educational tools. Dr. Hopkins teaches Research Methods & Statistics, Fundamentals of Psychology, and Lifespan Development courses. Representative research:

Hopkins, E. J., & Lillard, A. S. (2021). The Magic School Bus dilemma: How fantasy affects children’s learning from stories. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 210, 105212.

Hopkins, E. J., & Weisberg, D. S. (2021). Investigating the effectiveness of fantasy stories for teaching scientific principles. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 203, 15047.

Weisberg, D. S., & Hopkins, E. J. (2020). Preschoolers’ extension and export of information from realistic and fantastical stories. Infant and Child Development, 29, e2182.

Hopkins, E. J., Toub, T. S., Hassinger-Das, B., Golinkoff, R. M, & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2019). Playing for the future: Redefining early childhood education. In D. Whitebread et al. (Eds.), SAGE Handbook of Developmental Psychology and Early Childhood Education. SAGE.

Hopkins, E. J., Dore, R. A., & Lillard, A. S. (2015). Do children learn from pretense? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 130, 1-18.

https://www.emilyjhopkins.com/