Research Perspectives to Develop Children’s Social, Emotional, and Academic Skills through Robotics and Brain Games in Chile

In a transformative international collaboration, Harvard’s EASEL Lab has partnered with Fundación Kiri, a multidisciplinary Chilean organization, to enhance school-age children’s social and emotional learning (SEL) in Chile. This joint effort has led to the adaptation of the EASEL Lab’s Brain Games, which are strategies and routines that aim to promote the development of the executive function and self-regulation skills essential for children to succeed in learning and life. Fundación Kiri, in collaboration with the Neuroscience Center at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Fundación Mustakis, is currently conducting a two-year evaluation of their robotics program, in which they have embedded Brain Games and are measuring the impact of Brain Games and robotics on student brain function and behavior. This event will showcase the perspectives, methods, and findings from this partnership, including the EASEL Lab’s development of Brain Games, the adaptation and contextualisation of Brain Games for the Chilean context, Kiri’s programming and the integration of Brain Games into its robotics curriculum, and the methods and preliminary findings from the evaluation study. This partnership has enabled the exchange of knowledge and the development of new lines of research. Attendees can expect to hear from Professor Stephanie M. Jones and her research team at the EASEL Lab, Dr. Florencia Álamos, Founder and Executive Director of Fundación Kiri, and Professor Francisco Aboitiz, Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

Event Presenters:

Stephanie Jones (welcoming remarks), Gerald S. Lesser Professor of Child Development and Education, HGSE

Becca Bailey: Associate Director of the EASEL Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Bryan Nelson: Project Coordinator at the Ecological Approaches to Social and Emotional Learning (EASEL) Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Lily Massaro, Project Coordinator, EASEL Lab, HGSE.She holds an Ed.M. in Human Development and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Psychology and Education Studies from Middlebury College.

 Dr. Florencia Álamos, Founder and Executive Director, Fundación Kiri, Chile. Member of NeuroUC and Bioethic UC Center. Doctorate in Neurosciences, Pontificia Universidad Católoca de Chile.

Francisco Aboitiz, Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience, Medical School,  Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience, University of California

 Domingo Errázuriz, Executive Director, Fundación Mustakis, Chile

Marcela Rentería, (moderator) Executive Director, DRCLAS Chile Office, Harvard