Amanda Cardarelli, an EDC senior research associate, co-leads and contributes to studies that examine how media and digital educational resources support learners and educators. Her research interests include early childhood education and educational media, specifically how educational media can promote equity in STEM.
Before joining EDC, Cardarelli was a teacher at an international school in Ecuador and spent five years working at New York University (NYU) in a cognitive developmental lab. While at NYU, she co-led a National Science Foundation-funded research initiative that investigated how the language used to teach science affects children’s engagement with science. Her findings from the initiative support the benefits of using action-focused language (e.g., “Let’s do science!”) to introduce children to science, which increases young girls’ persistence and interest in science over time.
Cardarelli has co-authored articles published in Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Science, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Cardarelli holds both a BA in Early Childhood Education and Human Development and an EdM in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology, focused in Social Justice, from Boston College.