About the Center
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop

National Advisory Board

Sandra L. Calvert Milton Chen Allison DruinJames Paul Gee Alan Gershenfeld Sharon Lynn KaganNichole PinkardDelia PompaLinda G. RobertsBob SlavinMarshall S. Smith Vivien StewartAndrea L. Taylor Ellen Ann Wartella

 
 
James Paul Gee
James Paul Gee, Ph.D.

Dr. Gee is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University. His book Sociolinguistics and Literacies was one of the founding documents in the formation of the "New Literacy Studies," an interdisciplinary field devoted to studying language, learning and literacy in an integrated way in the full range of their cognitive, social and cultural contexts; in addition, his publication entitled An Introduction to Discourse Analysis brings together his work on a methodology for studying communication in its cultural settings, an approach that has been widely influential over the last two decades. His most recent books deal with video games, language and learning. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy argues that good video games are designed to enhance learning through effective learning principles supported by research in the Learning Sciences. Situated Language and Learning places video games within an overall theory of learning and literacy and shows how they can help us in thinking about the reform of schools. Dr. Gee has published widely in journals in linguistics, psychology, the social sciences and education and he is a member of the National Academy of Education. Dr. Gee received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from Stanford University in 1975.

Read About Our Legacy

Forty years after Joan Ganz Cooney's landmark study that led to the creation of Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop has established The Joan Ganz Cooney Center to perpetuate Mrs. Cooney's vision in a rapidly changing world.

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