I am a developmental psychologist with particular interests in children’s developing spatial concepts, their developing understanding of graphic representations of all kinds (e.g., maps, photographs, drawings, etc.), and in how these are relevant for various educational contexts. My applied work has included consulting with Children’s Television Workshop on geography programming for SESAME STREET, working with the National Geographic Society on the National Geography Bee, working on the NSF-funded project VISUALIZING EARTH which concerns the use of images in teaching the earth sciences, collaborating with geographers in developing classroom activities to foster geographic education, and consulting with museum professionals as they develop image-based exhibits such as those related to earth science. My current position is on the faculty in the Psychology Department at Penn State, where I also serve as the Director of the Child Study Center.
 

Illustrative recent papers include:

Liben, L. S., & Yekel, C. A. (1996). Preschoolers' understanding of plan and oblique maps: The role of geometric and representational correspondence. Child Development, 67, 2780-2796.
 
Merriwether, A. M., & Liben, L. S. (1997). Adults' failures on Euclidean and projective spatial tasks: Implications for characterizing spatial cognition. Journal of Adult Development, 4, 57-69.

Liben, L. S. (1997). Children's understanding of spatial representations of place: Mapping the methodological landscape. In N. Foreman & R. Gillett (Eds.), A handbook of spatial research paradigms and methodologies. (pp. 41-83). East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group.

Liben, L. S. (1999) Developing an understanding of external spatial representations. In I. E. Sigel (Ed.), Development of mental representation: Theories and applications (pp. 297-321). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Liben, L. S. (in press). Thinking through maps. To appear in M. Gattis (Ed.), Spatial schemas and abstract thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

 Liben, L. S. & Downs, R. M.  (in press). Geography for young children: Maps as tools for learning environments. To appear in S. L. Golbeck (Ed.), Psychological perspectives on early childhood education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.