Barron teaches courses in the Learning Design and Technology (LDT) master’s program, the Learning Sciences and Technology Design (LSTD) doctoral program and the Developmental and Psychological Sciences (DAPS) doctoral program at the GSE. Her research focuses on how digital technologies can serve as catalysts for collaborative learning across home, school and community settings, with the goal of creating more equitable opportunities for the development of expertise.
She is founder of the YouthLAB at Stanford and a co-lead of TELOS (Technology for Equity in Learning Opportunities), a Stanford GSE initiative to investigate how technologies can provide more equitable access to learning opportunities. She was a lead researcher in the LIFE Center (Learning in Informal and Formal Environments), funded by the National Science Foundation, investigating the social foundations of learning.
Barron has “conducted seminal work that has opened the horizon for many contemporary investigations in children’s learning and questions of equity,” Schwartz wrote in nominating her for the honor. Against the backdrop of a dominant model for understanding learning that was based on children’s abilities to get right and wrong answers on tests, he wrote, Barron chose to examine informal learning opportunities – “learning ecologies” ranging from enrichment camps to parents who broker opportunities for students to cultivate their interests. “This work has produced multiple findings [about] access and opportunity outside of school that drive learning in school,” he noted.
Barron earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and her master’s and doctorate in psychology from Vanderbilt University. She joined the GSE faculty in 1996.
The Margaret Jacks Professorship was established with a gift from the estate of Margaret Jacks, the last survivor of the seven children of California developer David Jacks of Monterey County. It was previously held by Professor Sam Wineburg.