Rebecca Horrace, Ed.D.
Educational Researcher in Children's Play, Media, & Digital Literacies
Reigniting the Spark for Play in Education
I firmly believe in the power of play incorporation to create meaningful, engaging learning accessible to everyone. I pride myself as being an educational expert in the areas of child development, child-centered learning, children's play, and developmentally appropriate best practices.
For almost twenty years, I have been involved in children’s education, from brick-and-mortar classrooms to running a homeschool cooperative program and even founding and leading a 4-H club for military youth. I currently teach future educators at the university level, homeschool my own children, and collaborate with various toy and educational companies as an expert consultant. My roles consist of user research and evaluation, to include user-testing, focus groups, program evaluation, and scholarly research; product and content development focusing on developmentally appropriate design for children and families; and review analysis of products, curriculum, content, and programs.
My work bridges the gap between play and education across toys, content, media, and curricula using UX research, child-development knowledge, and childhood play expertise.
I hold my Bachelors and Masters in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University, along with my Reading Specialist and Structured English Immersion Endorsements. I earned my Doctorate in Education through Indiana University with a research focus on the intersection of play and popular media with literacy components as children utilized technology expanding the definition of local, converting distant interactions into a common, shared space.
https://playfulinsights.com/