Each student is required to give a presentation on an assigned paper. Presentations should include the following:
Background: Place the paper within the field of infant visual cognition. What past work has addressed related issues? What open questions exist today? End by talking about which of these questions the assigned paper addresses.
Summary: A non critical summary of the paper. Describe the experiment conducted. What methodology was employed? What results were obtained? What inferences did the authors make from the results?
Critical Evaluation: Was the methodology sound? Were there the authors’ inferences valid? What other possible inferences could have been made from the results? What other evidence lends credence to the authors’ inferences? Against? What avenues of future research does work suggest?
Discussion: Open to the entire class; led by the presenter. In discussing a paper, students are encouraged not to simply accept the findings, but challenge them. This is still a very open field; few findings are undisputed. It is thus essential that all results and inferences be rigorously examined.