Natalie Hutchins

LIFE Fellow since 2025, University of Virginia

I am a 3rd year PhD student within the Educational Psychology–Applied Developmental Science program at the University of Virginia. I am interested in researching the development of curiosity and motivation in classrooms and, more precisely, the impact of intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivators on children’s learning in STEM fields. I am also a research fellow at the Smithsonian Science Education Center, where I support the Science for Global Goals initiative by evaluating teacher professional development programs designed to help educators implement curriculum that engages students in solving real-world sustainability challenges.

Selected Publications

Vitiello, V. E., Hutchins, N., Krissinger, A., Jirout, J., & Scoville, J. (2026). How early educators make emergent curricula work: A qualitative analysis with an eye toward scale. Early Education and Development, 37(1), 44–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2025.2517401

Lassetter, B., Hutchins, N., Liu, V., Toomajian, N., Lubienski, S. T., & Cimpian, A. (2025). “Who has to work harder, girls or boys?” Children's gender stereotypes about required effort in math and reading. Developmental Science, 28(4), Article e70025. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70025