Student-Centered Religious Learning and Literacy Lab (SCRoLL Lab) provides opportunities for Brandeis students to develop social scientific research skills, as they participate in a range of collaborative empirical studies all focused on how children read and understand sacred texts.
SCRoLL Lab Director Professor Ziva R. Hassenfeld supervises 4-8 Brandeis University undergraduate students each year in the lab. The group collaborates on everything from designing new studies, recruiting participants, developing data and assessment instruments, conducting ethnographic observations and other forms of data collection, analyzing data, and publishing their findings.
The lab's research explores how children read, translate, comprehend, and discuss texts. Using sacred texts as a case study, the team investigates what children do when they read and discuss sacred texts, how they talk about them with their teachers and classmates, how they work to translate them, and what interpretations they offer.
Sacred texts have been studied across millennia in almost every context imaginable. Therefore, they offer unique opportunities to explore how people, starting from a young age, read closely. The research of the SCRoLL lab generates insights not only for educators who teach sacred texts, but also for the broader community of literacy and language educators.
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Sheindl was one of the very first SCRoLL Lab members (2021-25), starting in the fall of her sophomore year and rising to lab leader. It was an important part of her journey at Brandeis. She credits Ziva Hassenfeld in this Graduate Reflection in
Brandeis Stories (May 2025)
. We are excited to see what the future holds for Sheindl. Mazel tov.
In a visit to Harvard University, members of MCSJE's SCRoLL Lab team discussed research methods, literacy curricula, and the guiding philosophies of their work with the READS Lab, a research-based collaborative initiative designed to identify and scale adaptive solutions for enhancing children's literacy. Ziva Hassenfeld reflects on the two labs' shared commitment to literacy and what her team learned from the inspiring experience.
In SCRoLL Lab's first inaugural year, we embarked on teacher-research in a remote classroom. Learn about our findings for the broader educational world in our article in The Reading Teacher journal - July 20, 2022.
Professor Ziva Hassenfeld discusses research conducted by SCRoLL Lab on Online Jewish Education on the NRJE podcast, Opening Doors, with Josh Krug and Sara Wolkenfeld - June 7, 2022.
Professor Ziva Hassenfeld discusses research conducted by SCRoLL Lab on Online Jewish Education on Prizmah's podcast, Research Corner, with Elliot Rabin and veteran educators Aviv Matzkin and Michal Bessler - November 17, 2021.
Wintana Sium '23, "It’s 12:40pm, five minutes before our weekly lab meeting starts. I make my way into a sheltered red and white building complex situated at the back of the University. Bold metallic letters protrude from... (more from Wintana)
Kalkidan Antonios '24, "I am pursuing a Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development at the Heller School. I joined SCRoLL Lab this fall. My time at SCRoLL Lab has helped me develop my qualitative research skills... (more from Kalkidan)
Gavriella Troper-Hochstein '23, "I was hired to the SCRoLL Lab in March 2020, just days before Brandeis shut down all in-person learning and asked students to leave campus. In fact, my interview with Professor Ziva Hassenfeld was my very first in what would become an unending series of zoom meetings... (more from Gavriella)
Truly fun to work on the Science of Reading: Tanakh project with these amazing day school educators and Brandeis students - summer 2021.
Truly fun to work on the Science of Reading: Tanakh project with these amazing day school educators and Brandeis students - summer 2021.
Eric Cooper introducing the Lab's research processes.
Ayden Kligfeld responding to a question from the group.
