In a separate but related line of research, Waxman and colleagues investigate how preschool and school-aged children acquire concepts about the natural world.
Waxman and colleague Dana Markow's 1995 "Words as invitations to form categories: Evidence from 12-month-old infants" (Cognitive Psychology, 29, 257–302.)
[12] Since 2002, Waxman and her colleagues have focused on preschool and school-aged children to investigate how our most fundamental concepts of the natural world—concepts such as what it means to be alive, or the understanding of the relationship between humans and animals—unfold.
Waxman and her colleagues have found cultural and linguistic differences as well as commonalities in children's understandings of the natural world.
Waxman's continuing research on the relation between early language and cognitive development in children from diverse linguistic and cultural communities provides a foundation for further applications, including early interventions in atypical development (e.g., language delay) and the promotion of positive developmental outcomes and optimal learning environments for all children.
Her continuing work focusing on children and their understanding of the natural world provides a springboard for the development of science education curricula and policy.