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The Center for Child and Family Studies

Current Research at CCFS

The Early Childhood Laboratory at the CCFS is a lab school, and one of the primary functions of a lab school is to provide opportunities for research. Described here are summaries of some recent and current research projects that have used space at or recruited participants from the CCFS.

The Early Literacy Environments Study:

Recently, CCFS staff collected data in the preschool rooms (afternoon Red Room and morning Green Room) to measure how different preschool early literacy environments affected children's language and literacy skill development over the year. The Red Room and the Green Room chose to implement different room environment styles and to encourage pre-literacy skills in different ways. (Both rooms scored high on a measure of the literacy environment, the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation Toolkit, but did so in different ways.) The quality of the literacy environments was tested twice during last year as were children's pre-literacy skills. Data from this study are currently being analyzed. We will look to see whether the different literacy environments are associated with different pre-literacy skills and whether improvements in the literacy environments are associated with improvements in pre-literacy skills over time. We hope to expand this study to include more preschools and also to include follow-up measurement of children's skills to see if differences last into the grade school years. This study will give us information about what types of improvements in the literacy environment are worthwhile for preschools to make.

The Young Children's Map Use Skills and Learning Study:

This study is being conducted by a Human Development graduate student, Yoko Tsubota, under the supervision of a Human Development faculty member, Dr. Zhe Chen. It has taken place partially in a CCFS laboratory and partially elsewhere. Some children enrolled at the ECL have participated in this study outside of program time. In this study, 2 ½- to 3 ½-year-olds use different types of maps to find hidden toys. Then, they explain to the researcher why they chose to look for the toy in the location they did. Typically, children learn first that things that are similar shapes on the map and in the three-dimensional world correspond to each other. They do not learn that locations on the map and in the three dimensional world can correspond to each other regardless of whether or not they look the same until later. Ms. Tsubota is interested in whether younger children can be taught the location correspondence earlier and if so, how can they learn it and what changes take place in children's thinking as they learn the correspondence. Ms. Tsubota is starting a new wave of recruitment, so expect to see her and her research assistants handing out flyers soon!

The Effects of Home and Childcare Environments on Infants' Social and Cognitive Development Study:

Human Development faculty members, Dr. Lenna Ontai-Grzebik and Dr. Ann Mastergeorge, along with a number of graduate students are conducting another ongoing study at CCFS with participants from the ECL as well as from other childcare centers. Drs. Ontai-Grzebik and Mastergeorge are interested in looking at how home and childcare environments interact to affect infants' cognitive and social development. This includes finding similarities and differences in goals for children's development between mothers and caregivers at the child's childcare center, measuring how these similarities and differences affect children's development between 12 and 18 months, and determining whether quality interactions at home and at childcare work together or each affect children's development separately. This study involves parents and childcare providers filling out questionnaires, video taped observations of children interacting with their mothers or caregivers in home, childcare, and laboratory settings, and completion of tasks designed to measure children's social and cognitive development during laboratory visits. This study will provide information that will help childcare centers provide optimal care for infants and toddlers and that will help parents understand how home and childcare environments interact which will allow parents to be better able to choose appropriate childcare for their children. Currently, participants in this study are taking part in laboratory and home follow-up visits.

Television Viewing Behavior Study:

CCFS Research and Outreach Coordinator, Dr. Joanne Deocampo, and several undergraduate and graduate students have recently begun a new research project at CCFS. They are interested in whether the viewing context makes a difference in how children interpret and remember what they have seen on television. Do children who watch educational shows with a parent learn more from those shows than do children who watch alone? What about children who watch with a same-aged peer or with an older sibling? How do these different viewing contexts affect children's interpretation of other types of shows, such as fantasy shows or shows with a moral? Dr. Deocampo is currently recruiting 3- to 5-year-olds to watch clips of children's shows (such as Mr. Roger's Neighborhood) alone, with a parent, with a peer, or with a sibling. After watching a clip, researchers ask children about what they saw to determine how children have interpreted what they have seen and what they have learned. Results will help determine recommendations for parents, educators, and policy makers about how children should watch television (if they watch at all) and what they can be expected to understand under what conditions. Keep an eye out for recruitment letters for this study!

The Use of Stepping Stones to Enhance Toddler's Self-Conscious Locomotor Planning Study:

Human Development faculty member, Dr. Larry Harper, and his assistant, Karen McCluskey are conducting an ongoing study of walking infants' use of the stepping stones in the Infant Garden at CCFS. They collect data in the fall and spring by videotaping and observing children walking, crawling, or otherwise using the stepping stones. They are interested in whether mastering walking or running changes how infants use the stepping stones, whether the pattern in which the stepping stones are set as well as their size affects how infants use the stepping stones, and whether the amount and quality of how they use the stepping stones predicts the level of infants' motor skills.

The Sleep Disorders in Children with Autism Study:

M.I.N.D institute faculty members, Dr. Thomas Anders, Dr. Beth Goodlin-Jones, and Dr. Sally Rogers, are recruiting normally developing toddlers and preschoolers to participate in cognitive tasks, observed naptime procedures, and videotaping of sleep as comparisons to autistic children with sleep disorders.