Research Highlight: February 2022
Research in the news
New America recently featured Crane’s study on the alignment of instructional practices from pre-k to third grade by Crane authors Drs. Laura Justice, Hui Jiang, Kelly Purtell, Tzu-Jung Lin, and Arya Ansari.
Roles of race and gender in storybook learning
Crane Author
In examining representation in storybooks, research from the Crane Center examined how storybook characters that are more or less similar to a child’s own life may affect their learning. The current study investigated the effects of character race and gender on 6- to 8-year-olds’ learning and found that identifying with the race of a storybook character helped children freely recall story details on their own. However, when asked specific questions about the story, children could recall details no matter the race of the character. Gender, on the other hand, did not affect the children’s ability to freely recall details of the story. The study author notes that “one explanation for the divergent findings for race and gender is that, because of the differing roles of race and gender within U.S. society, children may use race but not gender as a clue as to whether the information provided in a story is relevant for them.”
Parent distress and children’s behavior during Ohio’s COVID-19 shutdown
Crane Authors
Drs. Jing Sun, Britt Singletary, Hui Jiang, Laura Justice, Tzu-Jung Lin, Kelly M. Purtell
Worldwide, increased behavior problems in young children have been observed since the start of the pandemic. Lockdowns disrupted schedules and school/home balance in addition to adding a great deal of stress on parents. A new Crane study looked at how the COVID-19 shutdown affected the behavior of 247 children ages 7-9 in Ohio. Researchers found that behavior problems could be significantly predicted based on parent distress level. However, higher social-emotional skills in children could mitigate behavior problems. The authors suggest “that fostering children’s peer social skills and behavior control may have a lifetime positive effect on children’s developing behaviors, especially in dealing with crises.”
Tailoring instruction of alphabet
learning
Crane Authors
Dr. Shayne B. Piasta, Somin Park
Alphabet learning is the foundation for learning to read in English, so understanding the best way to teach the ABCs is vital to children’s learning. This study examined alphabet learning by letter difficulty and by tailoring instruction to individual learning needs. Results showed that children were more likely to learn letters when given explicit instruction, rather than letters without instruction. The children were also less likely to learn the names of difficult letters but still learned their sounds. Because of this and the importance of early literacy skills, this study supports continued research on effective teaching practices and individualized instruction.