Our workshops, seminars and key events help researchers, policy makers, practitioners, and families enhance their skills to support young children by:
- Offering valuable early childhood professional development experiences;
- Providing opportunities for the university and greater community to learn about topics related to children’s learning and development;
- Bringing renowned speakers and experts together to discuss matters related to children’s well-being.
These monthly, Wednesday forums provide opportunities for the university and greater community to learn about topics related to children’s well-being. The forum showcases research from Ohio State faculty across disciplines and encourages community dialogue as it relates to research, practice and policy. Held in the College Commons, 260 Ramseyer Hall, 29 W. Woodruff Avenue from 12:00–1:00pm, these free events provide lunch and are open to all!
December 11, 2019
Vocabulary Learning on Augmentative & Alternative Communication Systems
Dr. Allison Bean, Associate Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences
Dr. Bean presented on two studies that she conducted to understand how adults and children learn on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. AAC systems are devices used to provide a way to communicate for individuals who are unable to use spoken language. These devices can be books, text to speech devices, applications on tablets or cell phones, etc. Within these devices there are symbol-based systems, which use symbols that an individual can select to communicate, or location-based systems which uses the layout of the screen to help individuals communicate.
The research is limited as to how vocabulary is learned on AAC systems. Dr. Bean’s studied both adults and children using these systems. Initial results show that both adults and children are capable of fast mapping words on an AAC system after a single teaching session. Children learn vocabulary more immediately on the location-based system but retain words longer on the symbol-based system.
View the slides.
Watch the presentation.
November 6, 2019
It’s not that they’re big, it’s just that they’re Black: Understanding narratives regarding suspension and expulsion for Black boys
Dr. Scott Graves, Jr., Associate Professor of School Psychology in the Department of Educational Studies
Dr. Graves spoke to a packed house, at our largest-attended research forum yet. The presentation opened up with background on black male stereotypes as related to preschool suspension. He referenced the Yale Preschool Study, which found that teacher bias appears to be associated, in part, with the teacher’s own race, and leads to the discrimination of boys, especially boys who are Black and physically larger. U.S. Department of Education data also shows that black students represent 18% of preschool enrollment, but represent 42% of preschool students suspended once, and 48% of preschool students suspended more than once (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection, 2011-12).
The prevalence of Black male stereotypes, as evidenced by the literature on discipline of Black students in school, the NY Stop and Frisk Fallacy, and television’s inaccurate portrayal of Black families, have led to the dehumanization of Black boys and viewing them as threatening, especially if they are taller or physically larger. Consequently, there is a growing number of Black children experiencing anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation.
Collectively, this unfortunate reality led Dr. Graves to revisit his early childhood roots and conduct his own research regarding the relationship of body mass index (BMI) and behavior in children. He conducted a study using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (ADD). This study found that students with a larger BMI had less self-esteem and had a greater possibility to be suspended. However, it is noteworthy to mention that the main effect of students’ BMI on their probability of suspension is not statistically significant for Black students, meaning that it did not matter if a Black student had a larger BMI, a Black student at any size still had a greater possibility to be suspended than their non-Black peers.
Dr. Graves’ next steps to pursue this area of research include refining a related study using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten cohort (ECKS-K), and implementing Project Promoting Emotional Resiliency in Small Teams (PERSIST), which is a resiliency intervention focused on Black History and Racial Identity.
October 2, 2019
What we can learn from Europe and Japan about the potential effects of a universal national high-quality preschool program on child outcomes in the US?
Dr. David Blau, Professor, Emeritus Faculty in the Department of Economics
Dr. Blau’s presentation reviewed recent evidence on effects of high-quality universal preschool on child and subsequent adult outcomes in eight studies of six countries: Italy, Germany, Norway, Spain, Denmark, and Japan. Most of these studies are recently published in scholarly economics journals; results have not yet been widely disseminated to non-economists. While these studies involve different settings than the US, the results are informative because of stronger research designs. Dr. Blau argued that this is an important issue because of widespread perception that the child care system in the US is broken: lack of access, affordability, and quality. This discussion was timely as this is a topic of policy proposals from democratic presidential candidates in the US.
Watch the presentation.
September 4, 2019
The Long-Term Benefits of Early Childhood Education
Dr. Arya Ansari, Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Sciences, Faculty Associate at the Crane Center
Crane’s September 2019 research forum hosted Dr. Arya Ansari, Assistant Professor, Human Sciences. Crane Center Research Forums are held monthly throughout the university calendar year, and feature researchers from across the university who share their research and its impact on children and families. Dr. Ansari spoke to attendees about the long term effects of early childhood education. He explored the following research questions:
- Are there academic and psychosocial benefits of early childhood education for children as they transition to middle childhood and adolescence?
- Is there convergence between early childhood education graduates and non-participants, and if so, when and why does it occur?
- Are there any of the long term academic benefits of early childhood education mediated by earlier program benefits?
March 6, 2019
Testing strategies to increase caregiver-child reading in the home: An implementation-science approach
Dr. Laura Justice, Executive Director, Crane Center for Early Childhood Research & Policy and Schoenbaum Family Center, EHE Distinguished Professor, Educational Psychology
2019 Spring Distinguished Speaker Roberta Golinkoff
Watch the May 2nd presentation, The Magic and Mystery of Language in the First Three Years of Life.
Follow through the presentation with downloadable slides.
Dr. Golinkoff is the Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education, Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Linguistics and Cognitive Science at the University of Delaware. She founded and directs the Child’s Play, Learning, and Development laboratory whose goal it is to understand how children tackle the amazing feat of learning language and much else about their world. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Education Sciences, and the LEGO Foundation. In addition to over 150 journal publications and book chapters, she has authored 16 books and monographs. She and Hirsh-Pasek (her long standing collaborator) also write books for parents and practitioners including, How Babies Talk, the award-winning Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool, and Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children, a New York Times best seller.