Researcher playing with kids in the classroom

Center for Young Children (CYC)

Research at the CYC

 

Researcher and Child

Research on Child Development at the Center for Young Children

The Center for Young Children (CYC) is a designated research center within the College of Education and the department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology. As a laboratory school, we support important child development research conducted with young children by faculty and graduate students at the University of Maryland.

Many child development subjects are studied at the CYC, including  peer relationships, social cognition, language development, cognitive development, play, temperament, social competence, and social development, and more. These areas reflect the general areas studied by research faculty and graduate students.

Studies at the CYC reflect cutting edge research on child development that provides for the translation of fundamental knowledge about child development into educational practice.

Families enroll their children in the school with an understanding that their children will participate in Center-approved research studies throughout the school year. Such studies increase information about how children develop and learn. Many studies are observational in nature and do not require the child to leave the classroom, while other studies require individual children's participation, usually outside the classroom.

Research at the CYC is divided into two categories: observational studies and participatory studies.

 

Researchers and their display

Observational Studies

Observation rooms with one-way mirrors allow research assistants to view the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of children without classroom presence. Many university courses also have observational components and CYC serves this academic purpose for exposing undergraduate students to the world of research. The observation booths also provide an opportunity for training research assistants in methodological techniques used for collecting data on children’s behavior.

 
Participatory Studies

A research room is available for Faculty and Graduate student research that involves one-on-one interviews and testing, as well as small group interactions. Researchers requesting permission to interview young children outside the classroom follow specific rules (see Research Guidelines by clicking the link below). Approval must come from the University's Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to the approval of research conducted at the CYC. Documentation of this approval must be given to the CYC Director for final approval. Most children enjoy participating in these special activities.  Children may decline to participate or terminate participation in a research session at any time.  A child's wishes are always respected. Children will be accompanied by a CYC staff member when going to and from the research room, as well as throughout the research session. Researchers disseminate their results to the parents and school staff through the distribution of brief reports following the completion of a study, and in a timely manner.

What will my child be asked to do in a participatory study?

  1. The researcher and the CYC's research coordinator (who your child is familiar with) will approach the child in the classroom during a time deemed appropriate by your child's teacher, and will ask the child, "Hi, it's your turn to play a game in the research room. Are you ready to play it now?" The child may say yes or no. If the child says no, the reserach coordinator will tell them, "Ok, we'll ask you again another time." If they agree, the research coordinator will alert the teacher and will sign the child out of the classroom on the attendance sheet.
  2. The child, the CYC research coordinator and the researcher will go to the research room (or other location within the CYC).
  3. The researcher and the child will sit at a child-sized table, supervised by the CYC research coordinator. The researcher will introduce the activity and engage the child. Often this will look like a child looking at pictures on a tablet and then answering questions about the pictures, or watching two puppets interact with each other and then answering questions about what the puppets talked about. You can see examples of participatory studies here. This session will take 15-20 minutes.
  4. When the session is finished (or when you child says they would like to stop participating), the CYC research coordinator walks your child back to their classroom, signs them back in on the attendance sheet, and alerts your child's teacher that your child has returned.
  5. The CYC research coordinator puts a slip in your child's cubby indicating that they participated in a research session on that day. 

Please see the following links for additional information:

If you have further questions, please contact Jen Smallwood-Holmes, the CYC Director, at jsmallw1@umd.edu.