Current Projects

For a complete list of research projects at UCLA Lab School and CONNECT, go to: http://www.connect.gseis.ucla.edu/projects

Co-Teaching Models in a General Education Setting

This project focuses on how the philosophies and instructional strategies associated with co-teaching can be used in a general education setting. By examining recent literature on bilingual and inclusive co-teaching models, and interviewing and observing in classrooms that provide such a setting, researchers will synthesize a model for co-teaching in a general education classroom, illuminating personal and professional considerations for collaborating on this level. They will address these focus questions to guide the research: What strategies can co-educators use in a collaborative, self-contained environment? What factors should co-teachers be aware of in such a collaborative relationship? And what are the implications of co-teaching in a general education setting?

Children Chatting On The Internet (Phase 2)

PARENTS: Please note that this study falls outside of the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form. As such, additional consent forms for this study are being sent home with Upper level students. Parents must sign and return this form if they would like to participate

Phase 2 (of a study begun in 2006) will survey the current class of Upper II students, and three successive Upper II classes, asking the children in the form of written open-ended questions about their off-line and on-line computer activities. Of greatest interest in this Phase 2 study will be learning about how the student connects to the internet, how the student finds sites on the internet, favorite internet games, games students play with others on the internet, use of email, and the use of instant messaging or texting. Both parental consent forms and student assent forms must be signed for students to participate. This study is conducted by Debbie Weissmann, a Ph.D. Student in the department of Information Studies. For information, contact Debbie Weissmann at dweissmann@ucla.edu or (310) 722-7750.

User-Tagging in Museums: An outcomes-based study of children's generation of terms describing art museum objects

PARENTS: Please note that this study falls outside of the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form. As such, additional consent forms for this study are being sent home with Intermediate level students. Parents must sign and return this form if they would like to participate

This study addresses two related research questions: Can the words and phrases (commonly known in the technical jargon as “tags”) that are supplied by children as descriptors for artworks be used to enhance the catalog records that are created for those artworks by museum professionals? In what ways does the participation of children in a museum “tagging” activity influence the nature and extent of children's learning about art in general and about specific artworks in particular? Research on children's experiences of museums has focused on children's attitudes to museums, on the ways in which children behave and learn in museums, and on the ways in which museums can create effective learning environments. Little research has been done, however, on children's use of digital museums. In particular, evaluations of the outcomes of children's tagging activity in museum settings are absent from the literature. This project will answer whether collecting tags from children is worthwhile. This study is conducted primarily by Benjamin Lee Handler, a doctoral student at UCLA, in collaboration with Jonathan Furner, a professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Information: Ben Lee Handler at benleehandler@gmail.com or (310) 210-5874.

To Improve English Literacy Proficiency

Teachers in Rooms 11 & 12 will be piloting a new literacy unit that uses methods based on the New Theory of Children’s Thinking Development (Kekang HE, 2002). The goal is to promote pupils’ literacy proficiency in English. These methods have been used previously in about 160 elementary schools in China, Hong Kong and Singapore. In these schools, the results showed that 7- to 8-year-old children learned to identify more than 2,500 common Chinese characters, read common children’s books and write an article of more than 300 words using a computer in the experimental classes. These methods have now been adapted for use in teaching English literacy. Data collection for the study will involve classroom observations and examining children’s in-class work. We also plan to administer a short (about 30-minute) pre- and post-test at the beginning and end of the unit. As parents have already signed the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form, they are not required to sign any additional forms at this time. Additionally, if in the blanket consent form parents gave us permission to do so, children may be videotaped. This study will be conducted primarily by Marjorie Orellana, a professor from the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA, in collaboration with Guo Ying, a visiting doctoral student at GSE&IS. For information, contact Dr. Orellana at (310) 206-0102 or orellana@gseis.ucla.edu, or Guo Ying at (310) 500-6079 or guo.ying@ucla.edu.

Dynamics of Young Children's Prosocial and Peaceful Resolutions of Social Conflict

This study examines which strategies young children use in their daily interactions with one another to arrive at peaceful, prosocial, and mutually beneficial resolutions to conflict. Conflict resolution strategies are an important part of a child’s repertoire of competent social skills. Documenting these resolution strategies may support the study and development of skills that teachers can easily and effectively teach to optimally support children’s conflict resolution. Data collection will involve classroom observations of children’s natural social behavior and teacher’s responses during children’s conflict situations, and teacher survey and interview data regarding practices teachers use to promote children’s conflict resolution. As parents have already signed the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form, they are not required to sign any additional forms at this time. Additionally, if in the blanket consent form parents gave us permission to do so, children may be videotaped. This study will be conducted primarily by Asha Spivak, a doctoral student at UCLA. For information, contact Asha Spivak at (802) 760-9581 or aspivak@ucla.edu.

The Influence of Student-teacher Interaction on Students’ Science Identities

Learning science is not just about acquiring a collection of abstract facts; it is about learning how to be scientific—how to behave, think, and believe in ways that identify you with the scientific community. Research has suggested that identifying personally with science motivates students, but we don’t currently understand the role of student-teacher interaction in shaping the way students identify with science. Melissa Cook (a graduate student at UCLA) is conducting research at the 6th-grade level to answer this question. Data collection will involve observation during science class and interviews with students about their interest in and attitudes towards science. As parents have already signed the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form, they are not required to sign any additional forms in order for children to participate. Additionally, if in the blanket consent form parents gave us permission to do so, children may be videotaped. For innformation, contact Melissa Cook  at (310) 699-2308 or cook.ucla@gmail.com.

Altruistic Behavior in Children

PARENTS: Please note that this study falls outside of the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form. As such, additional consent forms for this study are being sent home with Early Childhood and Primary level students. Parents must sign and return this form if they would like to participate

This study explores how altruistic behavior develops in young children. Research with adults has shown a strong preference for outcomes which benefit other people, but it isn't yet fully clear where these preferences come from. It is possible that even very young children are concerned about the welfare of others, but it is also possible that children progressively become more altruistic over time. This study is part of a large cross-cultural project designed to try to understand how altruism develops in children, and to explore how culture influences human altruism and morality. We do this by letting a pair of children play a game in which they can deliver small amounts of goldfish crackers to each other. Based on the choices that children make, we can make inferences about their altruistic preferences. Both parental consent forms and student assent forms must be signed for students to participate. This study is conducted by Bailey House and Dr. Joan Silk, from the UCLA Department of Anthropology. For information contact Bailey House at (413) 883-6658 or bhouse80@ucla.edu.

Understanding Children's Identities Across Social Spaces

PARENTS: Please note that this study falls outside of the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form. As such, additional consent forms for this study are being sent home with Upper level students. Parents must sign and return this form if they would like to participate

Educational researchers have begun to realize that learning does not happen only in school, and that children have many potential resources for learning from different places in their lives (i.e., their “social worlds”). These worlds may include peer circles, online environments, home, athletic teams or music lessons, and community organizations. Yet we do not understand how children make connections between these places and more “formal” learning environments, and how they think of their engagement in these different social worlds. Deborah Fields, a graduate student at UCLA, (working closely with Dr. Noel Enyedy, Director of Research at UCLA Lab School/CONNECT), is conducting a year-long study to learn more about the connections and conflicts between children’s identities in different social worlds, and how these identities might serve as resources for learning in school. She will be recruiting two Upper level students to participate in this study, which will include observations in different spaces (classroom, home, and out-of-school spaces like sports, music, or clubs), some video taping, monthly interviews. Both parental consent forms and student assent forms must be signed for students to participate. For information, contact Deborah Fields at (310) 619-4894, or stareyes@gmail.com.

SPASES: Semiotic Pivots and Activity Spaces for Elementary Science

The SPASES project aims to use new sensing technologies to help translate young children's physical actions during pretend play into a simulation that helps them learn concepts of force and motion. As Primary level students in rooms 11 & 12 physically move around the classroom, the computer will track their motion and interactions with select objects and translate their physical activity into a shared display. Imagine something like an education version of the Nintendo Wii game console, where instead of just playing games, the students are engaged in scientific inquiry and modeling. As part of the study, children will be interviewed, and their in-class work will be examined. As parents have already signed the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form, they are not required to sign any additional forms at this time. Additionally, if in the blanket consent form parents gave us permission to do so, children may be videotaped while they are engaged with the lesson. For information, contact Noel Enyedy, Director of Research at UCLA Lab School/CONNECT, at (310) 825 5467, or enyedy@gseis.ucla.edu.

Making Science: Data Modeling and Argumentation in Elementary Science

The Making science project is continuing its work on a new science curriculum for Intermediate level students in rooms 5 & 6, 7 & 8, and 18, using scientific data and sensor technology from UCLA’s Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS). This is a three-year Making Science study. As part of the research around the unit, researchers will be interviewing students and collecting their in-class science work. Additionally, if their parents have given us permission to do so, children may be videotaped as part of observation. As parents have already signed the UCLA Lab School blanket consent form, they are not required to sign any additional forms at this time. The study will be conducted primarily by Dr. William A. Sandoval, a professor from the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA, in collaboration with Dr. Noel Enyedy, Director of Research at UCLA Lab School/CONNECT. For information, contact Dr. Sandoval at (310) 794 5431 or sandoval@gseis.ucla.edu.