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Radio interview: Kunz discusses teacher coaching

Gina Kunz
Gina Kunz

Gina Kunz, CYFS research associate professor, shared her team’s research on teaching coaching Thursday, April 6 during the Paul Durban Show on KFOR, a Lincoln, Nebraska, radio station.

The team’s original study investigated how ‘coaches’—trained educators—can help teachers enhance instruction, particularly when using new instructional approaches. Their sample included middle and high school teachers in rural schools across Nebraska. Full Article

Study explores coaching strategies that help teachers, students

From left: Jim Houston, Gwen Nugent and Gina Kunz. The CYFS team is studying coaching as professional development for teachers, and specifically, which coaching strategies are most effective.
From left: Jim Houston, Gwen Nugent and Gina Kunz. The CYFS team is studying the most effective strategies for teacher coaching, a method of professional development that provides feedback from trained educators.

Coaches are central to athletic culture, from football fields to volleyball courts. A CYFS research team is exploring how coaches can enhance performance in a different domain: the classroom.

Within a professional development context, these coaches—trained educators with years of classroom experience—provide ongoing feedback to teachers. Funded by the National Science Foundation and led by CYFS research professor Gwen Nugent, the team aims to identify the most effective coaching strategies by pinpointing how and why they work. Full Article

New grant support resources available

For more information, visit cyfsgrant.unl.edu.
For more information, visit cyfsgrant.unl.edu.

CYFS has released a new website and print book for researchers pursuing grants in the social, educational and behavioral sciences.

Both resources share information about CYFS grant support, which includes services from project conception to execution. The resources share information about complimentary grant services, current rates for additional services, and frequently asked questions. Full Article

Witte selected as Rural Futures Institute fellow

Amanda Witte
Amanda Witte, project manager at the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools

Amanda Witte, CYFS project manager, has been selected to participate in an inaugural fellows program through the University of Nebraska’s Rural Futures Institute. As one of 15 faculty fellows, Witte was selected for her contributions to rural communities through research. Full Article

CYFS team releases rural research guide

A CYFS team has released a new working paper titled “Studying Educational Effectiveness in Rural Settings: A Guide for Researchers.”

The guide draws from experience gained while conducting research through CYFS’ National Center for Research on Rural Education, which was funded from 2009 to 2014 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. Full Article

Collaboration aims to study, shape children’s attitudes toward engineering

Teacher. Firefighter. Doctor. Astronaut. Many of these careers land on children’s lists of what they want to be when they grow up. CYFS research assistant professor Lorey Wheeler would like to see another profession added: engineer.

With a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Wheeler is joining a team from Arizona State University to study how children’s knowledge, stereotypes and achievement-related beliefs affect their interest in engineering. It’s a field in which job growth is outpacing the number of adults who pursue related degrees, especially among women and ethnic minority students. Full Article

New sessions spark research conversations

CEHS faculty at the Jan. 20 research networking session on STEM. Upcoming sessions will focus on families and schools; social-emotional and behavioral health; and early childhood.
CEHS faculty at the Jan. 20 research networking session on STEM. Upcoming sessions will focus on families and schools; social-emotional and behavioral health; and early childhood. View photo gallery.

The College of Education and Human Sciences, together with CYFS, has launched the first of four research networking sessions to connect faculty around key topic areas: science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); families and schools; social-emotional behavioral health; and early childhood.  Full Article

MAP Academy hosts Emerging Scholars Series

Stefany Coxe
Stefany Coxe

The MAP Academy hosted visiting scholar Stefany Coxe for the Jan. 19-20 Emerging Scholars Series. The event featured a public keynote presentation titled “Real-world questions about using regression models for counts” and a two-part workshop titled “Generalized linear models: All in the family.” Full Article