Three CYFS undergraduate research assistants have received a top research poster award from the College of Education and Human Sciences, and the Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Laura Domet, Zac Egr and Madison Warrick received the $250 award, which recognizes outstanding posters that were presented at the UNL Spring Research Fair. The award is funded by the College of Education and Human Sciences.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.