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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.

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.

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

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

MAP Academy hosts Emerging Scholars Series

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

CYFS team edits book on rural education research

Gwen Nugent

After leading the National Center for Research on Rural Education, a team of CYFS researchers has edited a new book titled “Rural Education Research in the United States: State of the Science and Emerging Directions.”

When the team began their work, there were not books focused specifically on rural education research—a gap they aimed to fill, said Gwen Nugent, lead editor and CYFS research professor. Full Article