Internationalizing the psychology curriculum and promoting the inclusion of global perspectives across disciplines is another major theme in my work, which I carried out as a participant in the 2015-2017 research seminar, Integrating Global Learning with the University Experience: Higher-Impact Study Abroad and Off-Campus Domestic Study, sponsored by the Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University. As a member of a multi-institution cohort studying educators’ roles in global learning, my colleagues and I explored how educators’ background — their own intercultural experience and engagement and disciplinary background, as well as age and academic rank, and possibly gender and race/ethnicity — relates to interest and participation in developing study abroad programs and incorporating global perspectives into on-campus courses.

Collaborative, Community-Based Research with St. Olaf Students

In an Early Childhood Research Seminar (Psychology 396) in 2021, six students and I partnered with Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) to support efforts to reach out to and engage families with young children in Northfield and Faribault. While public health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic changed or eliminated many in-person activities, such as home visiting, the important work of connecting families to information and experiences that help foster development from birth to age 5 continued. In response to HCI goals and priorities, our seminar focused on:

• Data sharing agreements to protect families and children and support research goals (both for HCI and across Minnesota).
• Policies to incentivize state funding for higher quality preschool and early childhood care programs.
• The impact of early childhood educational experiences on kindergarten outcomes.

In another project, in 2013-14, my students and I partnered with the Northfield Early Childhood Programs. Early Childhood Education Programs support the development of skills and knowledge necessary for school entry, and our study explored the value of a developmental indicator checklist for gauging kindergarten readiness. Parent evaluations provided information about how Early Childhood Family Education Programs (ECFE) enable parents to contribute to their child’s development. A Child-At-A-Glance Checklist was used to obtain ratings of 4- to 5-year-old children’s developmental progress. The majority of the sample we studied received ratings suggesting they were ready for school, but there were some differences in benchmark ratings in relation to children’s gender, attendance, and interests. The majority of parents reported that attending ECFE programs improved their parenting skills.

In a series of projects from 2002-2012, my students and I explored parent-child interactions in a school-based program for teen moms at high schools in Minneapolis. Comprehensive school-based services have been shown to produce positive outcomes for adolescent parents and their children. The program we partnered with taught parenting skills and gave adolescent parents feedback and guidance to help them become more sensitive and responsive, encouraging their young child’s learning in a positive and affirming context. Working in the program’s on-site child care facility, my students and I videorecorded parent-child and teacher-child interactions during times of free play and shared book reading, creating resources that could be used to provide feedback and support parent education.