Early Childhood Research Lab
Current Projects
Interdisciplinary Play Project
In this study, we are exploring how play supports the development of skills like persisting in the face of everyday challenges.
Understanding Children's Play
What does children's play look like in a 21st century world? This study explores this question as well as parents' beliefs and attitudes about the role of play in their child's life.
Play to Learn
What skills do children use when they play? In this research we are observing students' play in classroom settings to better understand how play might support learning.
Completed Projects
Pretend Play Intervention for Preschool Classrooms
The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a pretend play intervention in facilitating cognitive development among preschoolers.
Physiological Substrates of Imagination
In this study, we examined links between imagination and physiology to better understand the role of imagination in emotion regulation development.
Parenting During COVID-19
The COVID-19 global pandemic brought about many unique challenges for children and their families. In this study, we were interested in how children played during the pandemic and how families handled the global health crisis.
