Research and Outreach Current CFD Research & Outreach Projects

 

Child Development Focused Research & Outreach

Better Brains for Babies. Better Brains for Babies is a collaboration of public and private institutions working together to share the most recent research on early brain development with parents, caregivers, health care providers, and others in order to improve the quality of life of Georgia's youngest children. BBB is co-led by UGA Cooperative Extension and Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, with funding from the Governor's Office on Children and Families. For more information, contact Diane Bales.

Developmentally Appropriate and Responsive Education. In this program, early education teachers have the opportunity to work with a faculty member (Dr. Mariana Souto-Manning) and engage in high quality professional development as they work with the youngest children of our state across developmental levels and backgrounds. This project was funded by the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. For more information, contact Mariana Souto-Manning.

Eat Healthy, Be Active Evaluation. This study, directed by Diane Bales, Mick Coleman, and Charlotte Wallinga, examines the effectiveness of the Eat Healthy, Be Active integrated early childhood curriculum unit on nutrition and physical activity. The study tracks changes in knowledge and practice of child care providers and children in 3- and 4-year-old classrooms before and after a training workshop, as compared to a control group. The study is funded by a grant from Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. For more information, contact Diane Bales, Mick Coleman, or Charlotte Wallinga.

Georgia Suicide Prevention Coordination Project.  This statewide initiative supports the development, implementation and sustainability of coalitions addressing suicide prevention at the local, regional and statewide levels.  The Georgia Department of Human Resources, Injury Prevention Section, provides primary funding support to Cooperative Extension.  For more information, contact Sally vander Straeten.

Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute.  GTIPI is a statewide resource for education, training and consultation in various traffic-related injury prevention initiatives.  It receives primary funding from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.  Current initiatives include child passenger safety, teen driving safety, and senior driving safety.  The main GTIPI offices and training facility are located in Conyers.  For more information, see the GTIPI website or contact Don Bower.

Mother-Child Play from Infancy to Preschool. This longitudinal study examines dyadic communication between mothers and their young children (ages 0-4) in play contexts. Focusing on individual differences, developmental changes, and temporal dynamics in maternal and child verbal dialogue and nonverbal behaviors (e.g., gaze, smiling, and vocalization), this study is designed to understand the contribution of mother-child communicative processes to children’s social and emotional development. This study was funded in part by UGA Institute of Behavior Research and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. For more information, contact Hui-Chin Hsu.

Responsive Early Education for Diversity. Dr. Souto-Manning secured funding (with Dr. Cindy Vail) for the Responsive Early Education for Diversity program. This program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education, supports the Birth through Five program at the University of Georgia ($ 790,598.00). It funds scholarships, personnel, and materials to develop courses, curriculum, and instructional methods in the Birth through Five program. For more information, contact Mariana Souto-Manning.

Schooling and Equity for Educational Diversity forms invitational teacher culture circles (Freire, 1970) in which specific contexts and situations are analyzed through collective problematization. In such a fashion, early childhood teachers have the opportunity to re-envision knowledge as they read professional and children’s books exploring sociocultural-historical perspectives of common issues such as immigration, diversity, and poverty. This project was funded by the University of Georgia Research Foundation. For more information, contact Mariana Souto-Manning.

Teacher Culture Circles. Despite widespread deficit discourses, many teachers empower young children daily. This study seeks to learn from these teachers, valuing their practices. In a Freirean culture circle, teachers collectively co-construct empowering frameworks for teaching children from diverse backgrounds, theorizing from their own practices, and problematizing issues around teaching in linguistically and culturally complex classrooms. In these circles, critical literacy is proposed as a tool for social change. This project was funded by the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Research Foundation. For more information, contact Mariana Souto-Manning.

Teachers for English Language Learners. Dr. Souto-Manning secured funds (with Dr. Cahnmann-Taylor) and currently co-directs the Teachers for English Language Learners program ($1,005,506.00 for total project). This program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, supports the development of curriculum, personnel and methods to teach children who are English Language Learners. Graduate students have co-authored publications and co-presented in conferences as a result of the innovative methods and materials developed through this program. For more information, contact Mariana Souto-Manning.

The Pre-Kindergarten Program at the Child Development Lab. Dr. Souto-Manning directs and secures funding from the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, Bright from the Start for the Pre-Kindergarten program (a state-funded program for 20 four-year-old children and their families) at the Child Development Lab at the McPhaul Center ($ 73,078.39). The program is state-funded and draws a racially, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse population of students. This program serves as a lab for CHFD class observations and for practicum and internship undergraduate and graduate students. For more information, contact Mariana Souto-Manning.