The Reach of Research: 2014

Education in America is at a crossroads. Lehigh’s commitment to innovative research and focus on applying research to practice allow College of Education faculty to help shape education and mental-health policy across the nation.

United States

Bethlehem, Pa.

In preschool, children learn to recite their ABCs and 123s, share toys and interact well with others. While important skills, there’s something often missing: shapes and spatial thinking. By leaving those math topics out, teachers may miss a learning window.

“Many people don’t think about preschoolers and geometry, but research suggests children’s knowledge of shapes solidifies around 6 years of age,” says Robin Hojnoski, associate professor of school psychology. 

“So these early years are the best time to intervene and build a rich and varied knowledge base.” Many preschool curricula focus heavily on play, she says. “[Italian physician and educator] Maria Montessori believed strongly in children’s ability to think  mathematically, and she designed materials to support that learning,” Hojnoski says. “We’ve gone away from that focus and pay less attention to meaningful work that cultivates deep knowledge.”

To enrich the preschool math curriculum and classroom experience, Hojnoski is working with preschool teachers to implement strategies to increase mathematical focus in learning and activity stations, or centers. Her research builds on her work in mathematical development, but takes it in a  slightly different direction.

Last year, Hojnoski and her research team worked with the same classrooms in Donegan Elementary School as part of SPARK, which is the Bethlehem Area School District Preschool Program, and provided small group number and counting activities for the children in center time.

This year they will work with the same program, but they will concentrate more on geometry and spatial thinking, she says. To incorporate their strategies, they are increasing the mathematical focus in existing activities as opposed to adding new “centers.”

“For example, if a child is working in the block area and we strategically place materials, such as solid cylinders, tunnels, triangular prisms and pyramids in that area, the child will have a different experience and one that is more mathematical.

"Of course, teachers also will focus on mathematical vocabulary and concepts—such as the names and attributes of 3-D shapes which they can introduce during large group instruction prior to center time.”

Overall, Hojnoski hopes to stimulate preschoolers’ excitement about spatial math years before they measure their first angle. “By making the mathematical focus more explicit through teaching vocabulary and concepts and providing structured experiences for children, we hope teachers will spend more time on math and shape activities,” she says.

The hoped-for result: young children with a strong math and geometry foundation they can build on for learning years to come.

Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, South Carolina

To give high school kids with severe behavioral problems a better shot at graduation and a career, Professor Lee Kern developed the National Research and Development Center on Serious Behavior Disorders at the Secondary Level. As the five-year project ends, Kern and her fellow researchers are assessing data to determine what worked best.

“So far, several interventions look powerful, such as mentoring, so we are looking at how we can enhance that and identify predictors of good relationships between mentors and mentees,” Kern says.

The researchers also are examining mental health interventions. “We got a lot of really comprehensive demographic data, including what kinds of school and mental health services students receive, where and at what age they received them, and the link between the severity of their behavioral problems and the types of services provided,” she says.

The researchers already have identified factors that figure into who gets services, including ethnicity and school location. They also are looking into school special education labels. "There were students in our study who exhibited identical behaviors. Some get a special education diagnosis and others do not,” she says. “We want to find out why.”

The team will make recommendations to the U.S. Department of Education, which supported the project with a $10.4 million grant. 

Around the World

In a world that is becoming more connected, Lehigh faculty have become an integral part of the international dialogue surrounding education—particularly in regions where educational reform is undergoing intense scrutiny.

Australia 

Iveta Silova, associate professor of Comparative and International Education, has been working with a colleague in Australia on research related to childhood and globalization. They are collaborating on a book that will compare how childhood is envisioned in Western countries and in post-socialist ones. 

China

Peggy A. Kong, assistant professor of Comparative and International Education, investigates educational and social inequality in Asia. She conducts research on parental involvement and girls’ education in rural China to better understand social inequality and social mobility in China. Kong also compares private supplementary tutoring practices for primary and secondary students in Hong Kong and Japan.

Tanzania

Jill Sperandio, associate professor of Education and Human Services, and Brandon Knettel, a Ph.D. candidate in counseling psychology, led a group of students in Tanzania. The group spent 10 days sealing the walls of a dirt-floor schoolhouse and giving presentations on sustainability, emotional and behavioral issues, special education, and HIV and AIDS.

Cambodia

Sothy Eng, professor of practice of Comparative and International Education, guided five interns this summer in their work with Caring for Cambodia, a nongovernmental organization (NGO). The students carried out a number of initiatives, including workshops for English teachers and training in use of an online database for student information.

Indonesia

With limited resources, five Lehigh students spent eight weeks living and working in a rural Indonesia village, where they worked together on problems that included health and educational matters. The students were led by Alexander Wiseman, associate professor of Comparative and International Education, and Stacy Burger, assistant director of International Services.

Czech Republic

Christine Novak, professor of practice in School Psychology, accompanied six interns this summer to Prague to participate in Lehigh’s Campaign for Social Inclusion. The students worked with three NGOs in projects that aimed to eliminate harmful stereotypes of the Romani people. Visits to an excluded community helped deepen their understanding of the issues.