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Student Research
The Atkinson Centre Internships were established with the support of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation to build knowledge capacity of students in early childhood policy development. The purpose of the Atkinson Internships includes providing students with stronger training and key skills to bolster their experience and to strengthen their understanding of policy implications on children and families. The internships are also expected to support opportunities for pre-employment experience.
Lisa Johnston
BA Candidate, School of Early Childhood Studies, Ryerson University & Atkinson Centre Intern 2013
Lisa Johnston is a registered early childhood educator at George Brown College in the Charles Street Lab School. She has worked in the early childhood profession for 10 years, working with preschool, school age and, for the past seven years, kindergarten aged children. She has developed an expertise in implementing a constructivist, play-based, emergent curriculum focusing on the fostering of self-regulation and pro-social skills among kindergarten aged children. She has also worked closely with resource consultants supporting children with autism and their families. Lisa has completed an early childhood education diploma at George Brown College and is completing requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education at Ryerson University. She completed a research related practicum with Dr. Michael Mueller that focused on the use of a math screening tool in JK, SK and Grade 1 to help teachers assess math development in order to inform future curriculum planning. She assisted Dr. Mueller in collecting data. Through this experience she has developed an interest in building her research capacity, and looks forward to the opportunity to be involved in the work of the Atkinson Centre.
Jayme Herman
PhD Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern 2012
Jayme Herman is in the second year of the Ph.D program in Developmental Psychology and Education at OISE/UT. For the comprehensive component of the program, Jayme will be completing an internship which will focus on reviewing and refining a framework and creating an accompanying measure to assess student’s self efficacy and global capability. Typically student self efficacy focuses on a student’s confidence or belief in their social, academic, and self-regulatory abilities and competencies. Global Capability is the ability to be effective anywhere, anytime with anyone. To be globally capable, one must understand the key forces shaping the world, and believe in one’s efficacy in influencing those forces. The scale Jayme will create is meant to allow schools to monitor student self efficacy and global capability which will in turn inform educational curriculum and teacher practice.
Melanie Viglas
PhD Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern 2012
Melanie is a registered Early Childhood Educator and a certified teacher. After teaching kindergarten for 5 years, she returned to OISE to pursue her doctoral studies in the Ph.D. Early Learning Cohort program. Her research, looks at the benefits of bringing mindfulness into kindergarten programs to promote self-regulation and empathy.
During her internship at the Atkinson Center, she will be looking at the development of self-regulation and social-emotional development in toddlers. Drawing on literature from the field of mindful teaching and mindful parenting, she will create a training module for early childhood educators. She hopes the Atkinson Internship will strengthen awareness about the benefits of bringing mindfulness into early childhood programs.
Internship report> (pdf)
Sherrika Cooper
BA Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern 2012
Sherrika completed her Early Childhood Education Diploma at George Brown College in 2009. She is currently in her third year of the Early Childhood Leadership Program (BA) at George Brown College. She has recently developed an interest in advocacy in Early Learning and Full Day Kindergarten and is particularly interested in how this new program will impact the children and the families involved. During her Atkinson Centre internship at OISE, she wants to strengthen her advocacy skills and increase her knowledge in research and public policy in early learning.
Zoubayda Choucair
BA Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern 2012
Zoubayda completed her Early Childhood Education Diploma at George Brown College in 2011. She is currently in her third year of Early Childhood Leadership Program (BA) at George Brown College. During her third semester in the Early Childhood Leadership Program (BA) she has developed an interest in Early Learning and Technology. In particular, how to integrate developmentally appropriate technology into early childhood education settings. In her future independent study she hopes to examine the barriers Early Childhood Educator's face in providing children experiences with technology to foster positive relationships between nature-based learning and gesture-based learning. During her Atkinson Centre internship at OISE, she wants to build and strengthen her knowledge in early childhood policy development and its implications on the ecology of the child and their families.
Joanne Murrell
MA Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern 2012
Joanne is an M.A. student at the University of Victoria in British Columbia in the school of Child and Youth Care. Joanne is an ECE with a B.A. (Honors) from Ryerson University, and a National Nursery Examination Board (NNEB) diploma from the United Kingdom. Joanne's research interest is quality in early childhood programs and services. Joanne is interested in early childhood policy, service integration, advocacy, and training.
Internship report> (pdf)
Sinéad Rafferty
MES Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern 2012
Sinéad is a registered early childhood educator and is currently in her first year of the Masters of Environmental Studies (MES) program at York University. Her research interests are in integrating ecological literacy in early childhood education, both for the early learning and care programs, and at the post-secondary level for early childhood educators in training. In particular, she is interested in examining the potential limits and barriers Early Childhood Education programs face in providing children experiences that foster positive relationships with the natural world. Sinéad hopes to contribute to building awareness among Early Childhood Educators about the important health and psychological benefits of providing outdoor, nature-based learning experiences for children in the early years. As a member of the Atkinson team, Sinéad is excited to support research and policy initiatives that support healthy, holistic learning for young children and their families.
Internship report> (pdf)
Mark Wade
MA Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern 2011
Mark is currently in the second year of the Master's program in School and Clinical Child Psychology at OISE/UT. His research examines the effect of genetic and environmental influences on children’s theory of mind (ToM) development. In particular, he is interested in how genetic risk factors combine with environmental adversity (e.g. socioeconomic disadvantage and poor parenting) to influence ToM. He is also interested in identifying "precursors" to ToM: early abilities that are required for later development of ToM. Collectively, this research can help determine which children are at risk for ToM impairments. This is important since ToM deficits in children have been linked to social difficulties, behaviour problems, and autism spectrum disorder. Mark is also completing a practicum in the Toronto District School Board, where he works with many children who show these kinds of difficulties. As a member of the Atkinson team, Mark hopes his research can inform early intervention and policy efforts aimed at improving child outcomes.
Heather Prime
MA Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern 2011
Heather is currently in her second year of the Master?s in School and Child Clinical Psychology at OISE/U of T. Her research examines the familial influences on children's psychological development. In particular, she is interested in how parental and sibling scaffolding influences children's cognitive outcomes, as well as how levels of scaffolding vary depending on level of risk in the home. She has recently developed a behavioural observation measure of scaffolding for parents and siblings that utilizes a thin-slice approach (i.e. quick, impressionistic judgments). Clinically, Heather is doing a practicum in the TDSB conducting psychoeducational assessments and implementing interventions for school-aged children. Heather is happy to be part of the Atkinson team where she can contribute to bridging research, clinical, and policy domains to better serve children and adolescents.
Freshteh Bibishahrbanoui
BA Candidiate, Atkinson Centre Intern 2011
Freshteh is a registered early childhood educator at a George Brown College Lab School/Early Learning Centre. She has worked with kindergarten-aged children and had developed an expertise in the area of literacy and numeracy. She has a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Delhi, India, has completed an early childhood education diploma program at George Brown College and is currently in the final year of Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education at Ryerson University. Freshteh completed a Full Day Kindergarten practicum at a TDSB in early 2011 which developed an interest in the professional relationship between ECEs and teachers. Through her Atkinson Centre internship she is looking forward to being involved in research projects.
Internship report> (pdf)
Shelly Mehta
Doctoral Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern at the Association for Early Childhood Educators Ontario 2011
PhD Comprehensive: Association for Early Childhood Educators Ontario
In collaboration with the Association for Early Childhood Educators of Ontario, Shelly is coordinating a study investigating the factors that influence employment in early childhood for foreign trained educators who have completed the Bridging Program through the Association of Early Childhood Educators, Ontario. In particular, the study will focus on whether foreign undergraduate training in early education and professional experience outside of Canada has an impact on the type of employment gained and what the barriers and supports are in finding employment and achieving professional satisfaction. Data will be collected through interviews with graduates from the program and results will guide a final report to the Association of Early Childhood Educators, Ontario. The overarching goal of the study is to help inform programs in the future and to raise the importance of foreign credentials that educators bring to the Canadian learning context.
Internship report> (pdf)
Romona Gananathan
Doctoral Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern at the Martin Aboriginal Initiative 2011
PhD Comprehensive: Martin Aboriginal Initiative
The Chippewa’s of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation along with the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation and the Martin Aboriginal Initiative are developing an Early Learning Program that will model an integrated and seamless full day learning and care program for children 0-6 years and their families. The MAI is also working with the community to promote literacy in children attending Hillside School.
To support the work of the project, Romona is conducting an environmental scan that includes a comprehensive review of legislation, policy, funding and research documentation related to Aboriginal early education in Ontario. Education and early learning programs within First Nations communities in Canada operate under a complex system of federal and provincial oversight and Bands are charged with the delivery of education and early learning initiatives in their communities. Romona’s work will help the to chart the legal and policy implications of developing an integrated early learning service delivery model on the reserve by documenting the federal and provincial policy and funding frameworks and agreements as they relate to education and early learning at Kettle and Stony Point First Nations, and identifying potential opportunities and challenges these frameworks may pose to implementing a model program in the community.