Research Activities at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study
As a laboratory school, Jackman ICS has a threefold mandate: exemplary education for the 200 children who attend the school, teacher education, and research. As such, the Laboratory School provides an environment that fosters research and professional inquiry and is involved in initiating and disseminating new ideas related to improving education. The school makes a significant contribution to the education, human development and applied psychology work within our university and in the wider educational community in Canada and internationally.
With this focus in mind, research projects approved by the Jackman ICS Child Research Committee to be carried out in the lab school are ones that address issues pertaining to education of your children (ages 3-12) and their development as it pertains to educational settings. The unique nature of the laboratory school tends to be a significant factor for researchers when choosing the Laboratory School as a potential setting for their research.
The scope of laboratory school research projects can be seen in the set of current and recent projects that are reviewed below. A complete listing of the research initiatives of the Laboratory School including early childhood, community literacy, numeracy, knowledge construction and teacher education is available in the report to the Laidlaw Foundation.
Research at the Lab School
Jackman ICS conducts an average of 15 studies per year in the laboratory school. Protocols and additional information are available in the Information for Researchers section of our site. A synopsis of current lab school research illustrates the diverse range of research at Jackman ICS.
Ways of Contributing to Dialogue in Elementary School Science and History
Dr. Marlene Scardamalia (OISE Professor), Dr. Therese Laferriere (University of Laval), Maria Chuy (OISE)
Purpose: Dialogue has been gaining recognition as a vital part of scientific research and it is playing an increasing role in science education as well. The goal of the research is to explore ways to raise the level of student discourse by helping students develop distinctive way of contributing to the progress of explanation-seeking dialogue. This research Is relevant both to teaching in these two core areas of elementary school curricula and to developing communication and collaborative skills transferable beyond these school subjects. The three main objectives are to investigate: (a) the extent to which students engaged in collaborative knowledge building develop distinctive roles or styles, (b) the extent to which these evolved roles contribute to a group’s success in knowledge advancement, and (c) the extent to which students’ development of distinctive ways of contributing can be facilitated by feedback and meta-cognitive support.
Description: This project is comprised of three phases, corresponding roughly to years of study. Briefly: Phase I, identification of naturally occurring types of contributions to explanation-seeking dialogue; Phase II, try-out of interventions to raise the level of student contributions with informal assessment of effects; Phase III, systematic design experiments to refine and test the most promising interventions.
Knowledge Community and Inquiry with Embedded Phenomena
Dr. James D. Slotta
Purpose of Research: The purpose is to develop effective models of instruction using technologies (e.g. EP technology), particularly with regard to establishing a “knowledge community”.
Description of Project: This three-year project will establish a unique technology capability referred to as “embedded phenomena” whereby multimedia simulations of plants, animals or other scientific phenomena are enabled to “come alive” within the walls of the classroom. The nature of the research will be to support students and teachers in their investigation of these phenomena. Applications like “Wallcology” provide multi-week, evolving simulations of scientific phenomena, such as colonies of digital “bugs” that populate the walls of the classroom and are revealed by computer monitors mounted on the walls. Curriculum activities are designed that require students to solve problems or answer driving questions by systematically observing and measuring the phenomena.
The present research will develop effective models of instruction using such technologies, particularly with regard to establishing a “knowledge community” amongst the students in a classroom (or across several classrooms within the school). The PI, working with Cheryl Madeira, Cresencia Fong and Vice-principal Richard Messina (co-investigators) will collaborate with teachers from ICS to create innovative curriculum where students learn together, sharing knowledge and building on one another’s ideas as they respond to the EP technology. They will use powerful new technologies for adding their observations and ideas, including tablet-based software and multi-touch surfaces for displaying and working with ideas.
“We All Belong”: Early-Years’ Literacy Development and Social Inclusion
Dr. Janette Pelletier, Elizabeth Morley, and Richard Messina
Description: This project examined young students’ understanding of social inclusion through a literacy-based photograph book project. The children and their families used disposable cameras to document personal stories of their neighbourhoods, favourite animals, toys, activities, and things that children dream about. The research team, in collaboration with Apple Canada, produced individual family photograph books with the title “We All Belong.” Each book cover had the title and a photograph of the child who created the book. The books were exchanged among children across eight schools. Each student chose a book from an array of 23 book covers and then explained why they chose that book. Children most often chose books based on objects they liked or on a perceived personal connection to the child on the cover. During a vocabulary teaching intervention some students were taught words related to social inclusion: inclusion, diversity, respect, acceptance, and understanding. The results of this intervention show that these children made significant gains in their understanding of diversity and there were positive yet quixotic findings related to the word inclusion. The intervention resulted in only moderate, not significant, short-term literacy gains, a finding that may be attributable to the brevity of the intervention and to the significant initial differences among the schools. A key finding of this study was coming to understand the value of real-life stories as an important component of an inclusive curriculum and of intentional instruction in broadening interest in others.