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Early Lab

Projects


Literacy in Community | Engagement & Attention | Digital Literacy | Home and Classroom Experience

Supporting Early Learning in Informal Contexts

Although they may not provide children with formal educational instruction, informal contexts, such as community, library, and museum, encourage children’s exploration and support their learning. We have examined children’s learning behaviors in community spaces and the impact of community program on child literacy. Specifically, we have worked with SLC library to develop community literacy programs and evaluated the outreach Storytime program. The project is supported by Larry H. & Gail Miller Foundation, American Educational Research Association’s Education Research Service Project and University of Utah Community-Based Research grant.

 

Recent Work

Son, S. C., & Jacobson, L. (2020, November). Bringing Library’s Storytime to Preschool Classrooms: A Quasi-Experimental Study of the Community-Outreach Storytime [Poster session]. National Research Conference on Early Childhood (NRCEC) 2020 Virtual Meeting. Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Dibble, E., Son, S. C., & Cayias, J. (2018, March). Book Reading and Early Literacy Skills of Children: Comparing the Extent of Exposure to Picture Books, Readers, and Chapter Books.  Poster session presented at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention. San Diego, CA.

Son, S. C., & Chestnut, M. (2017, April). Gender Differences in Early Childhood Reading Engagement: Evidence from Library Observation and Parent Report.  Poster session presented at the Society for Research in Child Development biennial meeting. Austin, TX.

Last Updated: 3/10/23