43.005 - Middle School Student Learning and Middle Childhood Development—Connecting the Two (AERA-SRCD Early Career Symposium)

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This symposium considers a critical stage in education and human development and how research might better strengthen the connections between the two. The aim is to address the intersection and interaction between middle childhood development and education and learning processes. Education is understood not just to embrace this period of schooling but also the other social contexts in which education takes place and the social and structural factors that facilitate or constrain learning. Similarly attention will be paid to behavioral and biological considerations that shape learning trajectories during this significant transitional period in human development. Participants on this panel will consider academic outcomes and socio-emotional aspect of behavior that can affect and be shaped by critical experiences and incidences at this educational and developmental stage. Participants will also address future research directions at the intersection of middle school education and development, with attention paid to the value of more comprehensive research models on the one hand and our research capacity to disentangle factors that can make a difference for students and their present and future lives.

Sub Unit

• AERA Sessions

Chair

• Vivian L. Gadsden, University of Pennsylvania

Participants

• Dorothy L. Espelage, University of Florida

• Melissa K. Holt, Boston University

• Stephanie J. Rowley, University of Michigan

• Katariina Salmela-Aro, Cicero Learning, University of Helsinki