Poster #98 - Beyond 2-Dimensional Science: A Heuristic Structure for Applied Sciences of Child Development, Care, and Education

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - Interdisciplinary Section

Integrative Statement

The Science of Child Development has expanded rapidly. Though interdisciplinary, it is increasingly distinct as a discipline (e.g., comprehensive handbooks, society of scientists, popular undergraduate major). The Science of Child Development is increasingly recognized as relevant to the health and well-being of individuals and society (Center on the Developing Child, 2014) and applied in numerous fields, primarily early child care and education (ECE; Goffin, 1996; Scott & Bowman, 1996). Knowledge of child development is considered a core competency in ECE, and the foundation for training practitioners (NAEYC, 2009). However, it is often taught without showing its logical (research-based) or empirical (evidence-based) extensions to ECE practice (Pianta, Hitz, & West, 2010), which makes it a shaky foundation (Early & Winton, 2001). Students and practitioners are often left to derive relevant applications on their own, relying on higher order knowledge and skills (Bloom et al., 1956), which they are ill-prepared to do (Shonkoff & Bales, 2011; Zaslow et al., 2010).

Three pressing examples of the limitations in the current way our knowledge is understood and taught are the lacking emphases on (a) individual differences and contexts of development which informs a more sophisticated approach to working with diverse children and families (Hallam, Buell, & Ridgley, 2009); (b) developmental and learning processes which inform practitioners’ beliefs about effective pedagogy (McCartney et al., 2001; Minor et al., 2002; Richardson, 1996); and (c) the translation of the knowledge of child development into developmentally appropriate expectations and developmentally supportive attitudes and practices (Zaslow et al., 2010).

As relevant and complex as our science has become, we are held back by our simplistic, two-dimensional (age x domain) representation of our knowledge. Though useful, it underestimates and misrepresents the current state of our knowledge, and fails to provide ways to conceptualize the increasingly complex and applied nature of our research. Further, as societal relevance and practical applications increase, the discipline is moving from the Science of Child Development to the Applied Sciences of Child Development, Care, and Education. To successfully transition while maintaining our coherence as a discipline, we need a new model to serve as a heuristic both for representing what we know, and identifying knowledge gaps that, once filled, can help us make the next leap forward.

Coherent knowledge structures that organize bodies of knowledge in memorable ways are crucial to the successful education of adult learners in any discipline (Ambrose et al., 2010). Knowledge structures are used to organize program offerings, syllabi, and textbooks, and can be made explicit to students so they can identify their own gaps in knowledge, facilitating self-directed learning. If our discipline is to catch up and keep up with its applications in practice, we need a new understanding of our own science, its relationships to other practice-relevant knowledge, and the processes by which it is applied to practice. We present a new model representing the complexity of the science of child development, care, and education. Attendees are invited to critique the heuristic structure and propose additional uses.

Authors

• Claire Vallotton, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Tamesha Harewood, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author