Red River College and The Science of Early Child Development: Bridging the gap between research and practice in early child development (2006-2012)

May 2011

The Early Childhood Education Program at Red River College has been working on The Science of Early Child Development project since 2001. They began this work partly to fill a gap discovered when they tried to find undergraduate resource material on early brain development and the early years as a sensitive period of development. Instructors across Canada echoed their concern and were eager for up-to-date information to include in post-secondary programs. Since then, the project has grown in ways that Red River College hardly could have imagined in the beginning phase.

The healthy development of very young children has been at the heart of The Lawson Foundation’s grantmaking for over 20 years, bridging two generations of family leadership. The goal of the Foundation’s Beginning Years funding is to ensure children’s positive social, emotional and intellectual development during their early years. Red River College’s innovative initiative was an ideal way to take the most recent research in early child development “off the shelf” and make it available and comprehensible to those who work with young children – Early Childhood Educators.

The Foundation’s support for the project began in 2002 with a grant to the College to develop and deliver a national multimedia online core curriculum resource that translates current knowledge of the effects of early experience on neurological development and the lifelong implications for health, learning and behaviour so that it is accessible and understood by those who are directly involved with young children. Red River College in Winnipeg partnered with the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development at the University of Toronto to create and pilot the first edition of The Science of Early Child Development.

The partners worked with top researchers (for content) and with technical experts (for style) to create the cutting-edge resource. The first draft was tested with Early Childhood Education faculties across Canada to ensure that both the message and the media were highly relevant. Another pilot of professionals working in the community provided valuable feedback on the applicability of the resource to policy makers, people working in the frontlines of child care services, and government agencies.

The result was an informative, engaging resource that explores concepts, research and implications and explains why all children need quality early experiences. Research clearly shows that what happens when children are young sets a firm or fragile foundation for lifelong health and learning. Project leaders Janet Jamieson and Joan Kunderman saw the project as part of a larger movement to expand understanding of the importance of early child development. This alignment is evidenced by the number of Champions, including Dr. Fraser Mustard and Dr. Ron Barr, who support and promote its use. As Dr. Clyde Hertzman, Director, Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at the University of British Columbia, stated, “no other resource provides those on the frontlines with such high quality, easily understandable exposure to the thinking of leading researchers in the early stages of human development.”

The Science of ECD’s five modules – Developmental Health, Brain Development, The Ecology of Childhood, Coping & Competence, and Communicating & Learning – use multimedia and interactivity to make research ‘come alive’. Each module contains a combination of readings, videos, links to important websites, examples, audio clips, questions for reflection and interactive games. Over 150 videos show interviews with researchers and experts talking about their work in everyday language, scenes of children at play and in various daily routines, children interacting with parents or caregivers, scientific presentations and footage of research activities, and complete video programs related to early child development. The ‘live’ curriculum with current research examples and applications and the rich variety of media, including streamed and captioned video, help make this a tool that engages people and enhances learning by individuals with different levels of knowledge and learning styles. The use of digital content also adds to this project’s versatility and appeal to so many audiences.

By 2005, the project team knew they had to focus on dissemination to make potential users in Early Childhood Development and related fields aware of the resource and the opportunities it provides for both post-secondary use and professional development. This involved raising awareness of the resource in the ECD community, ensuring a seamless online delivery, exploring opportunities to develop other versions for specific sectors and updating content to include new research. Mary Young, the World Bank’s Lead Child Development Specialist, noted that the Science of ECD resource “broadens and enriches our knowledge base about the importance of early child development. It is a gem. It is a must for every undergraduate and postgraduate student undertaking studies in social science and human development.” A Foundation grant supported the College to carry out an effective dissemination strategy to ensure that the Science of ECD resource reached a wide audience and became sustainable. During this process, the Science of ECD project grew to include an expanded Second Edition, an International Edition (supported by the World Bank) and an online introductory course (created at the request of the Manitoba Government).

The project has created a resource that is in demand in Canada and strong interest from the international community speaks to its need and value beyond Canada. The Science of ECD enhances Red River College’s own early childhood education curriculum and provides students with exciting learning opportunities, making it easy for the College to promote the resource to others. Successful promotion and marketing endeavours have included: numerous workshops, presentations and orientations; the informational brochure and folder; a revamped website (www.scienceofecd.com); electronic newsletters; and articles and advertisements in print journals. Through these efforts, individuals and institutions in Canada and around the world use the Science of ECD resource and participate in the introductory online course. Professionals and students draw on the resource to keep them up to date and to guide the work they do with children and families. Faculty, trainers and parent educators share the information and discuss the practical implications of current research with their students. The engaging material helps people to understand the long reach of early childhood so they can support firm foundations early in life.

Each year, The Introduction to the Science of Early Child Development Online Course provides hundreds of frontline workers in Manitoba with a solid understanding of the importance of the early years. For many students, this course helps solidify their commitment to Early Childhood Education as many choose to go on for further training. Given the link between well-trained staff and high quality child care, the Science of ECD team is proud of how the resource and course encourage and support successful knowledge transfer, bridging the gap between research and practice.

In 2010, The Lawson Foundation supported Red River College to evaluate the 2nd edition and develop the 3rd edition by building on the current material, highlighting new concepts, research and implications and creating new learning tools, guides, road maps and online presentations. Collaborating with both content and technical experts and drawing on the expertise of a diverse, highly accomplished Advisory Committee, Red River College is creating a flexible and attractive educational resource that is accessible and relevant for a variety of fields and maintains the high level of content and currency that promotes understanding of how to support healthy early human development.

For more information, please go to: www.scienceofecd.com

Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 June 2011 )