ECEC, Faculty Host Conference, Discuss Research with Local Educators
February 4, 2014
Approximately 120 early childhood educators, teachers and administrators came to campus Jan. 25 to hear UC Merced faculty members discuss research that could eventually affect how educators teach children ages 0 to 8.
The half-day conference, “Child Triumphs and Troubles: Language and Learning in the Early Years,” was organized by UC Merced, the campus’s Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) and the Gateway Association for the Education of Children (GAEYC).
Faculty members Anne Warlaumont, Rose Scott, Eric Walle and Jeffrey Gilger each shared their research in the following presentations:
- Developing the Foundations for Speech Production
- The Role of Adult Child Conversations in Early Learning
- Parent-child Interactions in Social Settings
- Signs, Symptoms and Causes of Learning Disabilities in Young Children
ECEC Director Danielle Waite said response to the conference was good, with many participants expressing interest in attending similar events at the campus in the future. Topics covered during the conference “will inform the field of early childhood education and affect what we do as teachers in the classroom,” Waite said.
The event ended with participants invited to tour each faculty presenter’s research labs and the ECEC facility. Waite said given the conference's success, the organizers would like to plan one annually. Events such as this one is another example of how UC Merced and its faculty members are engaging in focused research of vital importance to the region, state and society as a whole.
For more information, email the ECEC or call ext. 5437.
