The Learning, Emotions, and Play in School study (LEAPS) is an investigation into children’s self-regulation at the cognitive, behavioral, and neurophysiological level in early education settings. Although data collection is complete, analyses are ongoing and results are being disseminated by the project team, which includes the co-Principal Investigators, Dr. Cathi Propper (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Professor Jennifer Coffman (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), as well as Professor Nicholas Wanger (Boston University) and Dr. Holochwost. The project was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Development. 

This study is a large-scale randomized control trial designed to examine the effects of arts-integrated instruction on the socioemotional development and academic performance of young children (kindergarten through third grade). This project is funded by an Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant from the United States Department of Education, and is being conducted in collaboration with Arts for Learning Maryland and our colleagues in the REACH Lab. 

In our previous work, we found that participating in music education yielded benefits to children’s executive functions. Tuning the Heart Strings explores whether these benefits are transmitted, at least in part, by changes in children’s parasympathetic nervous system activity. This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, and is being conducted in collaboration with Play on Philly and our colleagues at the REACH Lab.

Experiencing STEM FirstHand is a program of the University City Science Center in Philadelphia designed to enhance the representation of students of color in STEM fields by offering them hands-on instruction in a state of the art learning laboratory. This project is funded by an Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant from the United States Department of Education, and is being conducted in collaboration with our colleagues at AnLar.

Students of color tend to be under-represented in the fields of Science, Technology, Education, and Math (STEM). This may be due, in part, to the ways in which STEM is taught in elementary school. Through the Spatial Practice, Assessment, Coaching, and Enrichment for Innovative Teaching, or SPACE-IT project, we are developing a professional development program to help elementary-school STEM teachers spatialize the science curriculum, with the short-term goal of fostering self-concept and self-efficacy among students of color, and the long-term goal of increasing the representation of these students in STEM fields. This project is funded by the Institute for Education Sciences and is being conducted in collaboration with our co-Principal Investigators, Drs. Kristin Gagnier (AnLar) and Kelly Fisher (SRCD). 

The Biologic Mechanisms and Dosing of Active Music Engagement in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Parents study (BioMuse) is an investigation into have the benefits of music therapy for young children and their parents may be transmitted via their neurophysiological and immune function. The project is directed by Professor Sheri Robb at Indiana University and is funded by the National Institutes of Health as part of the Sound Health Network.