CECE Student Researcher Receives Two Prestigious Research Awards

Allison Lundy, Undergraduate Researcher at the CECE, was awarded two prestigious research awards this month to recognize and support her Honors thesis, “The Association Between Outdoor Motor Play and On-Task Behavior in Learning Experiences in Preschool.” Lundy, a junior Honors student studying early childhood education and psychology, is the only recipient of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Education Division’s Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Award for 2019. This award is given annually by the CUR Education Division to honor high-quality undergraduate research in the learning and teaching sciences that, “will have an impact on professional practice [in] the classroom, school, or community.”

Lundy has also been named the inaugural recipient of the Jeffrey and Nancy Trawick-Smith Early Childhood Undergraduate Research Fund, which supports students who are conducting scientific, empirical studies on young children within the Center for Early Childhood Education that “will yield practical knowledge in early education and development and, thus, promote the well-being of young children and their families.” The fund was created by the Trawick-Smiths to provide opportunities for undergraduates to gain research knowledge and skills by assisting with research and travel expenses to present at national conferences.

Working with her mentor, Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, Professor Emeritus in the Center for Early Childhood Education, Lundy is studying the effects of active play on the playground on the on-task behavior of preschool children during indoor learning experiences. “Allison’s study will be the first to examine, in a controlled way, the effects of such play on the ability of young children to pay attention and regulate their own behavior in the classroom,” Trawick-Smith states. “Her findings will elucidate important areas of inquiry in the psychological sciences and early childhood education and are clearly publishable.”

Lundy has found the research experience to be transformative. “Conducting undergraduate research has been very rewarding,” she states. “Through this experience, I have developed and strengthened my critical thinking, communication, writing, and presentation skills. Undergraduate research has also given me the opportunity to work alongside former faculty member, Dr. Trawick-Smith. His vast knowledge of young children is incredible. In working with him, I have learned so much not only about my own area of study, but early childhood education as a whole.”