SGER: Early Childhood Educators' Responses to Katrina and Child Outcomes

关于教师对自然灾害的即时反应，人们知之甚少。 关于幼儿教育工作者的反应或这些幼儿学习的影响，人们所知更少。 这项研究将在卡特里娜飓风和丽塔飓风之后调查这些主题。 这项研究的目的之一是收集有关教师对卡特里娜飓风和丽塔飓风的课堂反应的信息。 教师对飓风的反应将通过对教师和儿童课堂活动的调查来衡量。 教师样本将包括来自路易斯安那州的学前班、幼儿园和小学教师，路易斯安那州是另一个飓风多发州，也是一个不受飓风威胁的州。 预计教师的反应会根据课堂特征（地点和年级）和报告的教学实践而有所不同。 对回答的多元回归分析将控制教师的特征（认证领域、教育背景、难民身份等）。和情感健康。 第二个目标是调查教师的反应如何与儿童的学习和行为结果相关。对于这方面的研究，教室将使用有目的的随机抽样选择：教室中，教师报告做了大量的课堂工作，以应对飓风，适度数量的飓风相关活动，很少或没有飓风相关的活动。 研究人员将使用时间采样来记录观察到的儿童压力相关行为。 一个创新的游戏为基础的采访技术，使用修改后的故事干方法的背景下，“飓风中心，”将被用来衡量儿童的知识。 协方差分析将比较不同年龄段和教师反应组的儿童结果。 从这项研究中获得的知识将有助于回答重要的问题。 首先，教育工作者如何在课堂上处理这类事件？ 第二，通常使用发展适当的教学实践的教师对这些事件的反应与其他教师不同吗？ 第三，教师对这些灾难的不同反应在多大程度上影响了幼儿的行为和对飓风的理解？ 当这些问题得到解答时，我们关于教育和儿童如何受到灾害影响的知识将以对教师、教师教育工作者和心理学家具有重要意义的方式得到推进。 具体而言，由于这项研究使用标准方法来衡量不同年龄段儿童的知识，因此其结果将有助于了解儿童对特定类型自然灾害知识的年龄相关差异。 这项研究也将大大有助于现有的文献对儿童的理解自然现象。 从该项目收集的信息将导致：（a）在受与自然灾害有关的文化危机和动荡影响的地区，为幼儿课堂制定和传播有效教学战略和课程的想法;（B）普遍认识到儿童与飓风有关的经历与他们对自然灾害的理解之间的相互作用。

Very little is known about the immediate response of classroom teachers to natural disasters. Even less is known about early childhood educators' responses or about the impact of those young children's learning. This research will investigate these topics in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One objective of the study is to collect information about teachers' classroom responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Teachers' responses to the hurricanes will be measured with a survey about teacher and child classroom activities. The teacher sample will include preschool, kindergarten, and primary-grade teachers from Louisiana, another hurricane-prone state, and a state that is not threatened by hurricanes. Teacher responses are expected to differ according to classroom characteristics (location and grade level) and reported teaching practices. Multiple regression analysis of responses will control for teacher characteristics (certification area, educational background, refugee status, etc.) and emotional well-being. The second objective is to investigate how teachers' responses are related to child learning and behavior outcomes. For this aspect of the study, classrooms will be selected using purposive random sampling: Classrooms in which teachers report doing a lot of classroom work in response to the hurricanes, a moderate number hurricane-related activities, and few or no hurricane-related activities. Researchers will use time sampling to document observed child stress-related behaviors. An innovative play-based interview technique, using a modified story-stem methodology in the context of "Hurricane Centers," will be used to measure children's knowledge. Analysis of covariance will compare child outcomes across age levels and teacher-response groups. The knowledge gained from this research will help answer important questions. First, how do educators address such events in their classrooms? Second, do teachers who typically use developmentally appropriate teaching practices respond to these events differently than other teachers? Third, to what extent do differential teacher responses to these disasters affect young children's behaviors and understanding of hurricanes? As those questions are answered, our knowledge about how education and children are impacted by disasters will be advanced in ways that have important implications for teachers, teacher educators, and psychologists. Specifically, because this research uses a standard methodology to measure children's knowledge across a range of ages, the results will contribute new insights into understanding age-related differences in children's knowledge of a specific type of natural disaster. The research will also contribute significantly to the existing literature on children's understanding of natural phenomena. The information gathered from this project will lead to (a) the development and dissemination of ideas about effective teaching strategies and curriculum for early childhood classrooms in regions impacted by cultural crises and upheavals related to natural disasters and (b) a general appreciation for the interaction between children's hurricane-related experiences and their understanding of natural disasters.