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

人们对课堂教师对自然灾害的即时反应知之甚少。对幼儿教育工作者的反应或这些幼儿学习的影响更是知之甚少。这项研究将在卡特里娜和丽塔飓风过后调查这些话题。这项研究的目的之一是收集有关教师对卡特里娜和丽塔飓风的课堂反应的信息。教师对飓风的反应将通过一项关于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的州，也是一个不受飓风威胁的州。教师的反应预计会根据课堂特点(地点和年级水平)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特征(认证地区、教育背景、难民身份等)。和情感上的幸福。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。在研究的这一方面，将使用有目的的随机抽样来选择教室：教师报告做了大量课堂工作以应对飓风的教室，适度数量的与飓风相关的活动，很少或没有与飓风相关的活动。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。在“飓风中心”的背景下，使用改进的故事主干方法，一种创新的基于游戏的采访技术将被用于测量儿童的知识。协方差分析将比较不同年龄水平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样的事件？第二，通常使用适合发展的教学实践的教师对这些事件的反应是否与其他教师不同？第三，教师对这些灾害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？随着这些问题的回答，我们关于教育和儿童如何受到灾难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影响的方式得到推进。具体地说，因为这项研究使用了一种标准的方法来衡量儿童在不同年龄段的知识，所以结果将有助于理解儿童对特定类型自然灾害的知识与年龄相关的差异。这项研究也将对现有的关于儿童对自然现象的理解的文献做出重大贡献。该项目收集的信息将有助于：(A)为受自然灾害相关文化危机和动乱影响的地区的幼儿课堂制定和传播有效的教学战略和课程；(B)普遍了解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.