Child Development Lab
Led by Dr. Mindi Mull
In the child development lab, students have the opportunity to explore developmental research questions, design studies that address those questions, and conduct research with children and/or parents. This could include observations of children, interviewing children, or parent surveys.
Lab projects:
In recent years there have been two major projects in the lab. The first focused on the issue of overscheduled children. The research questions included: 1) are children overscheduled? 2) does child temperament relate to being overscheduled? 3) does parenting style relate to being overscheduled? Parents in the Quad Cities area completed a survey to address these questions. Students were involved in the development of the research questions, creating the survey, and data collection.
The second research project focused on young children's understanding of others' intentions. In other words, how and when do children figure out whether another person's actions were intentional or accidental? This study involved interviewing children in kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. Students were involved in the study design, data collection, and data entry and analysis.
Recent presentations/publications:
Mull, M. S., Ochiltree, S., Wilhelmi, K., & Wilson, M. (March, 2011). Children's busy lives: The role of parenting and temperament. Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Montreal, Quebec.
Mull, M. S., & Evans, E. M. (2010). Did she mean to do it? Acquiring a folk theoryof intentionality. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 107, 207 - 228.
Lab alumni:
Heidi Maibuecher (2012)
Erica Aten (2012) - PsyD student in clinical psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology
Alex Watt (2012)
Katelyn Wilhelmi (2011) - 7th grade English teacher
Stacie Ochiltree (2011) - preschool teacher at a Montessori school
Megan Wilson (2010) - child advocate and counselor at Family Resources Inc. (Davenport, IA), enrolled in MSW program at St. Ambrose University
