About the ECE LAB:
Led by Dr. Kristy Timmons, the Early Childhood Education Lab at Queen’s is a research lab interested in improving understanding of the processes that influence young children's learning, engagement, and self-regulation. Our research examines early childhood education from the perspective of social determinants of health and learning. This perspective stresses the importance of early experiences in lifelong health and well-being, for individuals and for populations. The first 2000 days of life are the most critical period for social, emotional, and physical development and are essential to establishing successful lifelong trajectories. We examine the processes that influence young children's learning, engagement, and self-regulation as a means of optimizing the health and learning outcomes of young children, with a particular focus on children who are historically and continuously marginalized. The overarching goal of our research is to advance equity in early childhood education by strengthening the policies and programs that promote improved learning outcomes in the early years and beyond.
We carry out research with children, families, early childhood educators, and pre-service and in-service teachers. Our work uses a team approach involving community partners, educators, and not-for-profit organizations, and we draw on multiple and mixed methods of inquiry across three connected streams of research:
Educator Expectations and Equity: how educators' beliefs and expectations shape the learning opportunities children receive in kindergarten.
Self-Regulation and Assessment: what self-regulation looks like in play-based classrooms, and how to define, observe, and assess it well.
Policy, Program Evaluation, and Assessment: how early years programs and policies are put into practice, and how evidence can make them work better.