Founder and Lab Director

Dr. Timmons is an Associate Professor and Graduate Faculty Member in Early Childhood Education at the Faculty of Education, Queen’s University. Dr. Timmons completed her MA in Child Study and Education at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto and her PhD in Developmental Psychology and Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (UofT). Dr. Timmons’ teaching experience spans the early years, elementary, undergraduate and graduate levels. Her research interests centre on the processes that influence young children’s learning, engagement, and self-regulation. Within this focus, she has carried out research with children, families, and pre- and in- service educators. Dr. Timmons is also an Associate Faculty Member of the Assessment and Evaluation Group (AEG) at Queen’s University. AEG faculty members and graduate students engage in independent and collaborative research, program reviews and consulting.

Research Manager and MEd Student, Recipient of the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master’s

Cheryl Lee-Yow is a M.Ed candidate at Queen's University. Her current area of focus is researching the implementation and impacts of the Canada-Wide Early Learning & Child Care (CWELCC) system in Ontario. Her research interests include online education accessibility, at-risk youth, DEI, and disability studies. She graduated with an Honours BA in Legal Studies and Sociology with business from the University of Waterloo in 2020. She has various experiences in non-traditional teaching environments including museum programming, Montessori schools, summer camps, student success teams, and volunteering with programs helping low-income youth and communities. Cheryl is also the president of the Education Graduate Student Society for the 2023-2024 term.

PhD Candidate & Recipient of the SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship

Grounded in a developmental psychology perspective, Emma's research explores the development, presentation, and role of prosocial and antisocial behaviours in the play-based kindergarten context. Emma completed her M.Ed thesis entitled, "A Pan-Canadian Assessment of Adolescents with Chronic Health Conditions: Psychosocial Functioning" at Queen's University Faculty of Education, and her B.Ed and Honours BA (Evolutionary Psychology) concurrently at Nipissing University. In her free time, you'll find Emma painting, watching Big Brother, or playing board games with friends!

PhD Candidate & Recipient of the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship

Elizabeth Sharp is a Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. Elizabeth began her studies by completing a Bachelor of Education with a specialization in Early Childhood Education, where she developed a keen interest in improving teacher knowledge to support students in the early years. Elizabeth’s research experience comprises of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research, as well as program evaluation. Elizabeth is currently working on her Ph.D., which focuses on supporting students with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Elizabeth has teaching experience in the early years and elementary and continues to be an active member of the graduate student community at Queen’s University.

Research Fellow and Project Lead

Dr. Heather Braund’s research focuses on cognition, assessment, and simulation. Currently, she is the Associate Director, Scholarship and Simulation Education in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University. She has experience with quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods research, and program evaluation. Generally, her research utilizes a mixed methods approach and she strives to build capacity in collaborative research teams involving students and faculty. Her mixed methods SSHRC funded doctoral research explored the relationship between classroom assessment, student self-regulation, and student metacognition in Kindergarten classrooms. Her SSHRC funded M.Ed research focused on understanding metacognition within elementary science contexts. She graduated with her Bachelor of Education from Queen's and is OCT certified to teach Primary and Junior students. She also holds a Honours Bachelor of Science from Trent University in Psychology and Biology.

PhD Student and Recipient of the Doctoral-Level Ontario Graduate Scholarship

Taylor Wormington is a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. Her doctoral work is funded by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. She is an Ontario Certified Teacher, having earned her Bachelor of Education in 2019. Taylor has extensive experience working with children with exceptionalities, having worked as an Enhanced Support Worker, Educational Assistant, and Research student for the Autism and Behavioural Science Program at St. Lawrence College. Her research focuses on students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in play-based learning kindergarten classrooms, and how kindergarten teachers meet the social and academic needs of these students in a play-based model.

PhD Student

Jianing Lv is a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. She completed her Honours B.Sc. in psychology and her M. Ed. in developmental psychology at the University of Toronto. Her Master’s research explored the effect of self-regulated learning on reading comprehension through automated diagnostic feedback and mediation. Jianing has worked as an instructor therapist and neurofeedback therapist with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Her research focuses on students with exceptionalities as well as English language learners in play-based kindergarten classrooms, and how kindergarten teachers can support the language development of these students.

MEd Student

Rachel Su holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Education degree from Queen's University. She is a certified member of the Ontario College of Teachers, specializing in Primary/Junior division education. Rachel served as a research fellow, collaborating with Dr. Timmons, where she made significant contributions to data interpretation and coding for a SSHRC Insight Development Grant-funded project titled "Inequity at the Starting Line: The Influence of Teacher Expectations, Beliefs, and Practices on Learning Outcomes in Kindergarten." Currently, her research focuses on investigating the impact of stereotype threat and related psychological phenomena on various aspects of education, including content delivery, pedagogical strategies, and classroom management. Her research places a particular emphasis on understanding how these factors affect marginalized pre-service educators. Rachel work is instrumental in shedding light on critical dimensions of teacher education and equity within the classroom

Charlotte Schwass

MEd, Research Assistant, and Recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship

Charlotte Schwass is a Master of Social Work student at Western University. Charlotte’s current area of focus is researching child and youth mental health and the impact on school success as well as trauma-informed education in Early Primary contexts. Charlotte is certified with the Ontario College of Teachers with qualifications to teach in the Primary Junior division. Prior to beginning her MSW, Charlotte completed the Concurrent Education program with a specialization in Early Primary Education as well as her Master of Education at Queen’s University.

PhD Student

Andrea Hill is a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at Queen's University, where she earned her MEd in 2023 and Bachelor of Education in 2020. Andrea is a member of the Ontario College of Teachers. In 2018-2019, Andrea created and implemented a "playschool" program for children ages 1-5. At this time, Andrea also facilitated a drop-in program that was mainly attended by at-risk youth in grades 6-12. During her B.Ed, Andrea completed a practicum as a Teacher Candidate with Correctional Services of Canada. These experiences incited an interest in research involving at-risk students, trauma-informed pedagogy, self-regulation, and the K-12 educational experiences of formerly incarcerated women. Andrea holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Sociology from Western University in 2018.

MEd, Research Assistant

Yiqin completed her Master of Education in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. Her research focuses on self-regulation, play-based learning and assessment in the early years. She is currently working as a coordinator in the college and an English instructor in the language school. She has also volunteered for community initiatives and completed a project named “Kingston Early Learning and Child Care Market Needs Assessment”. Yiqin completed her Bachelor of Arts, Honors, in Education with a specialization in Early Childhood Education in Central China Normal University and is a certificated kindergarten teacher in China.

PhD Student

Maryna Stoliar completed her Bachelor of Primary Education at Drahomanov National Pedagogical University and a Master of Education Institution Management at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine. In 2022, Maryna joined the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University as a Visiting Research Student under the supervision of Dr. Kristy Timmons.

Maryna began her doctoral studies in the fall of 2023. Her research interests focus on early childhood education and play. Specifically, she is interested in early childhood teachers' professional training, educational environment, and play-based learning. Maryna has broad professional experience as an educational consultant with the MoE of Ukraine, UNICEF, and Sesame Workshop.