Discovering a passion through research opportunities

Q: Why did you choose to pursue a graduate degree in Human Development at Penn GSE?
A: I chose the ISHD program because I was interested in an interdisciplinary approach to studying social and cognitive development in children. After graduating Boston University in 2016 with a license in early childhood education, I wanted to build upon my classroom experience and background as a teacher. My classroom experience has led me to understand the significance of exploring education methods that would help to narrow the wide knowledge gap that exists in our youngest learners.

By pursuing a master’s degree in ISHD, I knew that I would have research opportunities and courses that embraced an interdisciplinary approach to studying child development. I also chose to spread out my degree over two years, in order to provide myself with ample time to become involved in numerous research projects, and eventually apply to Ph.D. programs. 

Q: What was the single most important thing you learned in the ISHD program?
A: In reflecting upon my two years in the ISHD program, I believe that the most valuable thing I learned was the importance of taking the initiative to find experiences that encompass an interdisciplinary approach to thinking about human development. Over the course of my time at Penn GSE, I have continued my research on social and cognitive development in children through research projects in three departments at Penn.

In the Human Development Division at Penn GSE, I conducted an independent research project aimed at exploring the developmental sequence of children’s reasoning about intentional instruction. In the Education Policy Division at Penn GSE, I was a graduate research assistant at the Penn Child Research Center, where I worked with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Early Head Start program to develop an integrative data system aimed at improving the quality of the program. Finally, I was a graduate student researcher at the Cognition and Development Laboratory in the Psychology Department at Penn, where I worked on a study exploring children’s understanding of science and how it relates to their performance on a causal reasoning task and metacognition task. 

Through the opportunities I had at Penn GSE, I was not only able to critically think about child development from different perspectives, but I also had the opportunity to grow as a researcher, student, and mentor.

Q: How did your experience in the ISHD program inform your career path?
A: Through my interdisciplinary research experiences working in three departments at Penn, I was able to pinpoint the focus of my research interests on how children’s early learning is shaped by their social context, with a strong commitment to developing practical classroom applications.

Ultimately, my experience in the ISHD program has further inspired me to continue my academic journey by pursuing a Ph.D. in Applied Human Development at Boston University. I am very excited for this next step and I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such incredible professors and mentors at Penn GSE, who have supported my development as a researcher, instructor, and now, Ph.D. student.