Laboratory of Child Development

The Laboratory unites the leading specialists in the fields of assessment and improving the quality and content of early childhood education. The main fields of the Laboratory’s research include:

Early childhood education quality

During 2015 — 2017, the Laboratory conducted the research on early childhood education quality in more than 70 regions of Russia (including Moscow). More than 1500 kindergartens were assessed during the interviews.

Four experts in Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-3) certified by the Environment Rating Scales Institute (ERSI) are working in the Laboratory at the moment. The Laboratory’s staff regularly train teachers of preschool education in Moscow and other regions on in-service training courses devoted to assessment and improving of early childhood education quality.

Educational technologies to develop dialectical thinking in preschool children, school children and students

An innovative program of preschool education ‘Metamorphosis‘ was tested in a number of Moscow kindergartens. The aim of the program is to develop dialectical thinking. The Laboratory’s staff also develop the approaches to forming dialectical thinking at school and use the technology of position, teaching the students psycho-pedagogical subjects. The first international Symposium on problems of dialectical thinking with participation of the leading specialists from the US, Great Britain, Sweden, Portugal, Germany, Turkmenistan was arranged and held on the base of the Laboratory in summer in 2017.

Educational potential of children’s playgrounds in Moscow

Among the current projects one of the most remarkable is researching the quality of educational role of children’s playgrounds. The aim of the project is to develop guidelines on renewing and developing subject-spatial environment of public of children’s playgrounds.

Ethics

Development of special aspects of ethical standards at kindergartens and code of ethics for the staff of the preschool education institutions.

During the last years the results of the Laboratory research are presented at the conferences and symposiums of the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA), European Society of Researchers of Adult Development (ESRAD), International ECERS Meetings, Russian Psychological Society congresses, etc.

Among others, the laboratory carries out the research projects:

Assessment and Improvement of Conditions for Supporting Children’s Play, Creative Abilities, Initiativeness, and Emotional Intelligence;
Development of Creative Thinking in Pre-School Age;
Development of University Students’ Professional Competence and Thinking – Technology of Position-Based Learning.