Teacher's Perception of Children's Attention

Aim: To examine Chinese kindergarten teachers' perceptions of and instructional practices related to children’s attention.

Method: Semi-structured interview

& Observation.

Mao, X. Z. & Grammer, J. G. (2024, July). “Paying attention gets twice the result with half the effort”: Teacher's perception of children's attention in Chinese kindergarten classrooms. Poster presented at the International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES) biannual conference, Leuven, Belgium. 

Paper under review.

Neural Correlates of Attention During Learning

Aim: To understand the function of attention control system in real learning situations (e.g. in-person teaching, online instruction, independent work) in children with high or low ADHD symptoms.

Method: Electroencephalography (EEG) & Behavioral coding.

Mao, X. Z., Grammer, J. G., & Lenartowicz, A. (2023, March). Exploring Student Attention Tracking (SAT): a New, Integrated Behavioral Coding Protocol for Student Attention. Presentation given at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) biennial conference, Salt Lake City, UT.

Paper in preparation.

Teacher's School Readiness Views and Academic Gains of Kindergarteners

Aim: To explore the impact of teachers' views of school readiness on children's academic gains using a large national dataset.

Method: Statistical modeling (confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling).

Mao, X. Z. (2023, April).

Teachers’ School Readiness Views and Kindergarteners’ Academic Gains:

Structural Equation Modeling with ECLS-K 2011. Poster presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference, Chicago, IL.

Reimagining California Public P-12 Teacher Education for Diverse Learners

Aim: To understand pre-service and in-service teachers' needs and wants, in order to innovate digital tools and resource platforms to help them better serve diverse students.

Method: Survey, Interview, & Focus groups.

[Research-Practice-Policy Partnership with the UC-CSU California Collaborative on Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning]

Ongoing Project

Expanding Family Engagement in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Aim: To investigate how underrepresented and marginalized families of young learners use resources, in order to set a prototype of family-centered activity for other state-wide partners.

Method: Focus groups.

[Research-Practice-Policy Partnership with the Virginia Department of Education]

Looking Inside and Across 33 Social and Emotional Learning Programs

Aim: To investigate and compare leading early childhood and elementary-level social-emotional learning (SEL) programs in the U.S. and produce a practical resource for teachers and schools.

Method: Content analysis.

Jones, S. M., Brush, K., Ramirez, T., Mao, X. Z., Marenus, M., Wettje, S., Finney, K., Raisch, N., Podoloff, N., Kahn, J., Barnes, S., Stickle, L., Brion-Meisels, G., McIntyre, J., Cuartas, J., & Bailey, R. (2021). Navigating social and emotional learning from the inside out; Looking inside and across 33 leading SEL programs: A practical resource for schools and OST providers (revised and expanded 2nd edition; preschool and elementary school focus). New York, NY: Wallace Foundation.