NAEYC Radio presents…

Translating Research into Awareness & Action for Parents

(Washington, DC) (Washington, D.C.) – This month’s NAEYC Radio segment features Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of the Families and Work Institute, who discusses an initiative she has been leading for nearly a decade on making brain development research less confusing for parents and teachers to use and trust. The Mind in the Making Initiative will officially launch later this year.

Rae Pica and Mark R. Ginsberg interviewed Ms. Galinsky in this month’s segment of NAEYC Radio, a program brought to you by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the BAM Radio Network.

In this segment, Ms. Galinsky discusses the series of focus groups that found that parents tend to distrust information tied to phrases like “researchers say,” because of the perception that research often contradicts itself. Galinsky says that parents want to know specifics about who the researchers are and how they know what they know. The Mind in the Making Initiative was formed to tape studies and experiments so parents have a first-hand view of the results.

Through these taped sessions, Galinsky and those at Families and Work Institute hope to present the science behind education and development in children from birth through age eight. According to the website, this project presents research in “an accessible, engaging and inspiring way.” So far the Institute has filmed 60 researchers in action and hope to use these videos to continue to bridge the gap between research and practice.

“Having a first hand experience as a parent or a teacher, you learn it in a different way than if I’m just telling it to you,” said Galinsky on NAEYC Radio.  “…I’m just hoping that these videos of actual research get us fired up and the fire in our eyes comes on too.”

Galinsky is the author of over 35 books and reports, including the groundbreaking book, Ask The Children: The Breakthrough Study That Reveals How to Succeed at Work and Parenting, selected by The Wall Street Journal as one of the best work, life books of 1999. She is also a past president of the NAEYC Governing Board.
 

Rae Pica is the director of Moving and Learning and co-founder of the BAM Radio Network.
Mark R. Ginsberg, Ph.D., is the executive director of NAEYC.

The BAM Radio Network was originally launched as a resource for parents, aimed at delivering the most reliable information on early childhood development and developmentally appropriate parenting to busy moms and dads. Created by leading early childhood experts, the programming quickly became a popular resource among teachers and educators and was expanded to include an Educators' Channel.

Founded in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children has nearly 90,000 members worldwide. The association is the largest and most influential voice for early childhood education professionals and the field of early childhood education in the United States.

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