An assistant professor at California State University, Long Beach is one of the first CSU faculty to receive an award for early childhood curriculum.
Child Development and Family Studies Assistant Professor Treshawn Anderson was one of 13 recipients to be awarded with the 2015 Simms/Mann Faculty Fellowship as announced on October 29 on the Simms/Mann Institute webpage.
As one of the selected faculty fellows, Anderson will complete a year-long project transitioning neuroscience research into applications that can be integrated into classrooms.
“The fellowship will allow me to definitely put my research into practice,” Anderson said. “One of the stipulations of the fellowship was that we would translate what we learned at the institute, which was about brain science and brain development and how the early years are important in brain development, so we’ll be able to put together a program and actually put it into practice.”
Anderson has a bachelor’s degree in Child Education and Family Studies and master’s degree in Elementary Education-Early Childhood, both from CSULB, as well as a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from Purdue University.
The Simms/Mann Institute for Education and Community Development offers programs and resources to select California Community Colleges and California State University faculty within various fields surrounding childhood development and education.
Anderson was among the first CSU faculty to receive the Simms/Mann Faculty Fellowship since the institute’s expansion to include the CSU faculty, commencing this year in efforts to build the CSU’s early childhood curriculum.
Fellowship recipients will work with other interdisciplinary professionals ranging in fields from early child education, psychology and medicine, amongst many others.
In a Simms/Mann Institute press release, the institute expressed the scarcity and rising need for professionals specializing in early childhood education and their efforts pertaining to the critical necessity.
“It’s important because it’s a growing field and a growing population with more than 60 percent of children under the age of three are going to school out of their homes,” Anderson said. “So it’s important that we put into research on the quality of early care and education. We want to make sure the early care and education they are receiving is up to par.”
Anderson’s particular concentration surrounds the improvement in the quality of care and early education children are receiving, starting with the teachers.
“What I research here is the professional development of infant and toddler teachers. Looking at what are the quality educators that will create a successful teacher,” Anderson said. “Whether it be their education level, the years of experience, their hours of training and also I’m looking at teachers’ beliefs about the appropriate child care and education. To determine if their beliefs will then influence their practice in the classrooms.”
Although the Simms/Mann Faculty Fellowship concentrates on the development and education occurring in the classroom, the effect of the child’s development and learning at home is also a factor Anderson is taking into account.
“Parents and families are the children’s first teacher,” Anderson said. “If children are not receiving optimal interactions in language and quality of care in the home, but they end up going to a high-quality child care center that can then buffer some of the effect those factors have on their development. So if they don’t get it at home then they can still get it at school.”