RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR HDFS 294 (1-3 hours) Professor Jarrett

PROJECT: Building Strong Communities and Families through Community Gardens

This project explores how community gardens in an impoverished, inner-city neighborhood help promote community and family resilience. Qualitative interviews, neighborhood observations and maps, and photographs of local gardens were collected from community gardeners. Specifically, we explore the role of women in leading community gardens and the benefits of community gardens for families (promoting time together, cohesion), as well as how community gardens create safe space in high-risk neighborhoods.  Students will work in our ethnographic research lab with data that have already been collected. Students will have an opportunity to read about community and family resilience and to learn qualitative data analysis skills. Developing data analysis skills will entail coding interviews and photo documents. The project provides an excellent opportunity to work as part of a research with other undergraduate and graduate students.

PROJECT: School Readiness: Connecting Families and Schools

This project explores how preschools, elementary schools, and families facilitate low-income, African American preschoolers’ transition to kindergarten. The project is based on qualitative interviews with preschool teachers, kindergarten teachers, and parents, neighborhood observations, and photographs from African American parents on daily family life. Students will work in our ethnographic research lab with data that have already been collected. Students will have an opportunity to become familiar with the literatures on family resilience, parenting practices and schooling, and family-school collaborations and to learn qualitative data analysis skills. Developing data analysis skills will entail coding interviews and photo documents. As part of the project activities, we will work on developing a parenting curriculum that facilitates greater parental engagement with schools and communities. The project provides an excellent opportunity to work as part of a research with other undergraduate and graduate students.

PROJECT: The Healthy Today, Healthy Tomorrow Nutrition and Curriculum Study

This ongoing project focuses on creating healthy lifestyles among inner-city mothers with preschoolers. We have developed an 8 week curriculum for Head Start programs. This year we will be updating the curriculum to include mothers with infants. Work on this project will entail reviewing existing curricula, reviewing research on low-income, African American families with infants, and developing the content of workshops (e.g., healthy nutrition, family meal times, family garden, developing a healthy lifestyle, physical activity). The project provides an excellent opportunity to work as part of a research with other undergraduate and graduate students.