Researchers-in-training

Three Master’s students from the University of Amsterdam have found their way to KidsFoundation. We are mentoring two Pedagogical Sciences students and one Developmental Psychology student in their research internships. They also have their own counsellor at the university.

Research into taste development

Meike Tros, a Pedagogical Sciences Master’s student, asks herself whether children eat better when they get a warm meal at the childcare centre. She is researching the taste acceptance of children at twenty childcare locations. She interviews the children and observes their facial expressions during eating moments.

Are you satisfied with afterschool services?

Pedagogical Sciences students Elze Hulshof and Nienke Matser are conducting research into the satisfaction and involvement of children in afterschool care. They are monitoring ten children aged 7-9 at different afterschool locations. Are the children more satisfied and involved when there is a larger offering of activities?

Feedback on the flexibility of toddlers

Our brain regularly performs executive functions that ensure we get things done properly, such as cognitive flexibility, working memory and inhibition (the ability to control behaviour). Let’s say you are giving three-year-olds feedback on a task that requires flexibility. Do their working memory and inhibition improve in the process? This is what Eline Erdmann, Bachelor’s student in Developmental Psychology, is studying.

Author: Helen Faasse. Source: KidsFoundation.