Teaching Interests:
Educational Psychology, Educational Inquiry, Child Psychology, Quantitative Research Methodologies (e.g., Longitudinal Methods), Early Childhood Development and Education
Research Interests:
Early Mathematics, Infant-Toddler Curriculum, Socioemotional Learning, Early Childhood Development and Education
My research interests lie in the major areas of early childhood development, learning, and education from birth through 8 years of age. I have three distinct but interrelated lines of research. In one line of research, my focus is on early mathematics. I am interested in how individual and instructional characteristics contribute to young children's acquisition of mathematical knowledge in a variety of domains including, but not limited to, number and arithmetic, measurement, geometry, and patterning. Another line of my research concerns the bioecology of early childhood development. I am fascinated by the interplay of young children and their significant others in micro- and macro-level developmental contexts (families, preschools, after-school programs, ethnical and cultural backgrounds, and historical events such as the COVID-19 pandemic). I am particularly intrigued by such interplay under crisis situations (e.g., strict lockdown) and adverse circumstances (e.g., rural, remote, lower socioeconomic status, separation from parents due to boarding or migration). Still another line of my research lies in quality care and curriculum for children aged zero to three years. I am interested in identifying the principles of quality care and the curriculum components of quality programs and embedding these principles and components into zero-to-three curriculum.
My research typically involves information from various sources, including longitudinal data of typically developing children, studies of children who have specific learning difficulty or developmental disorders, intervention programs for children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and cross-cultural studies of Chinese and Western children.