Several CEHD faculty members will be conducting research at the Driven to Discover (D2D) Research Faculty at the Minnesota State Fair this summer.

Scott McConnell and Alisha Wackerle-Hollman from the Department of Educational Psychology will work with four-year-olds on “Hello! My Name is IGDI: Testing Preschool Literacy.” What are early signs of reading in preschoolers? How do kids rhyme? How do they identify letter sounds? Preschoolers will use an iPad to play literacy games to help McConnell and Wackerle-Hollman find out.

Virginia Zuiker of the Department of Family Social Science will recruit anyone 18 and older for “Where Does My Money Go?” For the past 12 years, the U.S. economy has fluctuated, with some Americans feeling great about their financial status and many others who are adjusting to life with reduced income and resources. Zuiker’s survey will help better understand the financial management practices of those who attend the Minnesota State Fair.

Jürgen Konczak of the School of Kinesiology will team with Lucie Turcotte of the Masonic Cancer Center to study “No Peeking! Where is Your Hand?” Individuals ages 3 to 17 will be recruited to see how well they know where their bodies are in space. Konczak and Turcotte are studying how these sensory abilities develop during childhood using new measures of body awareness that have been developed to study body position sense.

D2D is for faculty, students, and staff U-wide to recruit from among two million fairgoers for on-site human-subjects research. So far, 55 different research projects are scheduled for this year. Read more.