Learning hand in hand: Engaging in research–practice partnerships to advance developmental science

Abstract

Developmental science research often involves research questions developed by academic teams, which are tested within community or educational settings. In this piece, we outline the importance of research-practice partnerships, which involve both research and practice-based partners collaborating at each stage of the research process. We articulate challenges and benefits of these partnerships for developmental science research, identify relevant research frameworks that may inform these partnerships, and provide an example of an ongoing research-practice partnership.

Assessing adolescents’ critical health literacy: How is trust in government leadership associated with knowledge of COVID-19?

“…This research was approved by the Institutional Review Boards at North Carolina State University in the US and University of Exeter in the UK. Adolescents and young adults, who were part of a collaborative longitudinal study between scholars in the US and the UK examining their participation in informal STEM learning programs and changes in their STEM career interests over time, were invited to participate in a survey developed for this study assessing their experiences during COVID-19 in May and June of 2020 [ 61 ]. For US participants, opt-out informed consent forms were emailed to the parents of potential participants one week before the survey was emailed to participants.…”

Children’s Gender Stereotypes in STEM Following a One-Shot Growth Mindset Intervention in a Science Museum

“…The findings of the present study show that mindset interventions can be successfully carried out in a science museum with the collaboration between researchers and practitioners. This research-practice partnership offers many opportunities to explore research questions, test novel educational interventions, and design and implement impactful theory-based and outcome-focused practice (Anderson and Shattuck, 2012;Mulvey et al, 2020).…”

Research at a Distance: Replicating Semantic Differentiation Effects Using Remote Data Collection With Children Participants

“…The researcher involvement was fairly minimal, and it is likely that with some improvements to the usability of the tasks it would be possible for children to complete these tasks without any researcher involvement. Partnerships between basic science researchers and educators are an important component of developmental science and can be mutually beneficial for the researchers and the educators (Osberg, 1998;Callanan, 2012;Haden, 2020;Mulvey et al, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has propelled the development of virtual learning programs (Bell, 2020); this study illustrates how researchers can leverage this reality to maintain existing partnerships within their local communities and possibly develop new ones with science centers that were previously geographically inaccessible -and in so doing, study developmental change in ecologically valid settings (Golinkoff et al, 2017).…”