On Sunday 27th October 2024, the Development and Cognition Research Group, led by Dr. Jocelyn Dautel, hosted ‘Dive into Developmental Science!’ in collaboration with the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University. This event was part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences at the Ulster Museum, an annual UK wide celebration of all things social science. As part of the family fun day, children and adults alike were invited to become developmental researchers for the day. Families’ engagement in the fun, free and interactive activities provided the perfect opportunity for the universities to showcase their research to the public, emphasize its impact and inspire communities to get involved by participating in studies.

                               

The Ulster museum was the perfect setting for curious minds to wander in, attracting a wide range of interested guests to the welcome table, the room quickly filling with mingling adults and delighted children.

The experience provided an opportunity for visitors to get involved in the world of research and cultivate curiosity for developmental science in younger audiences. The perfect mix of child friendly activities and more adult-centred flash talks ensured everyone who visited had an interesting and enjoyable experience.

Here are some of the interactive activities and colourful research displays featured at ‘Dive into Developmental Science!’:

Art of Identity

The Art of Identity table, led by Dr. Jocelyn Dautel, showcased research using the Draw-and-Tell method, where children in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Republic of North Macedonia and Croatia drew pictures exploring the topic ‘peace.’ For example, they were asked “Whenever you think of peace or groups of people getting along, what do you think of?” In response to this question, an 8-year-old from Northern Ireland drew a picture and described it as “group of friends holding hands.” Another answer from an 8-year-old from Kosovo said, “It is nice to me because there are no more wars and there are no bomb holes everywhere, everything is peaceful now.”

Parents and children were able to visit a standing research display of children's drawings and quotes. There were also abundant crayons and markers for children to draw their own pictures about 'peace' on the day to add to the wall of drawings and share children's perceptions of peace from post-conflict societies in Europe.

Table Talks: New Findings in Developmental Science

Dr. Agnieszka Graham and Dr. Teresa McCormack provided insights into skills such as delayed gratification and mind wandering. Agnieszka and families discussed research about why your mind drifts away while focused on a task and the benefits and drawbacks of splitting our attention in different situations. Teresa held an engaging talk on the importance of delaying gratification for children’s development which included the running of the classic marshmallow experiment: resist one marshmallow immediately and get two 10 minutes later!  

 Can you Read the Sign?

Dr. Judith Wylie and PhD student Lisa Jane Rodgers demonstrated activities on children’s understanding of the equals (=) sign, including block building and digital tasks. Lisa particularly enjoyed being able to see children positively engage with research, delighted at the ‘I’m a mini researcher’ sticker they received. Lisa names the event a highlight of her PhD journey so far.  

How do we feel when we think about the future?

PhD Student Ciaran Canning shared his research on children’s anticipation of emotions – the feelings they experience when looking forward to something enjoyable like a birthday party or dreading something unpleasant like a dentist visit. His study involves 4-6 year old children watching short cartoon videos about other children’s thoughts on future events. Children then answer questions about the emotions they felt.

These contemplation emotions have been found to significantly influence how children perceive the world around them and the choices they make, including in delayed gratification. However, much is still unknown around this topic. Spreading awareness and cultivating interest at Dive into Developmental Science will help Ciaran explore how children identify, report and differentiate these anticipation emotions in future.

Baby’s Brains and Listening

Dr. Tim Foster from the L3Lab at QUB uses computer games and brain activity measures to understand how children develop good language and literacy skills, as well as what factors may impact their development. At his table, children had the unique opportunity to record their parent’s speech and listen to how it would have sounded to them when they were in the womb, as well as to manipulate 3D brain structures. Tim also provided a great opportunity for families to see just what it’s like to be an L3Lab researcher, children trying on a portable cap of sensors that allowed them to see their own electrical brain activity!  

Reflecting on the Impact of 'Dive into Developmental Science!’

 As families moved on from the space, they passed the welcome table one more time where some final research advertisement could be found. Children received goodie bags (carefully packed by committed volunteers) while adults had the opportunity to pick up flyers for future participation in studies and complete a survey on the ‘Dive into Developmental Science!’ event. 

Both the number of goodie bags handed out and the survey responses provided excellent opportunities to measure attendance and event impact. Within only 2 hours, nearly 200 guests visited the space! Of those who filled out surveys, over 85% reported they would make a change based on what they had learned at the festival and over 95% said they planned to share what they had learned with others.

An even more significant outcome was the large number of families who signed up to participate in future developmental research studies. We hope that by introducing developmental science to children and families, we can highlight the enjoyable novelty of taking part in a study that can eventually lead to real world implications.

Jocelyn’s event and the wonderful work of all the staff and student volunteers (with a special thanks to Connie Duncan, Poojitha Surianarayanan, Yashika Karamchandani, Merin Saji and Matthew Teixeira) helped demystify the work of QUB and UU in Developmental Science. We look forward to future events to communicate what we do—stay tuned for our upcoming outreach event at the NI Science Festival, February 14th at QUB and February 22nd at the Ulster Museum! You can find out more about this event at https://nisciencefestival.com/events/how-do-we-learn-about-learning-2