Manal El Achraoui, Class of 2025

Erin McCloskey, Professor of Education

This summer, I spent 8 weeks conducting research on early childhood education with Professor Erin McCloskey of the Education department. During these 8 weeks I observed three Pre-K classrooms in a Poughkeepsie school and researched aspects of early childhood education such as play, teaching methods, curriculum, and class environment.

The first five weeks of this project, I went to the school and observed the children while taking field notes of my observations. We utilized a more exploratory approach, meaning we did not have an initial research question or focus when we began observing. This flexibility allowed us to notice many different things rather than being limited into looking at one aspect or issue. One of the first observations I made was the expression of gender stereotypes and roles through play. An example of this is how the girls almost always took on caretaker or motherly roles in the group play dynamic. They would cook, clean, and take care of Baby Alive dolls whereas the boys did not display any of these behaviors. I also observed that the lack of male teachers and figures in the classroom may be leading to the boys feeling less connected to the teachers as they don’t relate in certain ways that the teachers and the girls do. This led to the question: How does the background and identity of teachers affect the learning environment and views of the children they teach? 

The last three weeks of this project consisted of coding our field notes and reading books and articles pertaining to early childhood education and gender, identity, race, and other influential factors. This project really expanded my knowledge and experience of education and the early impact it has on children that may continue to influence them as they grow up. I was able to apply my psychology background and look at this from a behavioral perspective as well. Professor Erin McCloskey and I will continue to work together and write our findings to possibly be published later. Thank you, Erin, for this amazing experience. I will use all that I have learned for my future endeavors and experiences.