Research Presentations
Exploring Military Deployment Through the Eyes of Youth:
Implications for Research and Practice
Angela Huebner, associate professor,
Department of Human Development, Virginia Tech
Heather Williams, student, University of Georgia, member of a military family
Wednesday, May 7,
10:30 a.m.-noon,
Rio Grande East
This presentation is divided into three sections. First, Dr. Huebner will discuss her research on the impact of parental deployment on teens. Next, Ms. Williams will discuss her personal experience with family military deployment and related community service. Then, both Dr. Huebner and Ms. Williams will discuss implications for service providers working with youth in military families. The session will conclude with an open forum for questions/discussion.
Angela Huebner is an associate professor in the Department of Human Development at Virginia Tech, housed at the Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church, Virginia. Dr. Huebner teaches graduate level courses in research methods and advanced research methods as part of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program. Her recent qualitative work has focused on stressors facing adolescents in military families. Her scholarly work has appeared in Journal of Adolescent Health, Family Relations, Youth & Society, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Use, Addictive Behaviors, Journal of Child & Family Studies, and Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal. In addition, Huebner does clinical work with military families at the Fort Belvoir Chaplain Family Life Ministry and Training Center. Huebner completed her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and her masters and doctoral degrees in family studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Heather Williams speaks from both the heart and experience. The oldest of five children, Williams has experienced three rounds of deployment as her father as served in the Navy, the Marines and most recently the Army. Introduced to 4-H as a tenth grader in Liberty County, Georgia, Williams has been actively engaged and made a valuable contribution to Georgia 4-H. As Georgia 4-H ambassador in the Speak Out for Military Kids program, Williams represented military youth, reached out to those in her community, sought support from everyone involved with military families from Family Readiness Group volunteers all the way up to the Fort Stewart commanding officer’s wife. Williams has just completed her freshman year at the University of Georgia, majoring in political science. Upon graduation she plans to participate in Teach for America, complete a master’s degree in education administration or leadership, join the Peace Corps, pursue her doctorate at Boston University in education curriculum or instruction and ultimately become the U.S. Secretary of Education.
Exergames: Using Videogames to Promote Physical Activity
Barbara Chamberlin, Extension instructional design and educational media specialist, New Mexico State University
Wednesday, May 7,
1:30-3:00 p.m.,
Rio Grande East
To many, computer games are seen as part of the problem regarding the nationwide obesity epidemic. Electronic games are seeing a new trend in using full body movement to control action — encouraging the user to swing, jump, move and wave. While research documenting the effect of these exergames is just now becoming available, these exergames show great promise in increasing physical activity for youth, helping families play together, and assisting those with limited mobility in becoming more active. Dr. Chamberlin will review recent game trends, research on use and effectiveness, and provide details on a new CYFAR exergames initiative.
Dr. Chamberlin directs the Learning Games Lab at New Mexico State University, where she researches games currently in development by NMSU, as well as new trends in computer games for education. In the past few years, NMSUs game development team has begun investigating the use of physical interfaces with games and creating new games that encourage users to move. Chamberlin leads research on game development at the lab, and serves as an instructional designer on new educational projects. She is currently working on a wide variety of projects, including exergames and gaming projects in math and science. Previously a stand-up comic, Chamberlin speaks nationally on a variety of topics, including technology use with youth. She’s actually not very good at most computer games or exercise, but plays a mean game of Wii Bowling and dreams of a day when she can actually lose weight by playing online Sudoku.
Whatever: Turning on the Teen Brain
Abigail A Baird, Ph.D., professor, department of psychology, Vassar College
Thursday, May 8,
10:30 a.m.-noon,
Rio Grande East
Perhaps the most important milestone of adolescence is the successful synthesis of thinking and feeling processes. This integration is of fundamental importance to decision-making, an area where adolescents are known to engage strategies that differ from adults. Data from our laboratory suggest that when confronted with a dangerous scenario, adult responses were driven by a rapid emotional response to those images; whereas adolescents were shown to be using slower, less effective areas of the brain that traditionally contribute to thinking. These findings are discussed in the context of peer interactions, emerging adult hood, and family systems.
After completing her undergraduate degree at Vassar College, Abigail Baird earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Harvard University. Following the completion of her degree, she was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College, then became an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth. Baird is currently a professor in the Department of Psychology at Vassar College, and the director of the Laboratory for Developmental Neuroscience. Baird’s work has appeared in numerous academic and popular publications. She has also been the recipient of numerous awards, including recently being named a research fellow by the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research. She has served as secretary for the Association for Psychological Science, and currently serves on the advisory board of Campaign for Youth Justice. Baird’s research focuses on how the teenage brain develops, and how this development influences (and is influenced by) adolescent behavior. She is particularly interested in how emotion and cognition become coordinated during adolescence, and how this and other research informs educational and juvenile justice policy.
Educating the Whole Child for the World: Culture and Education in the New Millennium
Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, professor, immigration studies, New York University
Thursday, May 8, 1:30-3:00 p.m. , Rio Grande East
This presentation will examine the new requirements of education in light of powerful economic, demographic, and cultural transformations resulting from increasing global interconnectedness and interdependence. First, it will present a general outline the basic features of the globally interconnected economies, demographics, and societies of the 21st Century. Second, it will examine the skills, sensibilities, and competencies students will need to emerge as critical, engaged, and fully productive citizens in the 21st Century. Third, it will reflect upon some examples of best practices in education for the 21st Century.
Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a well-known scholar of immigration, globalization, and education. Suárez-Orozco is author of numerous works including, Learning in the Global Era (California, 2007), Children of Immigration (Harvard 2001), Transformations: Immigration and Family Life Among Latino Adolescents (Stanford, 1995), many other volumes and over 100 scholarly papers appearing in such journals as Harvard International Review, Ethos, International Migration (Geneva), Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Revue Française de Pédagogie, Harvard Educational Review, Cultuur en Migratie, The Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Law & Policy Review, and others.
