Report on UM-China Workshop on Early Child Development in China
Beijing Workshop: August 13-14, 2004
Researchers in the Program in Culture and Development at the University of Michigan share a focus on investigating cultural influences in Chinese and U.S. preschool children's experiences. Specifically, we are interested in the complex interplay of child, parenting, and schooling factors that shape the extent and nature of cognitive and emotional growth across the preschool years and the transition to formal schooling. Investigating these issues in both Chinese and U.S. cultures has led to important insights and deeper investigations of these issues around 3 particular themes holds important promise for furthering the study of child development as well as our understanding of important cultural influences on development.
The purpose of the workshop was to facilitate further discussion between UM and Chinese researchers focusing on child development that will lead to large-scale research projects and grant applications from federal and international funding agencies. The format involved parallel working sessions (hosted by Twila Tardif and Henry Wellman) in the morning for members of the three thematic groups and an open project-exploration discussion (hosted by Fred Morrison and Kevin Miller) in the afternoon.
The schedule for the workshop was:
August 13, 2004
Arrivals of non-Beijing based participants
August 14, 2004
8:00 am Breakfast
9:00 -12:00 Parallel Working Sessions
Language and Literacy Group
-hosted by Twila Tardif , UM; involved researchers and graduate students from Beijing Normal University (Shu Hua, Peng Hong, Li Hong) and Peking University Number 1 Hospital Pediatrics Department (Dr. Liang Weilan), Professor Catherine McBride-Chang (Chinese U of Hong Kong), and graduate student Ellen Hamilton (UM) as well as participants from Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology (Shi Jiannong, Director of Developmental Area) and Professor Li Boyue from Southwestern Normal University, Chongqing.
-focus of discussion was our ongoing collaboration examining longitudinal predictors of children's early reading development. The Beijing study involves 300 children followed from when they were 8- to 20-months of age and we just finished collecting data for the 5 th wave of data collection in Beijing and are preparing for the 4 th wave of data collection in Hong Kong beginning in September/October 2004. Discussions included selection of measures for wave 4 in HK, reports on the reliability and variation in measures for waves 3-5 in Beijing , and a number of issues related to the creation, merging, and maintenance of the datasets as well as publication plans and future grant proposals to be submitted by this group.
Theory of Mind Group
-hosted by Henry Wellman, UM; involved researchers and graduate students from Peking University (Su Yanjie and 2 students), Beijing Normal University (Xu Fen) and researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology (Fang Fuxi, Zhu Liqi, and students Liu Guoxiong and classmate), as well as UM graduate student David Liu .
-The discussion was divided into 2 sessions, the first from 9-10:30 involving an ongoing collaboration between Wellman and Liu at Michigan with the Institute of Psychology researchers on scaling a number of theory of mind tests in China. This study involves examining cross-cultural similarities and differences in the sequencing of various abilities as children begin to develop concepts of wanting, knowing, and thinking. Discussions included ongoing data collection efforts, preliminary results, and organization of datasets for comparison purposes.
-The second session was a more open-ended discussion session including the Institute of Psychology researchers as well as researchers from Beijing Normal and Peking Universities . Discussions included various researchers interests, ongoing theory of mind research in China , and potential areas of collaboration.
10:30 COFFEE BREAK
12:00-1:30 LUNCH – all of the morning session participants as well as Professor Fang Ge and 2 graduate students (Liu Chao and classmate) from the Institute of Psychology, Professor Meng Xiangzhi from Peking U, and Professors Morrison and Miller from UM.
2:00-4:00 Afternoon Session
-hosted by Fred Morrison, including Professor Fang Ge, Shi Jiannong, and students from Institute of Psychology, Kevin Miller (UM), Xu Fen (BNU), and Wang Li from Peking University.
6:00 pm Closing Remarks and Final Dinner
-participants included all of the above plus Professor Zhang Kan, Director Yang Yufang (Institute of Psychology); Zhou Xiaolin and Wu Yanhong (Peking University); and James Lee (UM).
-We discussed our hopes for future collaborations in developmental psychology that reached across institutional boundaries both in the US and China .
-UM picture frames were given as gifts for both future and past memories.
8:30 Group photo and farewells
Final costs of the workshop: 2 conference rooms, lunch, dinner, accommodations for 6 guests
Comments on the Workshop:
The provision of a location to meet and support by the UM office in China was extremely helpful given the inter-institutional nature of our collaborations. It was very useful to be able to meet on “neutral” ground and to have a UM coordinator for these meetings so as not to overly preference or burden any one of the collaborating institutions.
List of Participants
U of Michigan :
Twila Tardif, Department of Psychology (Developmental)
Henry Wellman, Department of Psychology (Developmental)
Fred Morrison, Department of Psychology (Developmental and Educational)
David Liu , graduate student, Psychology
Ellen Hamilton, graduate student, Psychology
Kevin Miller, School of Education and Department of Psychology
James Lee , History/Sociology, Center for Chinese Studies
Graduate student, Sociology, University of Michigan
Beijing/Hong Kong, China :
Catherine McBride-Chang, Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong , Department of Psychology
Yufang Yang, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Institute of Psychology
Kan Zhang , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Institute of Psychology
Fuxi Fang, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Institute of Psychology
Ge Fang , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Institute of Psychology
Liqi Zhu, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Institute of Psychology
Xiaodong Yang, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Institute of Psychology
Liu Chao, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Institute of Psychology
Mei Xiaoqin, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Institute of Psychology
Students
Yanhong Wu , Peking University , Department of Psychology
Xiaolin Zhou, Peking University , Department of Psychology
Yanjie Su, Peking University , Department of Psychology
Li Wang , Peking University , Department of Psychology
Yaxu Zhang , Peking University , Department of Psychology
Xiangzhi Meng, Peking University , Department of Psychology
Haiyan Geng, Peking University , Department of Psychology
Students
Hua Shu, Beijing Normal University , School of Psychology
Fen Xu, Beijing Normal University , School of Psychology
Students, Beijing Normal University
Weilan Liang , Peking University First Hospital , Department of Pediatrics
Participants who needed accommodations:
U of Michigan :
Henry Wellman, Department of Psychology (Developmental)
Fred Morrison, Department of Psychology (Developmental and Educational)
David Liu, graduate student, Psychology
Ellen Hamilton, graduate student, Psychology
Kevin Miller, School of Education and Department of Psychology
Catherine McBride-Chang, Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong , Department of Psychology