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July 27, 2006 -- Laura M. Justice, a clinical speech-language
pathologist at the University of Virginia Curry School
of Education who
specializes in research on early language and literacy
skills, received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists
and Engineers on July 26. Administered by the federal Office
of Science and Technology Policy since 1996, the PECASE
is considered the highest national honor for investigators
in the early stages of highly promising academic careers.
President George W. Bush presented the award to her along
with 55 other researchers at a ceremony with the President’s
science advisor John H. Marburger III, U.S. Dept. of Education
Secretary Margaret Spellings and other government officials.
This is the first year education research has been recognized.
Justice, director of the Preschool Language & Literacy
Lab in U.Va.’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching
and Learning, has been testing the best ways to boost language
and reading skills — the building blocks of future
academic success — by using storybooks. She is identifying
specific techniques teachers and parents can use with preschool
children, from low socioeconomic households or with language
impairments, to see improvement before they run into problems
in grade school.
| Giving the Gift of Books |
Justice’s research project includes giving away the books parents,
teachers and children use in the study. Here is a list of the books read
to preschoolers 3 to 5 years of age and talked about to enhance literacy
skills.
Big Pig on a Dig
Feathers for Lunch
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
It's the Bear
School Bus
Spot Goes to a Party
Ted and Dolly's Magic Carpet Ride
This Is the Bear
Reading tips for parents and early childhood educators:
Look at the whole object of the book and its components, as well as the
print — this makes a “dramatic impact” on children’s
literacy, said Justice.
Include: the front and back of the book, first and last pages, the title,
individual words and letters, and other find-the-word games, with questions
such as, can you see two letters of your name in another word on this page?
Don’t exclude talking about the pictures and the story — children
learn other things from these perspectives [give examples], but they’ll
learn more letters of the alphabet if you draw attention to them. |
With almost 40 percent of fourth graders unable to read
at a basic level, according to the National Assessment
of Educational Progress, and most never catching up, Justice
likens the problem to a public health concern.
Justice, whose research is supported by the National
Center for Education Research, said, “The field
of education is increasingly using
experimental design to identify what works and what doesn’t
[among education methods]. Otherwise we have to reply
on trial and error. … We look
systematically at the methods we use.”
It’s not just reading to children that’s
important, she has found. For instance, intentionally
talking to reschool children about print during shared
reading activities makes a “dramatic impact” on
their literacy, said Justice. Such elements include the
front and back of the book, first and last pages, the
title, individual words and letters.
“With print as the focus of attention, the children’s
alphabet knowledge increased fourfold in eight weeks,” Justice
reported, based on the findings of one of her studies.
“I am very pleased that one of the Institute’s grantees,
Laura Justice, has received the first Presidential Early
Career Award to be bestowed on an education scientist,” said
Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst, director of the
Institute of Education Sciences. “My sincere congratulations
are extended to Dr. Justice; her home institution, the
University of Virginia; and the National Center for Education
Research within the Institute, which has funded her work.”
Specific federal departments and agencies may nominate
scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential
for leadership and success in scientific knowledge for
the presidential awards. Justice is the second U.Va.
researcher to win the award, following 2001 recipient
David Wotton,
associate professor in the School of Medicine’s
Center for Cell Signaling.
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