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*Due to reporter error, and Sept.23 contained incorrect information. The Child Development Lab is a collaboration with Stillwater Public Schools for the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms. The CDL Director’s name is spelled Dianna Ross. The phone number is 405-744-5730. The O’Collegian regrets this error and the online version has been corrected.
Five-year-old Shane sits eagerly, hunched over a pile of colored blocks, carefully stacking them on top of one another.
He’s constructing the foundation for a rocket ship. However, his school, the Child Development Lab, is more interested in laying the building blocks for a strong educational foundation.
“I like to play at centers and build with blocks the best,” Shane said. “I like to be with all my friends, too.”
These activities are typical of Shane’s daily routine, along with the 37 other children enrolled at the CDL.
The CDL, a school for early childhood education, nestled next to the college of Human Environmental Sciences, has been housed at various locations on the OSU campus for more than 85 years.
The CDL strives to develop comfortable learning environments for students and student teachers, Director Diana Ross said.
Classrooms are outfitted with photos of the children’s families to make the classroom a more comfortable and familiar community.
“We ask them to bring pictures from home — we try to be homey with lamps, plants and other things that feel like home,” Angela Braggs, a CDL teacher, said.
Encouraging treatment is crucial, Laura Ginther, early childhood education senior and student teacher, said.
“This is their first experience with school, and it needs to be a positive one so they’ll continue to be excited about learning in the future,” Ginther said.
Although a typical day at the CDL might bring ordinary activities — student favorites range from painting to story time to booger trading — the school offers more than hands-on play.
The CDL, a collaboration with Stillwater Public Schools for the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms, provides educational opportunities for young and old students.
Although each classroom has at least two certified, full-time teachers, OSU early childhood education students are present in the classrooms, as well. Time spent shadowing and student teaching at the CDL is a requirement.
When learning to assess behavior and improvement at this age, the most vital and effective method is observation, said Andy Conley, early childhood education senior and CDL student teacher.
For research purposes, the Lab is equipped with a sound-proof booth for observation. The booth sits between the two classrooms, connected by a two-way mirror built into a wall in each room. From the observation booth, the children’s interactions can be observed without interruption.
But the children seem unaware of the booth as they learn to write words in tubs of colored sand. After writing ‘OSU’ in the green sand, a fellow student interrupts his classmate and urges the boy to fix an error.
“We see lots of interaction among the students, lots of creative play and pretending,” Ginther said. “They have huge imaginations. And a lot of them are very into giving each other direction. They’re always trying to step in and redirect their peers.”
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