ABSTRACT
This chapter reects and shares the Kent State University Child Development Center’s (CDC) university lab school’s examination and recalibration of their three-pronged mission of teaching, service, and research. More specically, it examines the role and type of research conducted at the CDC and strives to address how the recalibrated perspectives potentially align with an Applied Developmental Science (ADS) model [More explicit denitions of ADS provided elsewhere in this volume]. The CDC, founded in 1972, is a nationally recognized laboratory school that has played a central role in serving young children and families, engaging in professional development of pre-and in-service teachers, and generating research to inform practice. The CDC theoretical base is social constructivism and posits that knowledge is constructed through an active process of exploring, investigating, and playing. The curriculum, inspired by the Reggio Emilia (RE) approach (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 2011), is based on the belief that every child is capable and competent. Recently, the CDC has become an International Baccalaurate Primary Years Programme Candidate School (IBO.org) with inquiry as a learning approach.
