Waterford senior Jennifer Tabeek, HDF 409 student assistant, laughs as Carson, 4, left, and Henry, 4, play with toy trains Tuesday afternoon in the Education and Human Services Building's Child Learning Lab. (Ashley Miller/Staff Photographer)

They graduated in December, ready to take on the real world.

But, two months later, CMU alumnae Abbey Nirva and Kelsey Koewers still find themselves working at the Child Development and Learning Lab, the preschool inside the College of Education and Human Services Building. Four days a week, 72 children spend part of their afternoon there, interacting with students and faculty.

More than 100 students work in the lab for school credit, and additional students, five undergraduate and two graduate students, work in the lab for employment, alongside full-time staff memberss.

CDLL Faculty Director Cheryl Priest said the lab serves as a training facility for students who major or minor in child development.

“It is amazing to have strong students majoring in Early Childhood Development and Learning, because we know that they are going to make a difference in the lives of children around Michigan,” Priest said.

Nirva, of Allen Park, and Koewers, of Lowell, worked as student employees last semester and were kept for another semester after graduation because the lab required staff to help a child full-time.

Highland senior Kaitlyn Schultz, HDF 402 student assistant, works with Mariah, 3, center, and Colton, 5, at the art station Tuesday afternoon in the Education and Human Service building's Child Learning Lab. "(My favorite part is) working with all the kids and seeing what they create. It's so fun," she said. (Ashley Miller/Staff Photographer)

“On occasion, when someone works really well with our program and there’s an opportunity later, we make sure they know about this opportunity,” Priest said. “Abby and Kelsey were hired temporarily, because we had a special need within the program.”

She said in this case they were able to continue to work with two outstanding students and former student employees who were available for the time period they needed. We consider ourselves extremely lucky, she said.

Nirva is currently working in the lab as a paraprofessional. She prepares activities for the classroom, works in the kitchen in the morning afternoons works individually with the child.

“I feed her and walk around with her,” Nirva said. “She is the sunshine to my day; she makes my life so much better. We’re great together.”

Koewers has been employed by CDLL since August 2011, and before that, she was a student teacher in the lab. She said after her experience working at the lab previously, she wouldn’t turn down the position this semester.

“With my job position still available, there was no question in my mind whether to stay or not. It is such an amazing place to work in and be a part of,” Koewers said. “I honestly believe that there is no better preschool out there than the Child Development and Learning Lab here at CMU.”

While working at the lab, Koewers said she has built great relationships with children, faculty and other students.

“I chose to stay to not only get an amazing reference added to my resume for the future, but I also simply didn’t want to leave the school, my coworkers, who I now consider great friends, as well as the children, some of which I have now known for almost two years,” she said.

Both Nirva and Koewers believe they have been lucky to work in the lab, which has taught them aspects they could only learn firsthand.

Koewers said she has gained aspects of patience, diversity, support and understanding.

“Working in the lab has shown me how adults can be a major support system for children in so many ways,” she said. “Letting the children know you’re there to support them can be key to having them enjoy learning as well as relaxing and trusting in the people and environment.”

Nirva said she has gained a lot of hands-on experience, as well as now seeing children in a new light.

“I always thought that I knew how to connect with children, but being in classes and actually learning and applying it in the classroom has been an eye-opener,” she said.

They’re at a vital age and are capable of learning so much, she said.

Both Nirva and Koewers are sad to leave the CDLL after the spring semester.

“The lab is and will be one of the best parts of my life, and the idea of leaving it in the spring devastates me,” Koewers said. “It is an amazing place, and I can only dream I will work in and send my future children to half of a school that the CDLL is.”

Nirva said the lab is a fun atmosphere and much more than what students see on the exterior.

“It’s so much cooler than people know. It’s a top-notch preschool. It’s nothing like when we were kids,” Nirva said. “You never want to leave. It’s great.”

The Flint senior said she wants to be a preschool teacher or something similar after she graduates, and the Child Development and Learning lab has helped her learn what activities will and will not work in a classroom. She said group activities tried out at the  lab include reading stories, singing songs and putting on puppet shows.

“We really got to test the waters for running a classroom with other teachers,” Lechota said.

The experience is gratifying, she said, when she is able to teach the children a song and she hears them sing it on their own for the rest of the day.

“It’s really rewarding when they like what you do and you can see that they like it,” she said.

Margaret Desormes, associate director of the lab, said students do a lot of observation at the start of the semester, and by the end they take over managing the classrooms. She said managing the classroom includes taking attendance, giving lessons and preparing students for lunch. Students also will prepare parent-teacher conferences for the end of the year.

Desormes said there are 72 children in the program and about 70 CMU students who work in the lab at different times during the week. The lab gives students hands-on teaching experience, she said, which is important for developing team-building skills.

“You can be a really good teacher, but if you can’t work with people, you won’t go far,” she said.

Desormes said the Education and Human Services building allows for new facilities and more space for the lab.

“We wanted the program to excel and match the beautiful building we’re in,” she said. “We want to build this whole school as a community of learners.”

Desormes said the faculty believes children learn from their experiences.

“What we want to create is not a bunch of children that can spit back facts,” she said. “We create thinkers.”

Tracy Burton, coordinator of Outreach and Marketing for EHS, said the lab gives students a taste of future careers. She said students are able to work together with faculty to provide a wonderful experience for the children.

“They make this experience so rich for the children,” she said. “They’re able to put into practice what they’re learning almost immediately.”

The children wanted to know what types of spiders they were. They searched online and looked at pictures.

“One was sticking out his tongue,” Fanning said.

To do the research, the students used Mac Minis.

The Office of Information Technology installed the computers in the preschool Tuesday in the College of Education and Human Services building for children’s use.

There will be four 22” Acer monitors connected to Mac Minis. Each monitor cost $175 and each Mac Mini was $750, totaling out to $3,700 for four sets.

“In a lot of ways, it creates a more interactive environment for them,” said Michael Reuter, director of Distributed Computing and Technical Operations.

Reuter said if children use computers at a young age, they will be prepared to use them in the future.

“We truly want children to view themselves as researchers,” said Cheryl Priest, faculty director of the CDLL. “We have to give them many types of tools to engage in that process, and this (computers) is one of the tools.”

The children will have social interaction with other children and teachers and be able to construct their own knowledge, Priest said.

Jackie Weller, lead teacher of CDLL, said allowing the children to investigate gives them a chance to have a hands-on learning experience.

“We’re helping to facilitate that investigation,” Weller said.

They research it, document it and print it, Priest said.

“Rather than answering children’s questions, we encourage them to become researchers,” Priest said.

Into a piazza

The computers will be placed in the hallway of the CDLL at children’s levels.

“We’re looking at the hallway as more of a piazza, which is a gathering place in Italy and it is found in the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy,” Priest said. “We’re using the computers, as well as many other things, to transform it into a piazza.”

Not only will the children be able to conduct research on these computers, but they also will be able to play music and upload photos they take in class.

“We try to bring music into the environment,” Priest said.

Basic programs will be on these computers, such as iTunes, iPhoto and office programs to document the research.

However, learning games will not be uploaded onto the computers.

The CDLL does not want to encourage the children to spend lengthy time periods at the computers where they will be in a trance mode, Priest said.

“We really want to focus on how to use a computer in a more beneficial and sophisticated way,” Priest said.

The Child Development and Learning Lab was in Wightman Hall for 40 years before its relocation to the EHS Building this year.

“We seem to be a focal point of the university,” said Associate Director of CDLL Margaret Desormes. “Both because of our new central location on campus and because of the beauty of the new building.”

The new location has given the program and its faculty members the opportunity to provide more for the preschoolers.

“We now have more space and can offer expanded school day for 72 preschool-age children,” Desormes said.

The CDLL has served as a learning environment for Central Michigan University students and children ages 3 to 4.

The lab gives preschool students a seven-hour school day, where they have the opportunity to eat breakfast, play with blocks, reflect upon the previous day’s experience and discuss what activities they will do that day.

Fun experiences

The school offers many creative opportunities for the students with an indoor movement room and several activities on different walls to keep the kids moving through activities.

For example, a rock-climbing wall is in the indoor movement room for kids to stay active.

“We believe they learn best through play-based experiences,” said Cheryl Priest, faculty director of the CDLL.

Everything is built for the small sizes of the preschool students, Priest said. The bathrooms stalls, sinks and toilets are smaller than normal.

The way the teachers treat the children is inspired by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who promoted social interaction, and developmental biologist Jean Piaget, who created stages of child development.

Schools in Italy also inspire those at the school.

Priest and Desormes have traveled to Italy to study programs.

“We believe that children enter the classroom with preset foundation of what their knowledge is,” Priest said.

Student involvement

CMU students also are benefited by the program and its resources.
Students going into child development may work with the children in some of their classes.

“The main purpose for us being here is to serve as training site for those students in child development,” Priest said.

The CDLL was established under the department of Human Environmental Studies as a place for students to practice with children as they took classes before they went out into their professional field, Priest said.

“There is a second key purpose besides actually serving the children and the families,” Priest said. “And that is to serve as a research base for faculty around campus and even from other campuses who are studying children.”

Manistee junior Kelly Bosma is an early childhood development major and she works as an assistant student teacher with preschoolers for HDF 402: Human Growth and Development — Guidance for Young Children.

Bosma loves being able to observe the children and work with them. She interacts with professors on a more professional note and works closely with fellow students.

“I definitely think that there is a lot more opportunities for the children,” Bosma said.