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Research Nurseries: A visit to the University of Stirling's psychology kindergarten

A nursery ‘research lab’ that sits within the University of Stirling’s psychology division is providing innovative child development research, Nicole Weinstein discovers

Psychology Kindergarten at the University of Stirling is not the average campus provision. Nor the average nursery. Think more along the lines of The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds, the Channel 4 documentary where researchers observed children behind one-way mirrors.

Here, slap bang in the middle of the university’s psychology department, is a nursery: one where psychology students come to carry out real-life studies about child development. Research takes places discreetly, behind a one-way mirror, but also face-to-face in the kindergarten or in research rooms that are equipped with hi-tech video-monitoring systems. Students observe children’s play, looking at issues around gender, conflict, how pre-schoolers cope with everyday childhood pain and even how they develop the art of lying. Academics are also funded to lead cutting-edge research and pilot new protocols.

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