News

Lisa and John McNichol Early Childhood Education Lab

  • "This Opportunity has Truly Transformed My Life"
    • Cristiane Alexander, BS in Elementary Education, shares how Drexel's teacher education program combined with a scholarship from PHMC has enhanced her career as an early childhood education teacher. LINK (Spring, 2025)
  • Lab membership exceeds 50 members from the US and across the globe!
    • We have welcomed 13 new members this academic year. (Spring, 2025)
  • Visit the new web page for our Luminary Workshop Series.
    • Our Luminary Sessions are attracting educators from all across Pennsylvania and beyond. Over 300 early childhood educators have registered for a Luminary Session this academic year! (March, 2025)
  • Lab launches Impact Committee.
    • The newly formed Impact Committee will translate research into practice. It is headed by our new Director of Research Impact, Dr. Dariell Dinkins. (February, 2025)
  • Lab members Neisha Terry, Sinead Meehan, and Dr. Beki Romeis-Markham have accepted new jobs as assistant professors at Stony Brook University, Ball State University and the University of Texas: Rio Grande Valley, respectively. Big congratulations to these three new professors! (Spring, 2024)
  • Lab member Dr. Chris Beissel, creator of the SEL mindset instrument, has accepted the job of Superintendent for the Hamburg Area School District in Pennsylvania. Congratulations Chris! (Spring, 2024)
  • Drexel Magazine features the McNichol ECE lab in How Do You Teach Altruism? by Ben Seal (Fall, 2023)
  • Competitive research and development grant from the Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood awarded for the ECE lab project validating a new play skill assessment (Fall, 2023)
  • McNichol ECE lab welcomes 6 new members during the Fall, 2023.
  • Lab scholarship recognized at the American Education Research Association annual conference (Spring, 2023). Monica Blaisdell, PhD candidate and elected lab co-director, received the Promise Award from the Moral Development and Education Special Interest Group at AERA for her lead authorship of the paper “Educating for Sustainability and Altruism through Project-Based Learning: A Conceptual Framework,” and for exhibiting outstanding potential for future contributions to the field (photo below).