Positions

Research Areas research areas

Overview

  • My research focuses on the internal processes and external influences that enhance or disrupt the development of executive function and academic skills in early childhood. I also pursue a line of applied research that examines the educational and instructional practices that contribute to the emergence of more sophisticated cognitive abilities and enable young children from diverse backgrounds to learn and achieve in early education environments. I publish in the educational and psychological literature. In addition to teaching practicum courses in early childhood education, I am the program coordinator for UNH’s undergraduate early childhood education teacher certification program and serves on numerous early learning and childhood committees in New Hampshire.

    • Selected Publications

    Academic Article

    Year Title
    2024 Caregiver and child question types during a museum interaction..  Frontiers in Psychology.  15:1401772. 2024
    2023 Investigating the contributions of active, playful learning to student interest and educational outcomes..  Acta Psychologica.  238:103983. 2023
    2023 Making schools work: An equation for active playful learning.  Theory into Practice.  62:141-154. 2023
    2022 Executive Function Skills and Classroom Behaviors of US Prekindergartners With Special Needs.  FRONTIERS IN EDUCATION.  7. 2022
    2022 Executive Function Mediates the Relationship Between Conscious Discipline Fidelity and Kindergarten Readiness..  Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.  79:101393. 2022
    2021 Effects of Prekindergarten Curricula: Tools of the Mind as a Case Study..  Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.  86:7-119. 2021
    2021 Preschool practices in Sweden, Portugal, and the United States.  Early Childhood Research Quarterly.  55:79-96. 2021
    2020 The impact of question prosody during parent-child interactions in a museum setting.  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.  148:2501-2501. 2020
    2020 The Play’s the Thing: Associations between Make-Believe Play and Self-Regulation in the Tools of the Mind Early Childhood Curriculum.  Early Education and Development.  31:66-83. 2020
    2019 Effects of Teacher-Delivered Book Reading and Play on Vocabulary Learning and Self-Regulation among Low-Income Preschool Children.  Journal of Cognition and Development.  20:136-164. 2019
    2019 Approximate number system task performance: Associations with domain-general and domain-specific cognitive skills in young children.  Journal of Numerical Cognition.  4:590-612. 2019
    2019 Effects of language on initial reading: Direct and indirect associations between code and language from preschool to first grade.  Early Childhood Research Quarterly.  49:122-137. 2019
    2019 Teaching for breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge: Learning from explicit and implicit instruction and the storybook texts.  Early Childhood Research Quarterly.  47:341-356. 2019
    2018 Chronic Absenteeism and Preschool Children's Executive Functioning Skills Development.  Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk.  23:39-52. 2018
    2018 Stability and instability in the co-development of mathematics, executive function skills, and visual-motor integration from prekindergarten to first grade.  Early Childhood Research Quarterly.  46:262-274. 2018
    2018 The language of play: Developing preschool vocabulary through play following shared book-reading.  Early Childhood Research Quarterly.  45:1-17. 2018
    2017 Learning-Related Cognitive Self-Regulation Measures for Prekindergarten Children: A Comparative Evaluation of the Educational Relevance of Selected Measures.  Journal of Educational Psychology.  109:1084-1102. 2017
    2017 Data-Driven Improvement in Prekindergarten Classrooms: Report From a Partnership in an Urban District..  Child Development.  88:1466-1479. 2017
    2016 Examining the Acquisition of VocabularyKnowledge Depth AmongPreschool Students.  Reading Research Quarterly.  51:181-198. 2016
    2015 Executive function skills and academic achievement gains in prekindergarten: Contributions of learning-related behaviors..  Developmental Psychology.  51:865-878. 2015
    2015 Prekindergarten Children's Executive Functioning Skills and Achievement Gains: The Utility of Direct Assessments and Teacher Ratings.  Journal of Educational Psychology.  107:207-221. 2015
    2014 Longitudinal associations between executive functioning and academic skills across content areas..  Developmental Psychology.  50:1698-1709. 2014
    2013 Executive function mediates socio-economic and racial differences in early academic achievement.  Early Childhood Research Quarterly.  28:774-783. 2013
    2013 Preschool classroom processes as predictors of children's cognitive self-regulation skills development..  School Psychology Quarterly.  28:347-359. 2013
    Consistency and inconsistency in learning experiences across the early grades.  FRONTIERS IN EDUCATION.  8.
    Observation of Student and Teacher Behaviors during a Preliminary Active Playful Learning Intervention in Kindergarten Classrooms.  Education Sciences.  14:648-648.

    Book

    Year Title
    2022 Making Schools Work Bringing the Science of Learning to Joyful Classroom Practice 2022

    Chapter

    Year Title
    2020 New Information on Evaluating the Quality of Early Childhood Education Programs.  333-347. 2020

    Conference Paper

    Year Title
    Expressing information status through prosody in the spontaneous speech of American English-speaking children.  Speech Prosody 2022. 101-104.

    Principal Investigator On

  • 2023 Preschool Development Pla  awarded by US DHHS, Administration for Children and Families 2022 - 2024
  • PDG Implementation Grant  awarded by US DHHS, Administration for Children and Families 2019 - 2024
  • Rich Linguistic Environments in a Preschool Setting  awarded by University Of New Hampshire 2022 - 2023
  • UNH Early Childhood Institute for Excellence  awarded by University Of New Hampshire 2022 - 2023
  • PDG Implementation Renewal Grant  awarded by US DHHS, Administration for Children and Families 2019 - 2022
  • Early Childhood Center for Exc  awarded by New Hampshire Charitable Foundation 2020 - 2022
  • Early Childhood Center for Excellence (ECCE)  awarded by New Hampshire Charitable Foundation 2020 - 2022
  • PDG B-5  awarded by US DHHS, Dept of Health & Human Services 2018 - 2020
  • Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five (PDG B-5)  awarded by US DHHS, Dept of Health & Human Services 2018 - 2020
  • Rand-Stearns Professorship  awarded by Department of Human Development and Family Studies 2018 - 2020
  • Enhancing New Hampshire’s Quality Recognition and Improvement System: Impacts of coaching on continuous quality improvement and child outcomes  awarded by New Hampshire Charitable Foundation 2019
  • Collective Vision for New Hampshire Early Childhood  awarded by New Hampshire Charitable Foundation 2018 - 2019
  • Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG-B5) Initiative  awarded by New Hampshire Charitable Foundation 2018
  • Collective Vision for New Hampshire Early Childhood  awarded by New Hampshire Charitable Foundation 2017

    • Investigator On

    Teaching Activities

  • Independent Study Taught course
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course
  • Student Teachng Young Children Taught course
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2024
  • Graduate Internship Taught course 2023
  • Independent Study Taught course 2023
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2023
  • Student Teachng Young Children Taught course 2023
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2022
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2022
  • Independent Study Taught course 2021
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2021
  • Student Teachng Young Children Taught course 2021
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2020
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2020
  • Graduate Internship Taught course 2020
  • Independent Study Taught course 2020
  • Independent Study Taught course 2020
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2020
  • Student Teachng Young Children Taught course 2020
  • Graduate Internship/Child Devl Taught course 2019
  • Independent Study Taught course 2019
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2019
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2019
  • Independent Study Taught course 2019
  • Independent Study Taught course 2019
  • Independent Study Taught course 2019
  • Practicum Taught course 2019
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2019
  • Student Teachng Young Children Taught course 2019
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2019
  • Human Development Taught course 2018
  • Independent Study Taught course 2018
  • Independent Study Taught course 2018
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2018
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2018
  • Adv/Teach w the Brain in Mind Taught course 2018
  • Independent Study Taught course 2018
  • Rsrch Exp/Family Studies Taught course 2018
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2018
  • Student Teachng Young Children Taught course 2018
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2018
  • Human Development Taught course 2017
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2017
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2017
  • Adv/Teach w the Brain in Mind Taught course 2017
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2017
  • Student Teachng Young Children Taught course 2017
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2017
  • Human Development Taught course 2016
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2016
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2016
  • Independent Study Taught course 2016
  • Rsrch Exp/Family Studies Taught course 2016
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2016
  • Student Teachng Young Children Taught course 2016
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2016
  • Seminar for Student Teachers Taught course 2015
  • Special Topics/Research Method Taught course 2015
  • Tch&Lrn Early Childhd Settings Taught course 2015

    • Education And Training

  • B.A. Psychology & Human Development and Family Life, University of Kansas
  • M.S. Lifespan Developmental Psychology, North Carolina State University
  • Ph.D. Lifespan Developmental Psychology, North Carolina State University

    • Full Name

  • Kimberly Nesbitt

    • Mailing Address

  • Human Development and Family Studies

    55 College Road, Pettee Hall Room 217

    Durham, New Hampshire  03824

    United States