Elizabeth Shewark’s lab looks more like a daycare than a research facility — but that’s kind of the point.
The Childhood and Adolescence Resilience (CARE) Lab in Corbett Family Hall is where Shewark and her team observe families and children at play, hoping to learn how different factors impact children’s social, emotional, and academic development over time.
“Their lives are happening outside of this lab,” Shewark said. “But we’re bringing them in to get snapshots of their lives so we can better understand how to promote healthy development.”
This feature is part of a College of Arts & Letters story series called “Office Hours,” which provides a glimpse into the personal and professional lives of Arts & Letters faculty through their workspaces around campus. This installment highlights Shewark, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and the William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families Collegiate Chair.
In this interview, Shewark discusses her lab and the tools and personal touches that make her research possible. Her answers have been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Q: Why does your lab have a room full of toys?
A: It’s part of the research. We bring families and children into the lab, and we do some observational tasks with them.
We have activities called “free play,” during which the only instructions children get are, “play as if you were at home.” This is really great because it can give us a lot of information about parent-child and sibling dynamics. When there are no restrictions, we get to see a bit more closely how they interact at home. We realize we’re not going to get totally there because we’re not at home, but by letting them free play, we’re able to get at the family dynamic.
We have fun things for them to play with, like Paw Patrol toys and a Bop It. This grocery store is really popular; they can put on an apron, and it comes with a little fake credit card. We also have a kitchen so they can play-make different meals. And we have blocks for them to play with and bean bags for them to hang out on if they’re chatting. This space is really designed to be very warm, welcoming, fun, and colorful, to make them feel more comfortable.
After free play, we conduct directed parent-child interactions. For example, a little Etch A Sketch task during which the parent and child each get control of one dial on the Etch A Sketch, and then they have to draw something like a house. We observe how the parent guides the child through complex tasks.
Broadly, the CARE Lab is interested in looking at children’s resilience and competency development. We focus on resilience to neighborhood-level stressors, such as poverty and exposure to community violence. For competency, it’s more, “are we seeing social and emotional competency? Are they able to regulate and express themselves and their emotions? Are they able to interact and play in effective ways?” We hope to follow up with them in adolescence to see the transition into a key developmental period.
Q: Where else is your research happening?
A: All of the video and sound from cameras and microphones in the observation room are put in the control room. We watch and listen on the computers, and then we record families’ interactions and play behaviors. We examine if praise was used, if there were positive or negative emotions, whether people got upset because they weren’t sharing, or if frustration was present — things like that all get coded on the back end.
In our undergraduate space, our students do a lot of computer work, like collecting data from public repositories. They’re pulling information about neighborhoods and different environments from public data repositories, such as the EPA, the Census, and the Bureau of Transportation.
The wonderful pieces of artwork in the undergrad space are actually from practice sessions. The training to do a lot of the visit work is pretty in-depth, so we need people for students to practice on, which is normally other students. During one of the tasks, they have to draw a house. The undergrads kept all of their artwork from their practice sessions with their fellow students, and they put them in here. I feel like we have a lot of pretty good talent in here.
Our undergrads also do virtual neighborhood audits via Google Street View, where they code for disorder and maintenance by walking virtually through the neighborhood. We’re really interested in looking at the lived experiences of youth, so not only just with families and with parents, but also within their broader neighborhood context. Families don’t exist in isolation; they’re part of these bigger communities. So we look at access to green and blue space because we know how important that is for the mental health of residents. We also look at maintenance of their neighborhoods, examining if its well-maintained and if there are a lot of vacant homes nearby. We see if there is access to commercial businesses and nonprofits too.
We also have parents report on the relationships they have with their neighbors to see how cohesive their communities are. We are trying to understand how families are working together to promote youth resilience and how neighborhoods could be leveraged to promote parent resilience, with downstream consequences for youth resilience. We also consider biological mechanisms such as how genetics and environments might be interacting.
Q: How do you want people to feel when they come in here?
A: Happy and excited. Generally, the kids are just that because they get to play with cool toys and games.
When the families leave, we hear how excited they are and ask when they can come back. That always feels like a really big win because sometimes what we’re asking them about can be a little boring for them, but it is really important for research. We always try to make the space warm and welcoming.
The paintings behind me were actually painted by our undergrads last year at our end-of-the-year party, and they donated their artwork to the lab. Having pieces created by the undergrads, who help collect the data and interact with the families, shows our character in the lab of being a little bit more fun and inviting.
And, of course, lots of snacks for everyone.
We also have dad jokes and positive affirmations that people can take off our wall. It’s just, like, free positive vibes they can take with them. I definitely want kids and their families, as well as our students, to leave feeling positive, valued, and respected. That’s my ultimate and top priority.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote on the wall?
A: Of the ones up here now, I like this one that says, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
I always tell my students that because, sometimes, they can get really upset when mistakes are made, but I just say it shows that they’re trying. Making mistakes is part of learning.
Q: What is something in here that is important to your work, but it’s something people may not notice?
A: One thing that people don’t realize that is really difficult in any family-based research is the amount of training that goes into it. When people come into the lab, and the visit goes smoothly, it took so much dedication and time on the staff and students’ part to get there.
There are four people who run the visits, plus a supervisor that makes sure everything’s flowing on time, and you just don’t see how much time and energy and training went into ironing that out. We wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing without our team and their incredible effort. That dedication to honing their craft isn’t something you really see; you only see the outcome.
Right now, we have 22 undergrads, 1 graduate student, and 1 full-time staff member in the lab who are helping across lab projects, and it’s been so great to see them grow in their skill set. And it’s been really nice getting to know them; I get to hear about their goals and their dreams for the future, and we have a lot of conversations about how to achieve those.
I wish I had an experience like this during my undergrad, so I feel so grateful that it’s something my lab can provide to them. They’re just such a positive, wonderful group of human beings.
