CEE team win national prize for poster presentation
A research team from the Centre for Effective Education has won the prize for ‘best poster’ at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference. The prize, sponsored by the CfBT Education Trust was awarded to Professor Paul Connolly, Dr Emma Larkin and Dr Susan Kehoe for their poster reporting the findings of the evaluation they have recently completed of the effects of the children’s television series, Sesame Tree, on young children’s attitudes and awareness in Northern Ireland.
The BERA Conference is the largest annual gathering of educational researchers within the UK and this year attracted over 800 delegates at its meeting at the University of Manchester between 2-5 September. The prize was awarded during a packed plenary session and the poster was particularly commended for “excelling at communicating the findings of a complex research study in a clear and highly accessible way for policy makers and practitioners.”
Speaking of the prize, Professor Connolly said: “we were delighted to have received this prestigious award. Much of the credit for the poster is due to Emma and Susan who spent a lot of time planning very carefully how to present the findings.”
He went onto add: “This prize means a lot to us at the Centre for Effective Education where we pride ourselves on undertaking strong and scientifically-robust research but where we are also committed to ensuring that the findings are reported in an accessible and relevant way so that they contribute to policy and practice.”
The poster reported on two, linked, studies that were conducted during 2008 into the effects of Sesame Tree – the Northern Ireland version of the popular US-based Sesame Street – on the attitudes and awareness of 5-6 year olds. The first studied comprised a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 20 primary schools and 440 children whereas the second study comprised a naturalistic longitudinal survey of a separate sample of 697 children from 37 primary schools selected randomly from across Northern Ireland.
The prize-winning poster will be on display shortly in the reception area of the School of Education (69-71 University Street). To download a copy of the handout associated with the poster please follow this link: http://www.paulconnolly.net/publications/pdf_files/SesameBeraPoster.pdf
