Application for funding of a 10% position as Professor 2 at the University of Oslo for Dr. Meredith Rowe

The aim of the UTNAM project was to benefit from Professor Meredith Rowe's expertise on child language development, important contributing environmental factors, as well as the implications of this development for child learning, academic prospects and cognitive development. The project has financed a 10% position at the Department for Special Needs Education (ISP) at the University of Oslo (UiO), affiliated with the research project "Children's information seeking: Its development and impacts on learning" (ChInfoSeek; #254974). Professor Rowe has been a central contributor in this project with collaboration on the design, analyses and write-up of an empirical book chapter about the use of questions in mother-child interactions, as well as two empirical articles examining the role of mother-child interactions for the development of children's information seeking skills. In addition to this, she has also been a co-advisor of a PhD student at ISP, who's project examines linguistic interactions with young children across contexts, age and caretakers. This work has involved co-advising on designs, coding, analyses, and write-up of two empirical articles, the work on a third paper and a conference presentation. Professor Rowe?s position has furthermore contributed to increased international collaboration and mutual exchange of experience, expertise and mentoring. As part of the project, Professor Rowe has participated on several scientific seminars and research group seminars at ISP, which were attended by students, academic staff and external representative from other institutions and the educational sector. Similarly, the Project leader has attended research meetings, given talks and commented on the scientific of Rowe's students during visits at Harvard University. The project has followed the project plan, except for the cancellations of a planned visits by Professor Rowe to the University of Oslo due to Covid-19, which also resulted in an extension of the project with one additional year. The more practical research activities have mainly been focused on: 1) Visits by Professor Rowe and an American PhD student in Oslo; 2) Visits by the Project leader and a Norwegian PhD student in Boston; 3) Regular project meetings during visits in Oslo and Boston, as well as regular online meetings and e-mail exchanges between Professor Rowe, the Project leader and their students; 4) Collaboration on the entire process of one published empirical book chapter, as well as two empirical papers of which one is under review and the other is in the process of being finalized; 5) Co-advising of a Norwegian PhD student at The Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, including regular online and in-person meetings; 6) Collaboration on the planning, design and write-up of two scientific papers first-authored by the co-advised Norwegian PhD student, including a co-authorship on one conference poster presentation; and 7) Contribution to one open research seminar at UiO, and two online research seminars with the ComPros research group at the Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, in which Professor Rowe commented on ongoing work by junior members of the research group. In addition to this, one of Rowe?s PhD students has given two talks at UiO, including one in-person seminar and one online seminar with the ComPros research group. It is expected that the project will contribute to increased expertise and knowledge about the early development of functional and naturally occurring learning processes that are transferable across contexts, and about how early home interactions can contribute to important learning processes of relevance to the children's language and learning. This may have implications for policy and practice that target transitions in educational pathways, especially for those at social risk.

Prosjektet har bidratt til flere endringer. Først, har Professor Rowes faglige innspill fremmet kvaliteten på det vitenskapelige arbeidet til prosjektleder, studenter og medlemmer av forskergruppen ved UiO. Så, har hun bidratt til å øke kunnskapen om barns språkutvikling og læring generelt, gjennom foredrag på åpne faglige seminarer hvor også eksterne aktører fra det norske praksisfeltet og politisk utdanningssektor har deltatt. Til slutt, har prosjektet medvirket til økt internasjonalt forskningssamarbeid. Forskere og studenter fra Norge har dratt veksel på Professor Rowes ekspertise og nettverk, og nye relasjoner har blitt formet med potensiale for videre samarbeid. I tillegg, har det vært kunnskapsutveksling om den norske kontekst og nye forskningsdesign. En mulig langsiktig følge av prosjektet, er en gradvis endring av ekspertisen innenfor språk- og læringsfeltet i Norge, som over tid kan forme og endre praksis og utdanningspolitiske strategier rettet mot foreldre og barn.

A 10% position as Professor 2 for three years at the University of Oslo for Dr. Rowe would make a substantial contribution to the quality of the research on early language and learning at the Department of Special Needs Education (ISP) and the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Oslo. Dr. Rowe has, through her research on relations between early communicative environments and children's language, cognitive and literacy development, using longitudinal, quantitative, observational, and intervention methods and designs, made significant contributions to the fields of Early Education and Child Development. This, together with her experience with labs, teaching, supervision and international collaborations, will strengthen the research on early learning processes and development and the quality level of quantitative analyses of observed interactions at ISP. More specifically, through a 10% position at ISP Dr. Rowe would: a) Collaborate and advise on advanced observational and longitudinal analyses and writing of scientific papers on the role of early experiences for children's development of language and learning strategies. b) Support in advising a PhD student(s), who works on topics that relates to Dr. Rowe's program of research. c) Strengthen and expand the already established scientific connections and contact between researchers across our institutions. It is anticipated that these contributions will advance the quality of the research at both ISP and the Faculty, and thus the impact that this research will have in the field internationally. It is also expected that her position will assist in the graduate advising at ISP, which potentially can have an impact on the national level of future research and practice within the field as well.