How do children cope with difficult situations? What makes one child more resilient than another? Educator Brian Godor (53) and psychologist Ruth van der Hallen (31) of ESSB are investigating these questions in a unique citizen science project together with 700 primary school-aged children from the Rotterdam- Rijnmond region.
Ideally they would prefer to put their work into practice. Beautiful ideas shouldn’t just stay on paper, with a thick research report remaining on the shelf, which both Ruth and Brian believe would be a shame: “I think we have that in common; we both want to connect research with practice,” says Brian.
On the way to the toilet
That’s how the idea for a citizen science project with students from various elementary schools in Rotterdam-Rijnmond came about. Ruth: “I was on my way to the toilet when I bumped into Brian. We began talking about resilience and how someone copes with problems and stress. We both thought it would be interesting to investigate how this works in children, but in a way that children themselves would also be involved in conducting the research.”
Inquiry-Based learning
The conversation didn’t end in that hallway. In collaboration with the EUR science hub, Ruth and Brian developed an educational program where children learn to handle their own resilience through inquiry-based learning. That lets them conduct their own small-scale research and contribute to the larger project on resilience in children. Ruth and Brian have had their first Zoom meetings with elementary classrooms. Their approach appears to be a great success. Ruth: “The children shared their research with us and it’s great to see what questions they have. Is there a difference between boys and girls when it comes to resilience? How is it that one person can cope with adversity better than another? What if you can’t see any resolution past a problem?” The class that Ruth and Brian recently Zoomed with had even thought about ways to present their data, and had created a diagram. It makes both researchers very enthusiastic.
Coping and resiliency
Let that be representative of the goal of their research project: to introduce children to conducting their own research at an early age. Ruth and Brian also find the theme of resilience to be particularly relevant. “It’s important that children and youth learn to deal with adversity and change, especially now. Whether it’s the ability to exhibit resilience when there are issues involving big things, such as the loss of a loved one, or something small, like a disappointing grade at school,” says Ruth. With this research project, Ruth and Brian want to change the national discussion about what children really need. Both researchers believe there is too much focus on children’s learning deficiencies. They believe in two essential building blocks that are more important: coping and resiliency. Brian: “Learning is important, but it starts with feeling good about yourself. Happiness is the basis of positive development. Optimism is used not only in positive situations, but also helps you to deal with the less pleasant experiences.”
Brian on Ruth:
“Ruth knew at an early age that she wanted to study psychology, which she did at the KU Leuven. She finds the way people deal with setbacks and difficulties deeply interesting. Ruth is sympathetic. She loves knowledge and research and also has a caring side. Ruth is Belgian and as she says in Flemish, she has a ‘secondary profession’: one day a week she works as an independent psychologist. That keeps her in touch with the practice, people, and topics that interest her.”
Ruth on Brian:
“Brian is an extremely driven, passionate and social researcher. He studied Educational Science at the Open University in England. He’s originally from the US where he lived with his Dutch wife for 10 years before moving to the Netherlands, intending to return to the US after 10 years. Now he has lived in the Netherlands for 22 years, so he has lost that contest... When he’s in the Netherlands he misses the hot dogs and when he’s back in America it’s the ‘frikandellen’ he longs for.”