An online symposium featuring the work of Brock students aims to offer the community insights into various facets of early childhood education.

Students in Brock’s Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (BECE) program are sharing their capstone research projects through the second annual online symposium, which launched Tuesday, May 17.

The symposium was first held online in 2021 as a replacement for the program’s traditional poster presentation, but has become a permanent fixture after the BECE program moved entirely online last fall to meet the needs of early childhood education (ECE) professionals.

“By having the program move online, we now have the opportunity to practice open pedagogy and share these budding researchers’ ideas and initiatives with the public,” said Sandra Della Porta, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education and co-ordinator of the online symposium.

Sharing their thesis presentations online allows BECE students to build confidence and share their knowledge and experience with the broader ECE community across Canada and around the world.

Topics covered by students are diverse, so ECE professionals should find an area of interest to explore when visiting the online symposium. Students have examined topics related to educator burnout, family involvement in early learning, literacy and programming in the home, outdoor learning, overcoming barriers, and play and early learning. Students have also explored classroom practices related to gender, music, technology and English as a Second Language.

“We hope that through these presentations, we promote continuous advancement in the field of education, positively impacting children and families’ health and well-being,” said Della Porta.