It links nationally recognized researchers with teachers and administrators at the UCLA Lab School and public schools in Southern California to investigate central issues in education

By hosting research projects from diverse fields including anthropology, psychology, and education, CONNECT supports a variety of approaches to the study of children’s cognitive and social development. Of special interest are teacher action-research, basic and applied research in social and linguistic development, educational technology, project-based learning, and teacher professional development.

CONNECT and UCLA Lab School value programmatic research projects that are relevant to educational issues and encourage researchers and teachers to work cooperatively on a long-term basis. CONNECT events and workshops bring UCLA researcher into dialog with Lab School teachers, staff and others concerned with child development and school reform.

CONNECT fosters the spread of research knowledge beyond the school community through it’s website, newsletter, publication in scholarly journals and professional development workshops cosponsored with UCLA Lab School. Projects hosted by CONNECT often lay the foundation for larger studies benefiting many more children. With a diverse student population recruited to reflect the demographics of the state of California, the lab school is an excellent location for conducting research that is widely applicable