麻豆传媒

Danielle Belcher spent her teenage years in Arvada, Colorado. When the former gymnast searched for an in-state college, she found the University of Northern Colorado, where she earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Exercise Science. Now she鈥檚 a first-year student in the Sport and Exercise Science M.S. program.

鈥淭丑别 Social Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity concentration merged all of my interests in biology and the human body, sports psychology and research into one. It was exactly what I wanted to do. And since I already had good relationships with a lot of the professors, I felt it was the best opportunity to continue my education at 麻豆传媒,鈥� Belcher said.

Under the supervision of Megan Babkes Stellino, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Nutrition, and Dietetics in the College of Natural and Health Sciences, Belcher is the project coordinator for a grant-funded research study focused on evaluation of the 鈥楶lay Equity鈥� and Playworks Colorado/Aurora Public School (APS) District partnership. Playworks is a national nonprofit that leverages the power of play through school recess and other school-based opportunities to transform children鈥檚 social and emotional health. 

鈥淒anielle and I have a nice, respectful, easy and often frequent, productive nature of communication. The work she鈥檚 doing requires substantial collaboration with nine different schools, other research assistants and collaborators at another university. Then, there鈥檚 organization around data collection, data entry, preliminary data analyses and summary reports. So, there are a lot of touch points she鈥檚 in charge of to make this research project work, and she鈥檚 relatively unfettered about it,鈥� Stellino said.

Belcher has been in charge of the entire project鈥檚 data collection and organization as well as involved in visits to the elementary schools quarterly to gather data for Playworks/APS research evaluation. The data collection methodology includes observations, surveys, interviews, and focus groups.

鈥淔or the observations, two people watch the kids play at recess. We see what they do, whether the adults are interacting with the kids, and if there鈥檚 any conflict. We鈥檙e trying to assess if there is equity at recess. Surveys ask the kids questions to get at things like attraction to physical activity, social emotional regulation, feelings of discrimination, safety 鈥� all those things that are touched on in the research,鈥� Belcher said.

Belcher noted that recess is a critical time when kids in school have the opportunity for physical activity and social and emotional growth. What鈥檚 learned during those school visits is mined for useful information shared in reports for school principals and Playworks. When schools address inequities, it provides a better recess experience for kids and makes everyone feel included. 

鈥淪ometimes in this type of research, difficult things come up. One of the problems I ran into is the survey is long and reading intensive. I couldn鈥檛 get students at one school to fill it out. Dr. Stellino gave me guidance and helped me realize that in research not everything鈥檚 perfect,鈥� Belcher recalled.

While, more broadly, her work aims to advance knowledge in the field by revealing insights into play equity in the recess environment, her niche within the larger project is focused on how body perceptions impact equity. 

鈥淚 plan to use some of this research for my thesis. I want to look into whether play equity based on body size affects whether children would like to participate in physical activity or not,鈥� Belcher said.

After graduating from the master鈥檚 program, Belcher plans to pursue a Ph.D. 

鈥淭丑别n I鈥檇 like to go into academia and continue doing research around social-emotional factors that influence childhood obesity,鈥� she said.

鈥� written by Brenda Gillen