Dr. Huifang (Helena) Tu
Assistant Professor
I joined the faculty of Child and Family Studies in the fall of 2006, after completing my Ph.D. in Developmental Studies at Purdue University, West Lafayette. My doctoral research focused on parents’ socialization strategies and young children’s gender and racial intergroup attitudes, especially examined how White parents’ socialization ideas and behaviors, and their age appropriateness ideas are related to children’s intergroup attitudes. Experiences in my doctoral study set a cornerstone to explore the effective ways for families and preschools to help young children in their learning and social development.
Rooted in a developmental psychology framework, my major research interests are young children’s social development across various sociocultural contexts, and the related preschool curricula, especially several main areas: (1) children’s justifications of inclusion and exclusion, in particular, relations between how children define similarity and their inclusion/exclusion behaviors, and relations between preschool children's cognitive development and their ideas about including peers with disabilities in classroom activities; (2) the cross-cultural differences in parents’ socialization strategies relating to children’s intergroup attitudes, and also in parents’ behaviors associated with children’s learning; (3) preschool curricula comparison and innovative models for teachers to help children at risk to develop friendship and get involved in activities.
Diamond, K. & Tu, H. (2006). Relations between classroom context, physical disability and preschool children’s inclusion decisions. Under review, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.
Tu, H. (2000). A critical review of research on gifted underachievement, Journal of Education Research and Experiment, Vol.5, 21-35.
Tu, H. (1999). Re-thinking about activities of teaching and learning from the angle of teacher-student intercourse, Jiangxi Educational Scientific Research, Vol.2, 15-25.
Contact Information
1215 W. Cumberland Ave
238 Jessie Harris Building
Knoxville, TN
37996-1912
Phone: 865-974-1499
Email: htu1@utk.edu
Contact CEHHS
335 Claxton Complex
1122 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996
Phone: 865-974-2201
Fax: 865-974-8718