Research

LEADERSHIP RESEARCH

Research has shown that empowering children with leadership skills to be change agents in their communities works best when they are trained by peer educators.  EdGift Foundation is involved in research projects studying change in students’ perceptions of their own leadership skills over a period of time after they attend leadership training workshops offered in elementary and middle schools.  These workshops are peer-led (the peers are trained to offer these workshops).  The students complete a pre and post test surveys. We are currently implementing these projects in schools in urban areas of New Jersey and India.

Publications

Jambunathan, S., Jayaraman, J.D., Jayaraman, K., & Jayaraman, A. (2019). Effect of Peer-led Leadership Workshops on Leadership Skills among Middle School Students in India. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 33(3), 399-413.

Jambunathan, S., Jayaraman, J.D., Jayaraman, A., & Jayaraman, K. (2020). Is Peer Led Discovery-Based Learning Effective in Promoting Leadership Skills among Middle School Children? Accepted for publication in the journal Education 3-13.

Jayaraman, A (2016). Youth Leadership: Girls Empowerment Camp. Childhood Explorer, Spring 2016 Issue.

International Conference Presentations

Jayaraman, K., Jayaraman, A., & Jambunathan, S.  (2017).  Cultivating leadership skills among young children using peer-led workshops.  Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Atlanta, GA.
 
Jambunathan, S., Jayaraman, J.D., Jayaraman, K., & Jayaraman, A.  (2018).  Effect of Peer-led Leadership Workshops on Leadership Skills among Middle School Students in India.  Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York City.  

Jayaraman, A., Jayaraman, K., & Jambunathan, S. (2018) Comparison of the effectiveness of discovery-based learning and direct instruction strategies used in peer-led leadership workshops in enhancing the leadership skills of children in India (2018). Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the National Association of the Education of Young Children, Washington, DC.

Jambunathan, S., Jayaraman, J.D., Jayaraman, A., & Jayaraman, K. (2019). Is Peer Led Discovery-Based Learning Effective in Developing Leadership Skills among Middle Schoolers in India?  Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, Canada, April 2019.

Jambunathan, S., Jayaraman, J.D., Jayaraman, A., & Jayaraman, K. (2019) Is Peer Led Workshops Effective in Improving Financial Literacy of Elementary and Middle School Children? Paper accepted for presentation at the 2020 Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.