Shin Ae Han

Research Overview

Shin Ae Han’s research focuses on young children’s learning, identity, and belonging in early childhood education, particularly in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. Her work examines how curriculum, teaching practices, and classroom experiences connect to children’s everyday lives in schools and communities. This research centers on two related areas. The first explores young children’s identity development and meaning-making in early childhood settings, including how Asian American and transnational experiences are understood in classroom learning and materials. The second examines culturally sustaining and place-based approaches to early childhood teaching and teacher preparation, with attention to how educators design learning experiences that respond to local communities and children’s lived worlds. Across these studies, she works with preservice/ inservice teachers, early childhood educators, families, and community partners to support meaningful learning for young children. Her research takes an interdisciplinary and critical approach, drawing from sociocultural perspectives, Asian Critical Theory, and community-engaged scholarship. She uses qualitative and practice-based methods such as classroom observations, educator interviews, and analysis of classroom materials and teaching practices.