Integrated Scholar Malinda Colwell is interested in playgrounds, particularly how those outdoor learning environments can encourage peer interactions, exploration, problem solving and developmentally appropriate risk taking among preschoolers.  

Colwell is associate dean for research and graduate student services in Texas Tech University's College of Human Sciences and is a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences. Colwell earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Evansville, and her master's and doctorate in human development and family studies at Auburn University.  

Her research examines how characteristics of physical contexts – in particular, outdoor learning environments – are associated with children's social and emotional competence. She is a member of the Coalition for Natural Learning, which is a team of faculty interested in promoting outdoor environments that connect people with the natural world. This group works with Outdoor Learning Environments (OLE!) Texas, a statewide initiative that promotes healthful, nature-based environments at early childhood and education programs based on research-based best practice indicators promoting positive health and developmental outcomes.  

“We partner with childcare centers to assess their needs and then design spaces to meet those needs,” Colwell said.  “We also provide teacher training and curriculum support to expand the ways teachers engage with children in outdoor environments.”  

Colwell chose to study human development and family sciences because she is interested in learning about developmental processes and how relationships and contexts can affect development.  

“I have always been fascinated by preschoolers – they are people with rapidly changing skills and abilities, and they know a lot of things and want to know more,” she said.  

Colwell's field allows for understanding development within the perspective of the lifespan and is well-suited to interdisciplinary collaborations. Colwell says her proudest professional accomplishment though, is her students, both undergraduates and graduates. She is constantly inspired by their ambition, goals and successes. Good teaching happens when she is learning with and from her own students in a synergistic process.  

“I think this is more likely to happen when I bring my authentic self to the classroom, am responsive to the needs of the students and both my students and I are open to and engage together in learning,” she said.  

Colwell said she integrates research and outreach with teaching by sharing her experiences in her classes, often as application of theories or to reinforce other course concepts. She shares both her research successes and challenges.  

“I think sharing the challenges is particularly important because conducting research and engaging with the community is not always a smooth or easy process. I have learned some of my most valuable lessons from the challenges, and I want to pass those along to my students,” Colwell said.