Jennika Mannesto

Jennika Mannesto, from Concord, New Hampshire, is majoring in human development and family studies with a concentration in child development and minoring in psychology at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). She will graduate in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree with honors in major, and in May 2022 with a master’s degree in elementary education. Her Inquiry article discusses her research for a 2020 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), but she continued to collaborate during her senior year with her research mentor, Dr. Jill Trumbell, through the Grimes II award, and for her honors thesis. Through her research experience, Jennika learned that in the process of creating something new, trial and error is an important step that cannot be rushed. She says that her research was highly satisfactory because she was able to use her previous knowledge about behavior coding to create her own coding scheme. She hopes that her Inquiry article will teach readers about how coding works for human subjects. After receiving her master’s degree, Jennika aspires to be an elementary school teacher. This research experience has helped her develop more precise and professional writing skills, and the results of her research have made her aware of the potential role of gender in play, which will be advantageous to her as a future teacher.