Samantha Burns

I am a developmental psychologist and my research explores how early childhood education and care (ECEC) environments shape children's social, emotional, and cognitive development. With a focus on educator-child interactions, inclusion, and policy evaluation, I aim to bridge research, practice, and policy to support quality improvement in early learning settings.

My current projects include national and provincial collaborations to measure and enhance quality in ECEC, understand educator well-being and turnover, and amplify children’s and families’ voices in shaping care systems. I am particularly interested in applied, community-based research that informs accessible and inclusive educational practices.

Keywords: early childhood education and care, early learning pedagogy, inclusion, educational policy, educator wellbeing, educator working conditions, family wellbeing, parent-child relationships, program evaluation, mixed methods, longitudinal modelling

2025

Burns, S., Brathwaite, L., Yu, E., Hoan, E., Yasiniyan, S., White, L., Dhuey, E. & Perlman, M. Children’s Collaboration Skills in Early Childhood Education and Care Settings: A Scoping Review and Network Analysis. Educational Review https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2025.2450228

Burns, S., Luo, Z. & Perlman, M. Examining Profiles of Quality Interactions Children Experience and Developmental Outcomes: A group-based multi-trajectory model analysis (Accepted)

Burns, S., Puri, A., Brathwaite, L., Yu, E., Hoan, E., Yasiniyan, S., White, L., Dhuey, E. & Perlman, M. (2025). Conceptualizing and Operationalizing Creativity in Early Childhood Education and Care: A Scoping Review. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000689

Burns, S., Saleem, S., McMullen, E., Falenchuk, O., White, L., Dhuey, E., & Perlman, M. (2025). A systematic review and meta‐analysis of approaches to teaching problem‐solving skills in early childhood education and care settings: A focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics activities. Review of Education, 13(2), e70079. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.70079

Burns, S., Saleem, S., McMullen, E., Dhuey, E., White, L. A., & Perlman, M. (2025). Enhancing Children’s Creativity in Early Childhood Education and Care: A Systematic Review and Multivariate Meta-Analysis of Studies Between 1969 and 2019. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-025-01937-4

Burns S., Yu, E. & Perlman, M. Beyond Free Play and Physical Activity: Assessing the Quality and Determinants of Outdoor Environments for Children (Accepted)

Burns, S., Yu, E., Perlman, J., Kahlon, K., & Perlman, M. (2025). “It is almost impossible to get a spot when you need it”: Understanding parental knowledge and experiences of Canada’s new child care policy promoting access to quality early childhood education and care. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 73, 69-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.05.004

Jegatheeswaran, C., Burns, S. & Perlman, M. Examining the Mediating Role of Parental Practices on Children’s Academic and Mental Health in Low-income Families. Behavioral Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15060786

Yu, E., Burns, S., Jegatheeswaran, C. & Perlman, M. Both Me and My Daughter would Cry Sometimes: Parent and Child Experiences with Home Education During the Early and Later COVID-19 Pandemic. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-21 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-025-01887-x

Yu, E., Burns, S., Jenkins, J., & Perlman, M. (2025). Assessing Educator Responsivity in Outdoor Early Childhood Education and Care Settings: Validating the Outdoor Environment Version of the Responsive Interactions for Learning Measure. Early Education and Development, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2025.2496369

2024

Burns, S., Brathwaite, L., Hepditch, A., Turner, S., Carson, B., Bernard-Ward, H., & Perlman, M. (2024). Understanding and Defining Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care Outdoor Environments: Comparing Stakeholder Perspectives. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 70(1), 1-53. https://doi.org/ 10.1353/mpq.2024.a949141

Burns, S., Davidson, A., White, L., Hampton, D., & Perlman, M. (2024). Navigating Parenthood in the Pandemic: Revealing the Trade-offs of Childcare Choices Through Conjoint Analysis. Journal of Family Issues, https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X241297995

Burns, S., Hoan, E., Hreno, S., Yu, E., Brathwaite, L., Wiebe, J. P., ... & Perlman, M. (2024). Navigating technology in the classroom: a scoping review of technology use during peer collaboration in early educational settings. Educational Review, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2024.2336970

Burns, S., Jegatheeswaran, C., Barron, C., & Perlman, M. (2024). The Unique Impacts of COVID-19 on Low-Income and Diverse Canadian Women’s Mental Health Profiles: A Latent Transition Analysis. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-024-03992-6

Burns, S., Luo, R., Brunsek, A., Jegatheeswaran, C. & Perlman, M. Examining Early Childhood Educators Personality, and its Associations with Educator Responsivity. (2024). Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 67, 374-385 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2024.02.004

Burns, S., Yu, E., Brathwaite, L., Masum, M., White, L., Dhuey, E. & Perlman, M. (2024) Improving Young Children’s Peer Collaborative Skills in Educational Settings: A Systematic Review. Review of Education, 12, e3484. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3484

Davidson, A., Burns, S., White, L. & Perlman, M. (2024). “I shall not poison my child with your human experiment, this is a form of child abuse”: Investigating predictors of parent’s vaccine hesitancy in children. Vaccine, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.12.073

Hacioglu, B., Burns, S., Davidson, A., Perlman, M. & White, L. (2024). How Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Stability of Child Care Arrangements and What Factors Predicted Instability? Canadian Public Policy, https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2023-037

Jang, E.E., Burns, S., Hunte, M., Vincette, M. & Church, P. Effects of Early Interventions on Preterm Infant Caregivers’ Mental Well-being and Caregiving Practices. Early Human Development, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.106112

Jegatheeswaran, C., Burns, S., Barron, C., & Perlman, M. (2024). Beyond the Mask: Decoding Children’s Mental Health Patterns Amidst COVID-19 and the Role of Parenting. Child Youth Care Forum, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-024-09793-w

Saleem, S., Burns, S, & Perlman, M. (2024). Cultivating young minds: Exploring the relationship between child socio-emotional well-being, early childhood education and care quality, and 21st century skills. Learning and Individual Differences, 111, 102440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102440

Wong, A., Burns, S., Chen, S. & Woodruff, E. Systematic Review of Cardiac Autonomic Reactivity to Face-to-Face Social Stressor Stimuli in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 117, 102459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2024.102459

2023

Burns, S., Barron, C., Saleem, S., Jegatheeswaran, C., Jenkins, J., & Perlman, M. (2023). Examining interactions between educators and across children: Evaluating the validity of the responsive interactions for Learning-Educator-Child Dyad version. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 62, 405-416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.10.002

Burns, S., Falenchuk, O., McMullen, E., & Perlman, M. (2023). Instability in early childhood education arrangements from birth to 30 months of age: Associations with children’s mental health. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-13. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-023-01513-8

Burns, S., Jegatheeswaran, C., & Perlman, M. (2023). I felt like I was going crazy: Understanding Mother’s and young children’s educational experiences at home during COVID-19. Early Childhood Education Journal, 51(3), 469-482. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-022-01306-5

Jegatheeswaran, C., Burns, S., Jenkins, J., & Perlman, M. (2023). Influence of Maternal Cognitions on Child Mental Health and Educational Experiences at Home During COVID-19. Early Education and Development, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2023.2275508

Perlman, M., Falenchuk, O., Burns, S., Hepditch, A., & Gray, K. (2023). Instrument Development and Validation of the Home Child Care Version of the Assessment for Quality Improvement. Early Education and Development, 1-17. http://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2016.1186468

Wong, A. S., Moreno, M., Burns, S., & Woodruff, E. (2023). The effects of expressions of fear induced by background music on reading comprehension. Journal of Research in Reading, 46(2), 143-162. http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12418

2022

Burns, S., Davidson, A., White, L., Hampton, D., & Perlman, M. (2022). Information effects on parental choices for early childhood education and care. Behavioural Public Policy, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2022.18

Davidson, A. M., Burns, S., Hampton, D., White, L., & Perlman, M. (2022). Policy frameworks and parental choice: Using conjoint analysis to understand parental decision making for child care. Journal of Family Issues, 43(5), 1335-1363. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X211022386

Saleem, S., Burns, S., Davidson, A., Hampton, D., White, L., & Perlman, M. (2022). What do parents want in terms of early childhood education and care?. Early Education and Development, 33(7), 1270-1288. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2021.1952391

Saleem, S., Burns, S., Falenchuk, O., Varmuza, P., & Perlman, M. (2022). Heterogeneity in maternal and child mental health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 59, 203-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.12.004

Wong, A. S., Burns, S., & Woodruff, E. (2022). Examining the impact of social stressor stimuli in eliciting physiological reactivity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol. BMJ open, 12(6), http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-060048.

2021

Burns, S., Doering, K., Koller, D., & Stratton, C. (2021). Protocol: School reintegration following hospitalisation for children with medical complexity and chronic disease diagnoses: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open, 11(10). http://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052493

Howe, N., Perlman, M., Bergeron, C., & Burns, S. (2021). Scotland embarks on a national outdoor play initiative: Educator perspectives. Early Education and Development, 32(7), 1067-1081. http://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2020.1822079.

2020

Davidson, A., Burns, S., White, L., Hampton, D., & Perlman, M. (2020). Child care policy and child care burden: Policy feedback effects and distributive implications of regulatory decisions. Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.30636/jbpa.32.188

• FRHD*2270 Child Development
• FRHD*3180 Observation and Assessment
• FRHD*4320 Social Policies for Children and Families

If you are interested in potential supervision within the PhD or MSc programs, I welcome you to reach out to arrange a time to meet. I look forward to learning more about your background and research interests.