When I Think of Research…

The insights I have learned about research is there is a process researchers go through to research a topic of choice, that’s an interest for them, they would like other professionals to learn and understand the importance of the topic being studied.  All the hard work researchers put into creating their research simulation, by deciding which research design (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods) will best support the conclusion of their research question. The researchers need to gain consent for all their participants from all those that are needed for the research simulation.  Being an early childhood teacher, I looked at researcher for help and support with the students in my classroom, to offer them extra guidance and support for their growing development. Viewing research in a fashion of breaking it down and trying to set up my very own research simulation, is an overwhelming process that I’m not quite sure I will be participating in my future in the early childhood field. I enjoy teaching and plan to teach for as long as I can, supporting and guiding young children build their confident and development through interactions and play. My ideas about the nature of doing research changed or not, well I don’t have any ambition to go into research for the field of early childhood at this time in my career. As time go on in my career in the early childhood field, I might want to take the next step and go into research for the field. The topic of my research simulation is a topic many families and early childhood teachers and other professionals new ideas, techniques, and strategies to use with young children and the importance of young children’s social-emotional development.

The lessons I learned about planning of a research simulation, it takes time to plan, design, and conduct a research simulation. The planning of the research simulation is deciding a topic, forming a question, creating subtopic questions, and the importance and benefit of the topic for others in the early childhood field. The process of design is knowing the research question and what the researcher is looking for as results in conclude their findings. The researcher has to know what approaches they will use for their research simulation; quantitative, qualitative, or the mixed methods. They need to work out their variables, participates, the ethics, the sampling process, the way of collecting data from the research. Once the design of the research simulation is complete the researcher is able to start conducting the research sampling process to achieve the data needed to be analyzed for the results and conclusion of the topic the research simulation is making for the contribution into the early childhood field for young children and their families.

I think the most challenging part for myself was understanding and knowing from my research question what the independent and dependent variables are for the research simulation to begin the start of the study. As a researcher, the variables and sampling process is the most important part of the research, without this information the researcher wouldn't be able to collect any data as evidence to analyze for the conclusion of the purpose of the research simulation. The independent and dependent variables, the sampling process this the heart of the research simulation. It is what helps the researcher know where and how to achieve the evidence and the best ways to analyze the collected data retrieved from the research study. Now I have a better understanding of my independent and dependent variables, along with my sampling process, I feel confident as a researcher to fully conduct my research simulation and start collecting data on the effective strategies early childhood teachers can use to support toddlers social-emotional development in the classroom.

My perceptions of an early childhood professional, I give them credit for all the hard work and effort they have when putting together a research simulation on a topic of interest and importance of the early childhood field on children’s development. Having the consent and sampling process ready to begin the research study, gives them power to follow through with the main purpose of contribution to the early childhood field to keep professionals up-to-date in the field of early childhood and their development.

I want to thank my Professor and all my colleagues for helping my way through this class and gaining all the knowledge I have about research and research process, researchers go through to share their conclusions with families, teachers, and other early childhood professionals in the early childhood field.  The questions, extended thoughts and ideas on various topics about research and the research process has helped me to understand there is more to research and the research process then this class. So much goes into the process and the time, effort, and dedication at sharing the results with those it will most benefit in the long. Those young children and their families, including the early childhood teachers and professionals that want to see the success and share in the success.  Thank you!!

Reference:

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S. A., & Siraj-Blatchford, J. (2010). Doing early childhood research:

International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Research Around the World

Australian Early Development Census resources

This project is to promote and demonstrate the importance of using the data collected for to inform programming, planning, and development and implementation on Quality Improvement Plans and to assist Kindergartens and other programs to build skills and knowledge of how to use the data to support their programming and planning.

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-work/aedc-project/

They have a whole website dedicated to this project and it even has a link for researchers, specifically for researchers. Not many sites do have a section just for researchers, but I think it’s important for all professionals in the early childhood field to receive information to keep the field going strong and the benefits it has for young children.

http://www.aedc.gov.au/researchers

They have a list of options in the researchers section and the section that I found interesting was the current research projects. On the site there is a list of research projects; all of the projects are on important developmental needs of young children. The researcher project that was the most current is on young children’s health development. It breaks down the various health issues young children can suffer from and learn ways to prevent them from happening.

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/epidemiology/Publications/2014-CHO-Report.pdf

Some of the current topics that are interesting and I would like to learn more of are: The Health of Children and Young People in NSW: Report of the Chief Health Officer 2014, Associations Between the Early Development Instrument at Age 5, and Reading and Numeracy Skills at Ages 8, 10 and 12: a Prospective Linked Data Study, and Updating Child Social Exclusion (CSE) at Small Area Level in Australia; there are many more interesting projects relating to early childhood education and the field itself.

The new insight I have gained from exploring this website is the importance of children’s health and nutrition, including separation anxiety, and transition to schools for children and adults. These topics are all under the parent resource section on the website. Throughout the article, there are links for more information and other resources on the same topic. I find that children, families, and early childhood professionals care about health and nutrition, child development, and transitions to changes that occur in a child’s life. It’s a nice guide for researchers to know why early childhood professionals partake in various research projects that support and share knowledge on topics relating to early childhood education and the field.

I was impressed with all the resources and professional training's that are offered through the site. It’s a place I would want to go back and look through. There are many resources that I thought were helpful for teachers to use in their classrooms. There are some great guidelines that I could share with the families in my program to help support their knowledge on health and nutrition, especially asthma. The resources explain it in a way many can easily understand what asthma is and how to support those that have it. 

Reference:

Early Childhood Australia. Retrieved from http://earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families – Uplifting Stories

Uri Bronfenbrenner stated, “…the only safe way to avoid violating principles of professional ethics is to refrain from doing social research altogether" (Coady, 2010, p. 73).

To think about myself as a researcher that has the ability and knowledge of conducting research on any topic in the early childhood field. Looking at the benefits and positive contributions to young children and their families is in a way, why research is so important to finding the data to support families and children to overcome many struggles and challenges they can face in their lifetime. This could be diseases, disorders, medical conditions, and various disabilities that a child or an adult is diagnosed with and there is no known cure to prevent the decline in a patient or to cure the condition all together (OHRP, 45 CFR 46.406; OHRP, section 406).

The topic I would chose would be attachment. The attachment between parents and their child, what are the benefits of this bond for those children and their families in the long run. The benefits of a strong attachment with their parents, will support their child’s ability of interacting with others and forming bonds with peers, teachers, and other people in their community. Having a strong attachment with family members, helps the child grow and develop learning skills, as ease; with the support from the child’s parents. Children that have a strong attachment with their parent or guardian, the child is able to make attachments with others around them, their able to grow and develop their learning skills by mastering their developmental needs to be successful. Their focus and attention span is strong and they don’t lose focus too easily, they are able to deal with distractions compared to other children.  The contribution that would be made for this topic, based on the research conducted by myself and my colleagues would be the importance of a strong attachment between a parent and child will have the ability to understand others emotions and how to interact and socialize with others in the world around them. The research would involve observation of young children and interviews with their parents; to discover how their relationship with their child is and how they could strengthen the relationship and bond with one another. I would continue to research the topic and see what other researchers, scientists, and other early childhood professionals, have found on the topic to continue to contribute to the topic and the benefits of attachment between a parent and their child.

References

Coady, M. (2010). Ethics in early childhood research. Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed., pp. 73 - 84). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). (n.d.) Special protections for children as research subjects. HHS.gov. Retrieved on from http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/policy/populations/children.html.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). (n.d.). Research with children—FAQs. HHS.gov. Retrieved from http://answers.hhs.gov/ohrp/categories/1570.

Your Personal Research Journey

The topic I have chosen for my research simulation is the ways to foster, positive, healthy social-emotional development in toddlers. I chose this topic because a child’s social-emotional development is the key to a child’s understanding and knowledge of the world around them. For the last year, I have been trying my best as a teacher to support a child that have out of control aggressive behavior towards his peers and teachers. I was the child’s primary teacher, in an Early Head Start Program, where I worked very closely with the child and his family. I spoke with the parents on a regular basis and share my concerns of his behavior. I would ask the family if they saw any of the behaviors that the child has been expressing in the program at home. The parents would always tell me no, he doesn't act like that there, and doesn't understand why he does it at school. I had many support meetings with the parents and other early childhood professionals to get the help and support he needs to overcome his emotional state of mind. I did everything I could think of to help this child overcome and deal with his emotions, help himself become self-regulated, and support the child to bond with others to help him feel confident in himself. This is why I chose the topic at hand, because of my personal struggle as a teacher to help this specific child to overcome his fears, anger, frustration, that all seems to stem from his family experiences and environment that plays a roll into his social-emotional development with other children, other adults, and other people within his community.

I took the time to start some research on my topic that I have chosen, but realizing its picking the right wording to search for the topic. I was able to find some resources on my topic, but need to find the correct way to use the terms to find more information regarding my topic. Though I only found about 5 resources regarding my topic, I think I need to do a lot more to find information regarding social-emotional development, when I’m aware of the importance of social-emotional development on young children.

I found the research chart helpful, but a challenge at the same time. I feel like I’m looking at research in a whole in light, because there are steps that brand new to me that I just learning.  There are things that I would never have thought about when starting to research any topic within the early childhood field. I feel there are many steps at completing high-quality research and I’m at the beginning of my journey. There are terms like positivist, interpretivist, postmodern paradigms, I've never heard of before; including the intense process of research as a whole. I’m hoping to understand it and knowing that I’ll have to focus more on understanding what is asked of me for assignments throughout this course to understand the best way to go about research and gain knowledge to quality research in the early childhood field.

I would like to ask my colleagues for advice and suggestions on key terms when research my topic of choice. I would like to hear your thoughts on your own journey of research as well. I think if we help and support one another with resources and the way we each look up information on our specific research topic. I’m willing to share resources when asked and work together to explore the resource together.  By working together and collaborating for an outcome, together we can find all the resources needed to everyone’s topic.

References:

Mac Naughton, G., & Rolfe, S. A. (2010). The research process. Doing Early Childhood Research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd ed., pp. 22 - 43). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Reflection

It’s been an amazing journey learning about issues within early childhood education field that is beneficial for all early childhood professionals, families, and their children should be aware of and have knowledge of. I feel I have learned so many new resources to use when it comes to supporting families and young children on their way to success.  Having all the resources brought to the forefront helped open my eyes to a world of issues and trends in early childhood education. The entire world is dealing with the same issues and I think we need to start to work together to help support one another on solving these issues to have a better world for our children and families.

The main issues I learned from this course were changing demographics and diversity, poverty, influences of economics, neuroscience, and politics, and equity and excellence in care and education of children, families, and early childhood professionals.  I think this issues will continue to be consequences within the early childhood field for years to come. Part of these issues, I want to share, happen in some ways relating with politics. No matter how society votes, these issues will still stand for young children, their families, and early childhood professionals. These four issues can be attempted to change by professionals and families standing up and fighting for their rights and concerns about what they want for young children and their needs to grow strong and be successful in their future.  I have learned so much about these topics that I would do my best to stay strong as a professional to stand up and fight for the benefits of early childhood education has for the community, to society, and to the world. Early childhood education is beneficial to all children before they enter public school, which most children start school in Kindergarten.  I will do my best to help reduce these issues within my own community and work my way to support the reduction on a national level.

My goal is to help society understand and gain knowledge about the importance and benefits of supporting and funding early childhood programs for young children, their families, and early childhood professionals.  I think it’s important that society has all the knowledge of the benefits early childhood programs have for young children, their families, and early childhood professionals, and for many generations to come to have a successful life.   

Getting to Know Your International Contacts – Part 3

I explored the UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” website at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

The site itself it very informational, it shares their mission statement and the strategies they have in place to make sure all children between zero to 8 years old receives an education that supports their overall development. It shares the sites overall history and focus of their fight for early childhood education. The website also offers various resources for professionals within the early childhood field, including other professionals within the field as well, even for families. They are many published books for families and educators to use to help them gain knowledge within child development and information regarding the benefits that are behind the scenes of many high-quality programs out there for young children and their families. There are videos that share about early childhood education in various countries and the programs these countries offer to the children and families that can benefit from the offered program in the long run.

“There are no universally agreed criteria for quantifying ECCE quality but useful factors to consider include pedagogy materials, personnel training, service setting and parental education and involvement.” These line from the site speaks loud and clear for many teachers that are within the early childhood education field. I feel there should be universal agreed upon criteria for those to qualify as a high-quality teacher.  In a field where professionals work with children and families their hope is for the family and child to be successful and gain and master important skills they will use over a lifetime.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/quality/

The website have an area just designed to Early Childhood. The major subject topics that it shares and talks about area are access and equity, quality, investment and financing, and coordination and integration. The way they take the time to talk about each topic and make professionals and families be aware of regarding early childhood education. This information makes it known what is being down and how they feel the topics support all children all over the world to receive the same benefits of the child’s growth and development to master many skills to be successful as they continue to learn and grow. It’s important for all families to want the best for their child even at a young age as an infant. All children deserve the right to an education, all children in all countries deserve the right to an education and make something out of themselves for their future.   

Sharing Web Resources

The outside links head to current news and issues within early childhood education.  One place brought me to Juggling Jobs and Babies, it shares the ever changing work force and economic status that many families are facing at this time.

http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/working-families-infographic.html

Another outside link heads to the president’s budget proposal for our nation’s babies. The budget will continue to support Head Start Programs for children and their families, of those families that are vulnerable and at risk. The plan would help create high-quality child care options for infants and toddlers, with working families.  The plan will ensure that young children and families have access to high-quality child care.

http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/press-release-presidents-budget-proposal.html

There is one section designated for public policy. It shares all the current news and fight for early childhood education.  In this section it talks about; action center, building early childhood systems, federal policy, infant-toddler policy issues, policy guide, and state and community policy. It’s a nice section to see the current issues and trends within early childhood education right at your fingertips.  I wonder what I can do with this information; how it will help me to guide and support my families and young children.  TO know that I will be on their side fighting for the benefits early childhood education has for young children, their families, and professionals.

http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/

I receive newsletter from this site but it doesn’t share information regarding awareness, accessibility, or responsiveness. It only shares important information regarding ways to help children within your classroom based on their age. It shares where they are and how to support their learning to grow within each of their developmental stages.

Looking through the website, I learned that that fight for early childhood education is at the stand front and supports the needs of many families and children that don’t have a voice when they really wish to share their experiences with others about their struggles and challenges they have faced. I find the public policy suggestion is a great resource for families and professionals, including other professionals within the field. It brings to up to date on the fight for early childhood and the benefits they are fighting for these young children and families to have.  It makes me want to look through all the current public policy information that will help guide my professionalism when working with families to give them the strength and the ability to be strong to fight for themselves and their children. I want to share in the same fight and have their strength and passion for the fight.  I believe in early childhood education and the benefits the children and families receive from attended high-quality child care like Head Start and Early Head Start.  The benefits speak loud and clear for why many families should be aware, have access too, and be responsive when they need to be. It’s clear that these high-quality programs benefit all young children, their families, and professionals; to learn more about the awareness of such programs, the access to these programs, and the responsiveness of wanting to be a part of these programs. It’s a fight that all are willing to do in the end. Including professionals and other professionals within the field, for the families and children!!