When I Think of Research...

From this course I have learned so much about research and what it entails. One insight that I gained was that there are different types of research studies. There is the quantitative design which involves using numbers for analysis and then there is qualitative design which uses words for analysis. Each can be used on their own or used together to make a study that has numbers and words to back a finding. I also learned that I am not supposed to understand everything in a research study. Before this class, I would try to read a whole research paper and would get completely confused. Now I know what to read and what not to read, and have a better understanding of what I am reading.

I looked at research as something that scientist did and now I know that everyone can do research. Before this course, I viewed research as something that happened in a lab and that was something I would never do since science was never a strong subject for me. Now I know, that research is way more than that. It is the act of observing and finding out the answers to questions that we have. Without research we would not know much of what we know today about children.

When it comes to the early childhood field and children I learned that there are ethical concerns that need to be looked at. Consent is a major ethical concern that every researcher should get from their participants. This also means, that if the participant is a child, consent from their parent or guardian is a must. When it comes to a research project this is all a part of the planning process. As for conducting the research project in the early childhood field, I learned that we need to take a role in the classroom. Researchers need to let the children know what their role is and that they are there to listen and not judge or grade.

One challenge that I faced during this course was telling the difference between a quantitative design and a qualitative design. In the beginning I was not sure what the differences were. By talking to Dr. Davis and rereading the course work, I realized the main differences. When it came to quantitative design, one must be more exact with what they are finding. Where are qualitative design is more lenient on where the research is going.

I want to thank all of my colleagues and Dr. Davis for everything that you have taught me. This course topic was one that I was not familiar with and had some difficulties understanding some of the concepts. It was because of all of you that I now understand everything that we were supposed to learn. Thank you again, and I wish you all the best of luck as you continue this journey to your masters.

Research Around the World

The website that I chose to look at was http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/.

Some of the research topics that I found were quite interesting. The first one that caught my eye, and could be used world wide, was Dealing with bullying together: prevention and resolution. Since you have to pay to see the full report, I am going to share the brief overview that they gave. The research talks about being a careful observer, gives strategies for helping children who are bullies or have been bullied, tips on supporting the parents, and preventing bullying all together in the early childhood field. Anti-bullying programs have always been an interest to me, and I think it is important that every teacher learns the signs of bullying and takes an active role in stopping bullying.

A few other topics that they have were:

Children's resilience: Working with the Early Years learning Framework
Nurturing the spiritual child: Compassion, connection, and a sense of self
Aggression and young children
and many more!

One piece of information that I found interesting was that there was a section under position statements that has a statement of regret. Here they talk about how they are taking a stand and are recognizing and committed to reconciliation with the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander children and families that were forced out due to new settlers. I think that by taking a stand, they are showing that they care for all children and believe that all children deserve the same rights and education.

I did learn that just recently all childcare settings in Australia have a ration set in place of one teacher for every for infants in a room. They put this into effect so that all children under the age of 24 months will have a higher quality in care and development. With this development they have also put in place a rating systems so that parents can see how their child care setting compares to others in the area. They stated that this is the biggest reform in the child care setting they have had to date (Early Childhood Australia, 2011).

This was definitely an interesting website. I just wish that there were more free resources to see some of their findings.

References

Early Childhood Australia. (2011). Early childhood news archives. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/