When I Think of Research...

This course has taught me much about research especially in the early childhood field. From this course I have come to an understanding about the importance of research in the early childhood field. Research helps us understand past and current trends in the field. Research explains issues in the field we may have little or no understanding of. From this course I have also gained an understanding of the steps taken to design a research project. I have learned about the different types of research designs as well as different research methods.

My ideas about the nature of doing research have changed in a few ways. Before this class, I did not know how much time, thinking and planning goes into conducting research. I thought research was much simpler than I came to realize.

When it comes to planning, designing and conducting a research I learned a lot. I have learned the importance of developing a research question. I have learned different instances where you may or may not need to use random sampling when selecting participants. I have learned what it takes to make a research valid. I have also gained a better understanding on the importance of consent especially concerning research with children.

The most challenging part of this research journey was choosing a subtopic and research question. From the beginning of the course, I knew which topic I wanted to research; however, the difficulty came after selecting subtopics. My general topic was autism. I then decided to focus on different development skills in Autism. When I finally selected a subtopic I had to narrow it further down; which I decided to be cognitive skills. My next challenge came in deciding what about cognitive skills which drew me to language development and sentence formation. Once I figured this all out, I thought I had a good research question based on what I have learned. However, my research question was too basic. I changed it a few times but it was still not great. I met this challenge by taking suggestions by Dr. Dartt and re-reading how to form a research question. Dr Dartt helped me greatly with this challenge.

From this course, as an early childhood professional I will look to research, but not conduct research. I have come to understand that research is not for me. I know that it is important to know what research is being done in the early childhood field and use research when needed. However, in the future I do not plan on conducting any research projects.

Lastly, I am grateful for this experience. It was a challenge at times, but I have learned a lot especially from my peers. Thank you everyone and I wish you the best as you continue this journey in obtaining your Masters in Early Childhood Studies. 

Research Around the World

I chose to explore the Early Childhood Australia website. The link for the website is http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/. I chose this site because I do not know of any current issues or trends in Australia. I also wanted to see if there are any similarities between Australia and America. Their mission is to advocate for the rights, quality and equity in issues concerning children from birth to age 8. Early Childhood Australia is also the national umbrella organization for children’s services in Australia.

I clicked on the tab early childhood news to find current research topics in Australia. I found one article titled, “Fair, inclusive, quality education every child’s right; Early Childhood peak bodies welcome increased support for children with a disability”. This article discussed that quality early education and care is a right for all children. The article discussed how support should increase so that children with disabilities will be able to benefit from a quality education. I also explored the Every Child Magazine section of the website. I read an article on asthma and asthma management. The article was more of an information resource for families. The symptoms of asthma were discussed as well as the Emergency Asthma Management which provides directions and risk reductions for those with asthma. The article also discussed ways Australia can become more Asthma friendly.

It was very interesting exploring this website. They had a wealth of information available. They have a section called Early Learning Series. Here you can find resources to enhance learning for young children whether you are a parent or caregiver. They had so many different resources organized by topic including promoting positive behavior, confidence and coping skills, fussy eaters, sensory learning and math to name a few, there are much more topics. I clicked on the sensory learning topic to read more about it. I actually thought that the information was free so I was a little surprised to find out that you have to purchase the information on sensory learning or any other topic; however, they do provide sample chapters.

I randomly came across the Early Childhood Australia position statement on Children of Asylum Seekers. The position statement mentioned that half of the world’s refugees are children. The paper discussed that many refugee children enter Australia legally and illegally. They listed a list of principles and recommendations which should be applied to support the interests of refugee children and asylum seekers. One recommendation I liked is that these children should be allowed access to the same education that Australian children receive.   

For those who would like to stay updated with the organization they have a newsletter called the Voice which you can subscribe to for free. They also have their magazine Every Child which you can subscribe to as well but for a fee. 

Reference:

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/