When I Think of Research

  Throughout the course of the semester I have learned a lot about the importance of research in early childhood. The insights I have gained is that it is important to narrow your topic so it is easy to work with. It is also beneficial to pick a topic that will help people in your field receive a better understanding. I learned that when working with young children it is important to get children's imput on issues and ask children if they want to participate instead of just allowing the parents to decide for them. I know that parental consent is required, but children  need to be part of the decision process.
  The way that my ideas about nature of doing research has changed is that I have learned that I need to have a balanced schedule and I need to stick to the schedule. I need to allow a lot of time for writing the paper as well as having time to proofread the paper. I also need time to conduct interviews and do observations. It is important to always put the children's needs in front of your own needs in order for them to feel comfortable.
    The lessons I have learned about planning, designing and conducting research in early childhood is to keep everything organized and to always ask the children if they udnerstand what the research is about. You also want to make it known that if at any time during the research the child feels uncomfortable or feels that the research is overwhelming it is acceptable to say something. It is also okay for the child to back out and that you will respect their wishes.
    Some of the challenges I have encountered along the way was narrowing down my topic, setting a schedule and sticking with it, and trying to figure out the independent and dependent variables. The way I had overcome my topic selection was asking Dr. Myers for advice since there are many different ways to help students with Asperger Syndrome become successful. The way that I was able to overcome the challenge of setting up a schedule and sticking with it was to print up a calendar and write down appointments for interviews and observations. I also gave enough time to analyze the data, conduct research and to write the paper. If I was ahead of schedule that was great because it gave me more time for something else. If I did fall behind I did schedule floater days which were days that I had given myself off from working on the paper. If I had to substitute a day off I was able to because I had planned ahead.With the independent and dependent variable I had to read the book a couple of times until I fully understood the terms and then I ended up asking the instructor for help.
   Some of the ways that my perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course is that learning is an ongoing process and that every class you teach is different. For example, if you have a child who is deaf it would be good if you could learn a few easy signs and teach them to the rest of the class so they can communicate. I have also learned that there is a lot of research involved in early childhood education and that studies are always being conducted. I have also learned that it is very important to put the children first and to make sure that you get down to their level when talking to them.
   

Research Around the World

   The web site I have chosen is the European Early Childhood Education Research Association. The site is a non-profit organization that focuses on multi-disciplinary research about childhood education in regards to policy and practice.

Some of the current International research topics are: "Teaching to Learn and Learning to Teach, Research With Children: Three Challenges for Participatory Research in Early Childhood, and Constructing Stories in Kindergarten: Children's Knowledge of Genre.

The instights that I have gained from exploring this website is that there are several articles that focus on early childhood education and the importance of education. It is great to see that other countries focus on the importance of early childhood education and realize that young children need to have a solid education. One article that interested me was "Constructing Stories in Kindergarten: Children's Knowledge of Genre". The thing that I had found interesting is that children tell stories based on their personal experiences and also from fairy tales that they have heard.

Noteworthy information that I found on this site is there are several articles that have some great information. The only thing is that there are abstracts on some of the research topics not all of them. I wish that there were abstracts on all the articles because it would be easier to decide if I want to buy the article.

Source:
European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). http://www.eecera.org/
copy righted 2010. Date Viewed: June 3, 2011