When I Think of Research

Before entering this course I can truly admit that I always found research to be very overwhelming. I spent too much time browsing for information that I thought was resourceful to the topic being studied. Because of the time it took me to gather information, I always dreaded doing research. I know have enough confidence in myself to weed out information that is irrelevant and find information that is valid and useful. 

Taking this course has helped me understand that not all information presented in research is good and reliable information. Some of the most used online sources are not valid. I now understand and is able to identify quality information from online sources. This course broke down the key components of conducting research. When we first started the process by selecting a topic, I was not sure in what direction we were going with this. As the weeks went by I progressed and was able to put the pieces of the puzzle together by week seven. I felt at bit of relief as I wrote my online research study.

One of the major challenges that I encountered during this course was narrowing down my research topic. The topic I selected was very broad so I had to focus on one specific subtopic to help support my hypothesis. Another challenge that I had when conducting my research study was determining if I wanted to do a quantitative research design or a mixed methods approach so that I will be able to display a lot of validity to help support my hypothesis.

Now that this course has come to an end I can leave knowing that the best is yet to come within the field of Early Childhood Education. There are so many things that have been left undone and educators must take a stand to ensure that we provide current and relevant information when working to meet the needs of children. We should conduct research in order to come up with all the possible ways to address the child’s need so that they can excel in their learning. As a future educator I plan to assess a child, address their need in an effort to help them achieve so that they can reach their fullest potential in and outside the classroom.

Before I go I would personally like to thank Dr. Myers for all of your words of encouragement, support and guidance that you have showed us throughout this course. Thank you for helping us understand the whole research process. To my colleagues, thank you to all of you for your encouraging post. Discussion board and blogs were where all of our interactions took place. We all have come thus far and I wish you all the best of luck as we continue this journey. I know that each of us will continue to excel in the program and we must thank Dr. Myers for her hard work and dedication to ensure that we grasped the concept of conducting research. She made the learning process worthwhile and helped me grow as an individual. I hope to have the same impact on my students when I become an educator. I will not say good bye. I rather say see you later because I look forward to running across you guys in another course. May God bless all of you and good luck on your future endeavors!

Research Around the World

It is always an amazing adventure to explore issues and learning experiences from other countries around the world. The website that I chose to focus on is Early Childhood in Australia. 

Early Childhood in Australia Mission Statement is “Early Childhood Australia will advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years” (Early Childhood Australia, 2000). I’m always advocating for the well-being and rights of children. This is a great website that is filled with a wealth of information for educators to ensure the best for their children.

One factor that I was delighted about was how Australia “promotes increased awareness and understanding of the needs of young children and their families” (Early Childhood Australia, 2000).  Finding the best rationales to address the needs of children in essential for the educator and it is even more rewarding when the needs of the children are met. An effective practice that was addressed was play. Many people may believe that children should not be allowed to play while in school. “There is a large amount of development and learning taking place from birth to five years of age and play is a foundation for this learning” (Early Childhood Australia, 2000). Children explore and learn as they play. If educators and families observe the behaviors of children as they play and obtain running records, we can learn so much about children. We can create a curriculum that derives around the child’s need in an effort to stimulate growth. 

Some noteworthy information that I found to be very helpful and resourceful to educators is “building a classroom community will involve cooperative learning, developmental discipline, understanding others and pro-social action and values.” (Early Childhood Australia,2000). This practice will help promote a healthy classroom. It is important to provide children with an environment that is safe, secure, support risk taking, and sharing of ideas to allow children to explore, grow, and feel comfortable while in the classroom.

Reference: 

Early Childhood Australia (2000) Retrieved from: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/