In this final week of "Building Research Competencies", we have been asked to reflect on what we have learned and experienced over the past eight weeks. When we began this class, I was so excited to learn about the research process and the different elements that make a quality research design. I think that we improve our professional environments based on the volumes of new research that is emerging all the time.
Throughout the course, we focused on a simulation that we designed and "practiced" all of the steps that a researcher would take in completing the study. I learned that the topic you choose must be very specific even though it can contain many different aspects that would be beneficial to study. For example, my topic was social and emotional development and the relationship of healthy attachments. I needed to narrow that down to how language development affects healthy attachments in children that have been adopted from non-English speaking countries. There are so many aspects to research that I had not realized. I found the literature review to be the most challenging. In finding information about the study that I was conducting, it was difficult to determine what would be helpful and what I should not spend time reviewing. I found that I examined the abstracts more carefully before exploring the full article. It was also difficult to keep from following the tangents that the article searches often went on. I had to keep my focus question in mind when searching for information.
Research in early childhood comes with it own challenges and considerations. When working with children and families, we must be very sensitive to the dynamic that they present, the backgrounds from which they come, and what the impact of the research will be for them. When planning a research design for early childhood, I think that the mixed method approach is important. I found that the qualitative process creates more of an opportunity to explore the subjective nature of children and their families.
My perceptions of professionals in our field have changed as a result of this course in that we can, and should, become active participants in the research process. We should appreciate all of the wonderful discoveries that we are provided with, but we should also be pursuing our own. This is a very exciting prospect for me. Having been in the field for over 20 years, I am looking at my next 20 years with new eyes and all of the possibilities!
Thank you for all of my colleagues (again!) for your comments, questions, and feedback. I look forward sharing ideas and learning more from you in the future.
Katherine
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Exploring International Research Sites
This week we have been asked to explore a variety of international website devoted to sharing the latest research on early childhood education in their region. I chose to focus on the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (www.eecera.org). What I found there was that the research and topics of concerns are similar to that of the United States and align well with my own interests within the field.
The two main topics I found the most information on are inclusion in early childhood education and research around the birth to three age group. Both of these topics are of interest to me and are ones that I am involved with daily. In my work in inclusion, I have learned that it is a growing trend and becoming more widely practiced in early learning environments. We are seeing the value in creating opportunities for children to learn alongside peers that have varying abilities. I have always been passionate about the youngest age group in our care. My "career" started in an infant room when I was 16! It is fascinating to me to see the research and development of theory and programs on an international level.
The EECERA website has journal articles that share the knowledge on each topic. One such article describes the shift in thinking around the education and care of babies in settings outside the home resulting from the increase in women returning to the workplace (Rayna, S. & Laevers, F., 2011). The authors seeks to explain the various factors that influence the approach to caring for young children including research on attachment and social and emotional development. Another article reflects on the idea of embedded instruction for children with special needs in inclusive environments. The authors found that the use of embedded instruction was beneficial for children with special needs to gain new skills and also generalise them across other areas of development (Rakap, S. & Parlak-Rakap, A., 2011). Embedded instruction is the practice of identifying natural times and activiites to engage a learner in the instruction of a particular skill or concepts.
While exploring the EECERA website, I found that they accept submissions for journal entries. This is something that I have considered throughout this master's degree experience. I am interested in sharing some of the knowledge and research I have gathered with others and I never knew how to go about doing that. With more experience in writing on a graduate level, I hope to gain the confidence to submit some of my work to a professional organization similar to EECERA.
References:
www.eecera.org
The two main topics I found the most information on are inclusion in early childhood education and research around the birth to three age group. Both of these topics are of interest to me and are ones that I am involved with daily. In my work in inclusion, I have learned that it is a growing trend and becoming more widely practiced in early learning environments. We are seeing the value in creating opportunities for children to learn alongside peers that have varying abilities. I have always been passionate about the youngest age group in our care. My "career" started in an infant room when I was 16! It is fascinating to me to see the research and development of theory and programs on an international level.
The EECERA website has journal articles that share the knowledge on each topic. One such article describes the shift in thinking around the education and care of babies in settings outside the home resulting from the increase in women returning to the workplace (Rayna, S. & Laevers, F., 2011). The authors seeks to explain the various factors that influence the approach to caring for young children including research on attachment and social and emotional development. Another article reflects on the idea of embedded instruction for children with special needs in inclusive environments. The authors found that the use of embedded instruction was beneficial for children with special needs to gain new skills and also generalise them across other areas of development (Rakap, S. & Parlak-Rakap, A., 2011). Embedded instruction is the practice of identifying natural times and activiites to engage a learner in the instruction of a particular skill or concepts.
While exploring the EECERA website, I found that they accept submissions for journal entries. This is something that I have considered throughout this master's degree experience. I am interested in sharing some of the knowledge and research I have gathered with others and I never knew how to go about doing that. With more experience in writing on a graduate level, I hope to gain the confidence to submit some of my work to a professional organization similar to EECERA.
References:
Rakap, S., & Parlak‐Rakap, A., (2011): Effectiveness of embedded
instruction in early childhood special education: a literature review, European Early Childhood
Education Research Journal, 19:1, 79-96Rayna, S. & Laevers, F. (2011): Understanding children from 0 to 3 years
of age and its implications for education. What's new on the babies' side? Origins and evolutions,
European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 19:2, 161-172www.eecera.org
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