Course Reflections

          As you conclude your studies of research, take time to reflect on the experience

• What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?
• According to the NAEYC position statement, research gives early childhood practitioners and policymakers essential knowledge to use in making decisions on behalf of young children and families (NAEYC, n.d). That said, I think that this is one of the most important insights I have gained about research from this course.  I understood that research played a role in shaping best practices and policies, but I guess I never fully understood just how important of  a role research played until this course.  I think with the increase knowledge in how the child’s brain forms in the first five years of life research has moved to the forefront, and as schools continue to move towards working to close achievement gaps, create inclusive  and child centered classroom, I suspect that research will become even more popular.

• In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?
• When I started this class I was asked to share about my thoughts about research and any previous experience I had with research.  I commented that I had very little to no experience in the field and that my thoughts regarding research were actually positive. I was excited to learn about the field and actually learned through the process that I am, in many way,s a budding researcher.  I was, however, alarmed by the level of ethics some researchers were willing to cross in the name of public good.  The case of Genie was the most horrific example of an unethical research project I had heard, so I thought.  I was even more alarmed after viewing a timeline of various unethical research projects that go back as far as 50 years ago. Thus, I have learned that the nature of doing research is only as ethical as the people conducting them.

• What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?
• First, and foremost, I learned how tedious and laborious planning, designing and conducting a research project can be!  I learned too that one has be very dedicated to the process and that the best way to achieve this is to pick a research topic that one is passionate about!  I also learned that there is a science behind research design, and planning, which beings with identifying your research topic, then your question and hypothesis, the model and lastly, the data collection method you will implore for the research project.  A researchers work doesn’t end there, but must then apply various triangulation methods to ensure its validity. When conducting research on children, the standards are high. One must gain parental constant and when at all possible gain the consent of the children they would like to conduct their research.   Participates need to be informed in simple terms of their rights and any possible effects of the research on them as individual’s.

• What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?
• When I started this course I ascertained that there would be a learning curve particularly as it related to the terms, methods and research models and of course I was correct.  I ran into the most difficulties during the study of the qualitative research method.  The reading was very abstract and difficult to understand exactly what this design method was after.  I decided to reach out to my professor for clarification and I am glad I did! She was able to explain the qualitative method in very simple terms and even gave several examples to reinforce the concept. In the end, I was able to grasp the idea of qualitative research as being the research model that looks to answer the why or how question of my research question, whereas quantitative works to answer the question of whether or not/if then.

• What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?
• My perceptions of the EC professional as been greatly enhanced since starting this course. Particularly in the areas of ethical research and our job to protect the children in our care from those research studies that present more than minimal harm to children.  As our professions continues move further outside of the class of “glorified babysitters” to professionals who effectively build the brains of children for a lifetime of learning, we can anticipate that we will be asked to participate in more and more research initiatives. That being said, it is important that we stay on top of our rights and that of the children and families in our care before we agree to any research initiative .

• To that end, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all my colleagues who journeyed with me these eight weeks, as we worked to gain competencies in research methods. I can confidently say that I am component in this area and that’s largely contributed to you all and the great feedback and discussion post presented during this course.  Professor Parrish  is also a big reason for my confidence as it relates to research!   Professor Parrish is by far the best professor I have had during my graduate studies! Her command of this subject really helped me fall in love with research and she has even peck my interest in pursuing my PhD in order actually gather the answer to my research question presented in this course research simulation! Thanks Professor Parrish for inspiring me to go further in my studies to impact the field for generations to come!

Research Around the World!

What are some of the current international research topics

I chose the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa website. The ECDVD program for sub-Saharan Africa is a Master’s degree program that seeks to develop African ECD leadership  capacity as a key strategy in support of child, family  and community well being and the broader social and economic development( Early Childhood Development Virtual University, 2005).   The goals of ECDVU program includes building ECD capacity, promoting ECD leadership and stimulating supportive ECD networks within and across participating African countries (Early Childhood Development Virtual University, 2005).  They achieve this through a unique training and results-oriented program that uses face-to-face and distributed learning methods including: residential seminars, web-based instruction, CD-Rom and print material along with a community of learners’ strategy within and among cohort countries (Early Childhood Development Virtual University, 2005). Some of the research topics I ran across included more than 20 but the three that struck my interest where the following research topics:

1. The status of coordination and supervision of early childhood education in Ghana by Margaret Amponah
2. Integrating indigenous knowledge in ECD training and services by Mgbechikware Ezirim of Nigeria
3. Involving fathers in early childhood care and development by

What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood site?

What I found most interesting is that this model unites local child reading knowledge and traditions with national and western literatures and it takes an integrated approach to ECD (Early Childhood Development Virtual University, 2005).  In fact Mrs. Ezirim’s research topic of Integrating Ingenious Knowledge in ECD Training and Services did a great job of explaining why this is important.   She stated the following:

Indigenous African Ibo education, is primarily an oral one that provided for comprehensive learning in three domains: cognitive, emotional and psycho-social. For affective learning, traditional stories where used to teach societal values, such as honesty, diligence, hard work, sense of responsibility, selflessness, justice, fair play, endurance, chastity, punctuality, regulation and the like (Early Childhood Development Virtual University, 2005).

However, since urbanization and technological development are gradually eroding these stories as the elders who are custodians of these stories no longer fine willing listeners in children who are more interested in foreign films and television, which now threatens indigenous stories (Early Childhood Development Virtual University, 2005).

What other noteworthy information did you fine on this website?

I found the integration of indigenous stories into ECD most intriguing.   I can’t think of a more effective tool to involve parents in the education of their children and at the same time affirming and preserving the culture of the people groups. I could see how this could be a great benefit to multi-language classrooms here in the US. Again, this would be a great way to foster parent partnerships and support ELL culture.

Reference:

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

http://www.ecdvu.org