When I Think of Research...

In this class I have learned many useful insights about research in early childhood development. One thing that I learn and that I find most valuable is that research has many forms and steps that have to  be followed to ensure that all work is ethical and valid. Another topic that I enjoyed discussing was triangulation. This term is used when evaluating and ensuring that a research has validity.

Pertaining to my nature of doing research this still is not one of my favorite aspects of early childhood development. Even though it is not my favorite I truly understand now through this class that it is important and serves as a life line for future and current professionals in the early childhood field.

The most valuable lesson I have learned is constructing a reseach design. This topic focus on planning, designing, and conducting research. It is the foundation of any research and is very important when researching any topic. I encountered many challenges in this class. My main challenge was expounding on my thought within my research. Also writing a research question and producing a research form it. I feel that these encounters have drawn me closure to my teacher because through our relationship she has walked me through each step to ensure successful papers. I have realized through this class that as early childhood professionals we wear many hats. Research is an additional hat that we were and its is a vita role that we play.

Research Childhood Austrialia

Early Childhood Australia

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

International Research Topics:
1. Moral and social development
2. Attachment theory and primary caregiving
3. Multicultural education
4. Play-based learning and intentional teaching in early childhood contexts.

While viewing this website I ran across one article of the many that gave lots of vital information about literacy development. This article was entitled " Bridges to literacy: early routines that promote late school success". One insight that I learned from this article was that reading to babies ensures both relational and literacy development skills. Also in this article it stated "30% of parents say they don't read to their preschoolers even once a week (Rosenkeetter & Barton, 2002, p. 34). This insight informed the me about the importance of literacy development in early childhood.

On this website under "About Us" there is a tab "About Australian Early Childhood" it discuss who they work with. This foundation pairs with government officials, early childhood professionals, families in the communities, and various peak organizations. One of their issues that they advocate are children's rights.

This website was very interesting and allowed be to get a view of what is going on in the early childhood field in Australia.


References

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

Rosenkoetter & Carton, 2002. "Bridges to literacy: early routines that promote late school success". www.zerotothree.org

Research that Benefits Children and Families

My research would be about parent/teacher relationships and how they are important to the development of our children in early childhood development. I would entitle the research "Connected: the power that works through us" I chose this title because it summarizes the importance of developing this type of relationship. This relationship creates a healthy learning and living environment that allows the child to transition well from home to school. This transition shows the child how both environments work together for their own success.
This research would discuss, through factual observations, the importance of this type of relationship. I would take two families for this observation. One family would agrees with developing this relationship and the other would not. I would watch the family over a period of time and evaluated the child's developmentally in all areas. I would record their strengths and weaknesses. Throughout this observation I would interview each set of parents, teachers, and children at different times. In the end I would re-evaluate both families record the data.
This observation would provide new parents with first hand experience showing them the importance of developing these relationships when their children enter any learning environment. This article would also provide different ways, that the teachers in this observation provided, to form these relationships.

My Personal Reserach Journey

My chosen topic for the simulation is "Poverty and How it Affects Children in Early Childhood Development". I chose this topic because it interest me of how poverty affects children in early developmental stages. These effects, if not redirected, can cause a trailing affect through a child's adulthood. I want to research this topic further to better equip myself to advocate in my community and even nation. Some of the dimple things as light ans water are not available for some children. They come to school and act out and in result are miss understood. It takes a passionate teacher or professional to reach out to this child. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and these children end up isolated in the classroom from others. This cause the child to loose out on important developmental stages that are needed to function. I have seen this issue many times and it has to stop. This is why I strongly support home visits because it gives the teacher a chance to meet the child in a more personal environment which shows the child and family that they are important and appreciated. I look forward for researching the poverty issue and its effects on our children. In this process I would love to get any feedback or experiences that my colleagues have gone through and would like to share.

Final Blog Assignment

In studying international early childhood field has been very inspiring and also has challenged me to do three things. One consequence is to stay connected  to the orgaizaitons that support early childhood education. Another consequence is to evaluate my program and implement some new ways of teaching our children the new techniques that I have learned this far. Lastly, I appreciated or educational system in the U.S., despite the major deficiencies, is a lot more productive them other countries which cause the children in our communities to get an education. My major goal is to start and organization in my community that supports parents with children in school. Also this organization will keep these families aware of things that are going on throughout the globe.

Issues and Trends: Excellence and Equity of Care and Education for Children and Families (Part 3: Early Childhood Profession)

UNESCO’s Early Childhood Care and Education

UNESCO is an organization that work’s to improve education worldwide. This organization promotes peace, celebrates diversity, and defends human rights. This is achieved by providing Education for All (EFA). On this website there are four tabs that are as follows: access and equity; quality; investment and financing; and coordination and integration. These tabs are all related to internal trends in the early childhood field. In the tab access and equity they discussed how many poor countries have programs for children pertains to health and also food programs. UNESCO is concerned about how the government is not providing money for the child’s education. When they do have programs for the poor they have little quality and sustainability. Central government must ensure an equitable distribution of resources among different populations. UNESCO is the bridge that helps connect funds to children that have little to no access to proper education. Another issue that I learned about in the website is the un-proportionate standards in Early Childhood Programs worldwide. This issue causes children to not be able to learn on a common plain. This is why schools aren’t graduating children going to first grade that are prepared for this transition. This causes inequality in the classroom. This organization desires to train all professionals in the Early Childhood field to adequately meet the needs of each child regardless of the demographics. This website allowed me to view the perspectives of other professionals in my field. Forming these relationships through research helps me to better understand how I can fit into the cycle that will help equalize the early childhood field globally.

Reference:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

Sharing Web Resources

Organization:

 Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) www.acei.org

Outside Link:

Global Campaign for Education ACEI supports The Global Campaign for Education (GCE), a civil society movement that aims to end the global education crisis. One campaign that ACEI supports is women and girls rights to be educated. GCE conducted gender discrimination in education survey. This survey showed that 1 in 5 school girls were unhappy to be girls. Some countries this survey was conducted were: Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Peru.

One main area of this website I chose to focus on is the area called “Global Gateway”. This section is focused on exploring the diversities of education systems worldwide. Some of the places of exploration are: Africa; Asia and the Pacific; Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; Middle East; and North America.

E-News

Some events that are going on in ACEI are:

1.      ACEI International United Nations Advocacy Forum  at the Global Summit

2.      Launch of the Decade for Childhood

One article that is in this newsletter is “The Long-Term Impact of Teacher”. This article addresses the issues of teacher values on their students’ success. One article discuses approach to professional development that has promises for closing the achievement gap. This article relates to equity and excellence pertaining to education. The title of this article is “Teaching Children Well”. This article title is worded very simply but takes a companionate worker in the field of education to really fulfill this assignment. This website has given me lots of information  that allows me to understand the diversity in other early childhood programs across the world and it simplifies it bring it to my fingertips.