My Family Culture

The items that I would elect to take that would best represent my culture would be my bible, wallet size picture book and my journey and pen. I find that I would be able to explain the importance of each of the item mentioned above to the others without hesitation. The bible is a very important aspect of my culture. The bible is what I consider holy and it provides an abundance of wisdom, peace, love, comfort, guidance, grace, and the list goes on.  My family photo would remind me of the good times I had with my family and the photos would also remind me of the blessings that God allowed me to part take in. Likewise, the photos would offer me hope and faith that one day things would improve for me and my family, (although things may not be the same, things would ultimately improve). I believe that journaling is a big part of my culture like in others cultures, I find that it is necessary to dream, plan, reflect, and express myself freely without any fears of being judge or critic. In the event I was advised that had to give up two of the items mentioned below, I will admit my initial reaction would be a reaction of devastation.  Nevertheless I would choose my bible since I would have my immediate present with me.

I believe that this exercise has allowed me to share with my colleagues what I already knew about myself, but never really spelled it out in this fashion. It is also evident how just important my faith in God reading of God’s word is important to me. Similarly, I will admit when I read in the assignment that my immediate family would be present with me, I thought out loud, “well I’ll be good then if they are there with me”. This assignment has deepened my understanding of my personal value I hold as a result of my culture/ up bring.

When I Think of Research...

It is very difficult for me to explain just how much this class has further enhanced my ability to recognize and produce quality research in general. I have a deeper understanding of the types of research conducted with the early childhood education field.  I find that I also have a deeper understanding as to why research has been so very crucial to the field’s longevity with regards to its overall progression and impact. I will admit that I was completely unaware of all the various types of research design and how to decipher which method works best depending on the question being raised.

                I find that after being exposed to learning about the various design sectors of research, I will not look at research as only being completed in one single way/ method. I believe that this course provided to me the adequate equipment/ tool to be able to understand how to interpret and share collected data. During process of evaluating how to plan research, I found that there were some very prolific and essential key terms that I needed to reacquaint myself in order to fully understand how research was conducted in the field. The terms that I find to be very necessary in any type of research design are as follows: validity, objectivity, equity, sampling, independent and dependent variables etc.

                I found it challenging being able to fully understand and master each of the types of research with regards to identify which research design would best suit my research question. I believe that I was able to overcome this challenge by interacting with my classmates through discussion and reading the course textbook.

I honestly believe that my perception of the field of early childhood education has broadened significantly. I have a deeper understand how research play a significant role in the field and impact no only the lives of early childhood learns, but all other important stakeholders as well including parents.  

Research Around the World

  

 A few of the current international research topics listed on the Early Childhood Australia website are as follows: Child’s Health & Childhood Obesity, Baby &Toddler Sleeping, and School Readiness and Children Transitions.

    I found that the Eat Right Don’t Fight Practical Guide to Helping Children Eat Right from birth to preschool very insightful. Although I understand that childhood obesity is a very well know issue within the USA, I didn’t realize that it was a prevalent an early childhood issue in Australia.  Similarly I find it very interesting how the Australian field of early childhood education has developed a nutrition and child friendly dietary curriculum for the age group mentioned above.

References

Early Childhood Australia. This is the Australian equivalent to the U.S. based NAEYC. You can access several links to early childhood research from the menu on the left side of the home page. http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

My  3 year-old son is currently apart of a collaborative research pilot project that both the local Infants and Toddlers Program and Wicomico County Board of Education developed in September 2012. The study primarily focuses on evaluating how integrating children with specials needs/ developmental delays with those children without special needs/ varying abilities may aid in both child type educational and developmental experiences.The classroom consist of 15 Pre-K students,(between the ages of 3 and 4 years-old), two teacher and 1 special education teacher, 1 aide, 1 speech therapist and 1 occupational therapist.

My sons experience has been nothing short of amazing those far. This research project has offered him the opportunity to develop social emotionally, cognitively, and has aid in both his receptive understand and expressive language.  The research is collected through observation and through assessments. Teachers are able to provide information on the progress and reactions or each child including any challenges that become prevalent. I as a parent had to sign consent in order for my child to be participant in this project. Although my son will need and is receiving additional services outside of this program, it is evident that this particular research project has positively affected his life and the lives of other students in the program mentioned.

My Personal Research Journey

It is evident that building research is very systematic, yet very complex in regards to understanding how the various research terms aid in the development of building research in general. During the construction of my research chart, I have gained a deeper understanding and appreciation the terms and literature surrounding the field of research. The process of reviewing resources for quality and creditability has been very enlightening and has allowed me to more confident in my attempts to research my topic, (how singing assist Pre-K students with special needs in regards to encouraging developmentally appropriate interactions with their peers).   

Furthermore, both Beck, (2009) and the New York Library Association, (2010) reveal secure evaluation approaches of on-line resources. Being able to have access to such quality measuring devices has only enhanced my knowledge and professional research building skills.In my opinion the following are a few databases/search engines are great for retrieving quality research: Walden University Library, Google Scholar, NAEYC, Educational Resource Information Center, (ERIC), Zero to Three, and Pre-K Now and National Center for Children in Poverty, (NCCAP), and National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities etc.