When I Think of Research...

Hello Colleagues,

First, I would like to thank everyone for the support provided to me throughout this course. I really appreciate all of the feedback! I wish you all the best in your future courses.

I have gained a great amount of insights about research from this course. I never thought that there were so many aspects of research. There were so many different elements that I had no idea about until taking this course. I am very thankful that I learned so much and will now be able to implement it in future research projects. I feel more comfortable conducting research now.

 My ideas about the nature of doing research have changed. I feel as though my knowledge of how to conduct research has deepened. I was used to selecting a topic, finding information about it, and then write a paper on my findings. It is so much more than that. I now know what to look for and how to go about doing so.

I learned a lot about planning, designing, and conducting research. I learned how to come up with a broad topic, a few subtopics, and how to narrow down to what I really want to research. This was a difficult task before taking this course. I think I used too broad topics in past research projects. I learned what needs to be included while conducting research. (Lots of planning, gathering a great deal of resources and data, choosing a topic that interests you, choosing methods of collecting info/data, etc...)

Challenges I encountered included narrowing down my topic and applying the elements to my own topic for the research simulation. I found it very helpful to come up with subtopics of my topic and then choosing one to investigate and explore. I also found it a bit difficult to apply some of the research elements to my specific research simulation, but I found that the resources were very helpful in guiding me through it. I panicked for no reason at all! One in particular was writing the literature review.

I am even more aware that early childhood professionals contribute greatly to the field of education and that there is a lot that EC professionals do in order to help young children. EC Professionals give a lot of time and effort.

International Research

The link I chose to explore:

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

Some of the current international research topics:

Learning and teaching through play- “The Early Years Learning Framework: Learning and teaching through play focuses on The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) for Australia and explains how educators examine their understandings of play and how play-based approaches require intentional planning and teaching in order to support and extend children’s learning” (ECA, 2013).

Secure transitions: Supporting children to feel secure, confident and included- “Research in practice about secure transitions covers: the Attachment Matters project making space to ‘be with’ children transitions and separations consistency and availability supporting children from culturally diverse backgrounds and more” (ECA, 2013).

Active children: Healthy now and later – “Current research is revealing how important physical activity is in protecting against a range of lifestyle diseases and illnesses. Consequently, early childhood practitioners and parents have a vital role to play in adopting guidelines and practices which encourage children of all ages to be physically active” (ECA, 2013).

Surprising facts/insights/ideas about EC from the website:

ECA has been “the voice” for children since 1938! (75 years)

ECA is a non-profit, non-government organization

ECA works with EC professionals, parents, guardians, caregivers, other organizations, lobby groups, the government, and departments to help achieve the best options and outcomes for young children as they grow and develop.

Other noteworthy information:

ECA has a very detailed catalogue with information and tools to help support young children.

ECA values children’s rights, leadership, honesty, collaboration, justice, and social inclusion of children.

I encourage my colleagues to visit this website. It’s very influential and encouraging.

It reminds me of NAEYC website.

References

Early Childhood Australia (2013). http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/