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.
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to thank you for adding to my learning experience through your in-put of discussions and the blogging page.
I also learned far more than I anticipated that I would. One of the very helpful lessons of information described how to effectively write up a research paper.
I think that one of the more valuable web sites I learned from was dealing with the code of ethics of research and the core values of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, (NAEYC) 2005. This web site found at http://www.naeyc.org/research/using was full of so much important and insightful information. For example a few of the core values of the NAEYC are;
•Appreciate childhood as a unique and valuable stage of the human life cycle.
•Base the work on knowledge of how children develope and learn.
•Appreciate and support the bond between the child and their family.
•Recognize that children are best understood and supported in the context of family and culture, which includes ethnicity, racial identity, economical level, family structure, language, religious and political beliefs which profoundly influence each child's development and relationship with the world.
That along with another important piece of information that I picked up on during this class was regarding the rights for children. It is a very informative web site regarding the rights children have and is expected when working with them. For example, if a child is being interviewed, observed, or studied for research their rights are protected. Some of the topics included but are not limited to:
•Communication skills with children
•Identifying and communicating with distressed children
•Psycho-social intervention and culture considerations
There were so many things that I learned from each of my classmates as well and again I want to thank you for your contribution to my learning.
References
Action for the Rights of children (ARC) 2001, retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/violence/pdf/arc
Johnson, B., Onwuegbuzie, A., & Turner, L. (2007) Toward a Definition of Mixed Methods Research, retrieved from: httpmmr.sagepub.com/
Mac Naughton, G. Rolfe, S. & Siraj-Blatchford,I. (2010), Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.) New York, NY. McGraw-Hill
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your interesting contributions on the black board and blogs. There was always something to help us think a bit deeper about what we were doing. This course was very helpful to me also. I have covered most of the topics explored in this course in previous research cources but have never understood them the way I now do. I too am convienced that research in the early childhood field is important. I also realize that various approaches can be used to conduct research in this field.
Courses
DeleteCongrats on completing another course in this program! I was also amazed at the different things that went into research. This course was truly enlightening. The things learned be an asset. I also struggled with making narrow decisions for my simulation. I am glad that you finally got it and that your outcome in this course is a great one!
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your support as well! As I have been reading our classmates blogs, I see that we have faced many of the same challenges throughout this course. It is great to see that we have all come to face those challenges and get through them with a great learning experience. I am glad to have had the opportunity to read your blog and I wish you the best of luck in your future courses.
Hello Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI, too, have benefited from the information in this course. I never knew research was so involved. Over the past few weeks I found myself wondering why I was never taught these processes before when I have written dozens of research papers over the course of my education.