When I Think of Research…..

•What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

                The insights that I have gained about this research was learning how come up with independent and dependent variables. I also learned about how to make up my own hypothesis question and construct a research paper just by using the questions that I did from the last assignment from week eight.

•In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

                The ways that my ideas about the nature of doing research changed as I begin to do research was a number of ways. One of my ideas about the nature of doing research changed was by learning how to become a better research. Also I think that my idea of doing research has changed because it helps me learn so many different terms that I am able to use doing my research.

•What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

•What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?

                One challenge that I encountered through this course was trying to come up with my own hypothesis.  The biggest challenge that I encountered during this course while dealing with was trying to narrow down my topic. That has been the biggest challenge because every time I tried to narrow it down it was still too broad. Not only was it to broad but it was also such a hard topic that I picked that made it really hard for me.

•What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

                The way that my perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course has come a long way. I feel a little bit better trying to do research now than I have ever before. Before doing this research I had felt like I had struggled a lot just by trying to come up with my own topic. Now I am feeling a little bit more comfortable on working with resources to help me do my research. 

Well to end this last blog, I would like to thank everyone who has responded to back to me and that have given me positive feedback. I would also like to thank Dr. Joyce for all of the positive feedback that she has also given to me and for the corrections to help me become a better research writer. To all my colleagues, I wish you all the best of luck on the rest of your journey.

Research Around the World

What are some of the current international research topics?

There were quite a few current international research topics that I chose and the one that I chose to discuss about was from Nigeria.

The topic is to the international research:

 Assessment of the Caring Practices in Two Motherless Babies’ Homes in Abia State, Nigeria and the Development and Delivery of a Nutrition Training Program to the Staff of These Homes to Improve Nutrition of Children in Their Care

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

Some surprising facts and insights about early childhood that I gained from exploring this international early childhood website was that when a child was referred as being in a state of bereavement, it was assumed that both parents were dead (Akomas, p.6). Today, there are a variety of definitions:

• A child who has lost both parents.

• Someone or something that lacks support or care or supervision.

• A young animal without a mother.

• A child deprived of parents by death or desertion.

• In general there are variations in the age up to which children are considered orphans (14, 15, 18 and 21 years old) and the patterns of parental death (both parents die, either parents die, or death of mother only).

 

What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?

Other noteworthy information that I found was that complementary feeding is the period during which foods or liquids are provided along with continued breast-feeding. This usually starts when the baby is six months old. Complementary feeding is poorly done in developing countries, due to lack of information about what foods are appropriate, how much should be given, how they should be given, and their inadequacy in quantity and quality among other problems (Allen & Gillespie, 2001) (Akomas, p.10).

 

 

 

 

Reference

Akomas, O. Assessment of the caring practices in two motherless babies’ homes in abia state, Nigeria and the development and delivery of a nutrition training program to the staff of these homes to improve nutrition of children in their care. Retrieved from http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/documents/major_projects/Akomas%20Final%20UVic%20LP.pdf

 

 

 

 

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

Positive Parenting Research

           

 A positive example of the effects of research on children and families is positive parenting. If a child is brought up by parents that are caring, always positive, and nurturing, then I believe that the child will grow up the same. I say this because of experience of seeing it. My mother and my grandmother are the same exact way. My grandmother will do anything for anybody and so does my mother, no matter how bad they have been treated by that person or if they have been misused. Once a person use you more than one time and call only when they need something then it is time to let them go.

Your Personal Research Journal

Culture is a very broad topic. So as I was doing some research on it, I chose to narrow it down and talk about the impact of culture on education. Cultural tendencies impact the way children participate in education (Education, 2006). After working on the chart from the first week I learned how to pull apart a research paper by stating what the purpose of the paper and who and what was involved in the paper. So, as I begin to work on my own research paper, I want to learn some better websites that I can possibly use to make my research more credible.

Reference

Education. (2006). The impact of culture on education. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/impact-culture-education/

Final Blog Assignment

Three Consequences Learning about International Early Childhood Field

1.)    Many people, such as the early childhood educators and future early childhood educators could learn about ways in which they could help students and their families out. They could help the families out by learning a couple of things from the international early childhood perspective. They could learn about particular programs that could be beneficial to the parents and children.

2.)    Another consequence that could be learned about international early childhood field is about their different cultures. The professionals could learn about their cultures so they could know how to deal with other students that are from another culture.

3.)    The last consequence that could be learned about international early childhood field is about different organizations that they have in other countries.

Goal related to International Awareness

One goal for the field related to international is to have children learn about other cultures. I feel that if students were to learn about other cultures, then they could put it to good use. They could learn how to be a little bit more grateful and caring in my opinion. I see a lot of children that are from the United States are very spoiled.  I know that they are spoiled from experience. For example, when I went off to medical school this past year, I learned that I am very spoiled living in the United States. I lived in the Caribbean for about a year and two months and I can say that I am more grateful now than I have ever been. I lived in a place where it stays warm all year round and not only is it hot, we didn’t have AC. Most of the apartments come with air condition but if you run it, the bill can get extremely high. The food is very costly as well and they don’t have many places that are like the U.S. 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

Quality   
High quality childcare, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, promotes motivation, confidence, good cognitive and linguistic development and school readiness (UNESCO, 2012). I believe that if all children could have access to high quality childcare, then they would have a higher turn out of a success rate in school. There would probably be less students dropping out.

Investment and Financing
The greatest difficulty faced by countries in their efforts to expand and improve the quality of early childhood care and education is the mobilisation of resources (UNESCO, 2012). I totally agree with this statement because if there is a major improvement in the quality of early childhood care students will be at an advantage. When I say an advantage, I mean that they will become more successful in life.

Coordination and Integration
Early Childhood care and education is often the concern of several government sectors and usually these are education, social affairs and health (UNESCO, 2012).  I think that early childhood care and education is and will always be a concern in life.

Reference

UNESCO. 2012. Early childhood care and education. Retrieved from       http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/about-us/who-we-are/introducing-unesco/

Sharing Web Resources

Some of the outside links that I have read lead to the talk about how quality early childhood education and care is crucial in the well-being and overall development of a child and can offer the best start especially for children with disadvantage to realize their individual potential (Budapest, 2011, p3). It also goes to talk about the negative and the positive experiences that can impact children on their path to success.

As I searched the website I found something in the article about investments are being equitable in early childhood education and care and how those investments are also considered high quality in early childhood education as well.

The insight that I gained this week about the issues and trends in the early childhood field from exploring the website was how there are a number of rationales for promoting early education and care, which draw on different kinds of evidence and data sets, and which lead to different policy priorities and outcomes. Although some countries have been able to combine all three rationales seamlessly, these rationales are more often than not addressed separately and in an uncoordinated way (Budapest, 2011, p.8).

Reference

Budapest. (2011). Guide to the conference excellence and equity in early childhood education and care. Retrieved from http://tempus.tpf.hu/ecec/docs/Kisgyermekkori_beliv_ENG.pdf