When I Think of Research

           The building research competencies course is coming to an end. This course thought me a lot about how to conduct a research, the value of conducting a research, and understanding research techniques. Research enhances our knowledge of important information that matters. I learned that research has its benefits such as the ability to solve problems or to answer questions that affects our career. The insight that I got from this is that there are many steps that need to take place so that we can have successful results. For example ethical research is based on information content. My thought changed regarding the research process because I thought it would be difficult to conduct an informative research. Finding out that if I follow all the necessary steps it should be no problem to complete a research.  Research allows us to learn about new information as well as think critically.

When conducting research in early childhood, we need to keep in mind that there may be participants in the research process which need to stay protected at all times. For this reason, ethics in early childhood research is very important because it helps researchers understand that children rights need to be valued. The lesson I gain about planning and designing a research in early childhood education is that we are able to identify some of the challenges that is in the field, in addition to understanding and applying our finding as researchers. However I encountered many challenges during my research process such as knowing if the information will be valid, or what kind of result I will have, or did I follow all the necessary steps during my research design. The way I overcame these challenges was by applying the methodology into my research planning so that I can have an effective research conclusion.

This course change my perceptive as an early childhood professional because I had the opportunity to learn about children in the research world and how their rights as humans have to be protected. I also learn about children behaviors as well as their thinking process, which confirms that they are capable of acting more mature than their age. Overall I had a great experience in this course and my professor as well as my colleagues helped enhanced my knowledge of the research process. I have to say thank you to all that helped me throughout this course and good luck in your career path. 

 

Research Around the World

After exploring the suggestion websites for this week’s blog assignment, I found that the Early Childhood Australia website (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/) to be the most interesting. It is full of valuable information for early childhood professionals that are interested in research based information and staying knowledgeable in the field. On this website we can find topics about Everyday Learning Series, Every Child Magazine, and so forth. Each of the topics has a variety of topics that address some of the issues in the early childhood field. I learned that this website can help me understanding how early childhood operates in Australia. The insight that I get from this website is that they are trying hard to promote a healthy environment for growth through adulthood. Therefore I am going to add this website to my resources as a tool throughout my career in early childhood field.

The insight that I got from this is that they have information regarding the legal aspect of the early childhood field. Their code of ethic is also no different from the code of ethic we follow here in the United States. It was great exploring the website because I was able to learn about different topics that can help me understand the issues and trends in the early childhood field. Teaching young children to be the best they can be is the primary goal, however, as a professional in the early childhood field it is very important to learn how other countries value the early childhood field. Another insight that I got is that they have information about early year workforce strategy. I believe any little help on how to be an effective childcare provider is a plus to an individual caregiver in this field.   Overall it was a great experience exploring the website and learning about how early childhood is changing for the better.