When I think of Research...

 Well, I have to say that I always thought about research as a long, complex and tedious project.  I thought that I would never have the skills and knowledge to do one and that research was always only for people extremely smart.  From this course, I learned that even thought is a long process that requires a lot of careful planning and designing, it is also something that can be accomplished.  I see research now as a vital and essential tool for the early childhood field, and a way to keep improving and developing best practices.

My ideas about research have changed because now I see it as something achievable.  It has a process, but the process makes sense to me in all aspects.  Before, I knew it was a lot of work, but I did not understand what it was involved in all that work.

I think that planning, designing and conducting the research will be based off your research question.  Once you have developed your research question then you can start thinking on the other steps.  Each step has special considerations that researchers cannot avoid if they want to make their research valid and reliable.

The biggest challenge I encountered during my research simulation was the research question.  Who would think that writing a question could be that difficult?  It took me 5 weeks until I last developed a research question that met all the requirements studied in the course.  Every week I refined and narrowed my question until I finally got it.

Thanks to this course I now perceive early childhood professionals as Scientifics in the early education field.  I believe that, with this knowledge any early childhood professional can be capable to conduct research that can influence the job we do in the field.

Thanks to all of you for reading and replying to my blogs.  I wish you all success in your upcoming courses.

Research Around the World

 The early childhood field is rapidly growing and expanding throughout the world.  Regardless of the country people are more interested in the well-being and healthy development of very young children.  The research topics most common around the world are quality of programs, family engagement, challenging behaviors and infants/toddlers as active learners among others.

While reviewing this week resources, I realized that other countries are as serious as USA about their youngest children development.  The information and resources available in the website Early Childhood Australia are impressive.  I found the information in the website so useful and great that I could not avoid bookmarking the website to use it as a personal resource and reference.

The Early Childhood Australia has 2 notable position statements:

1.         They have a position statement for children seeking asylum

2.         They have a position statement that acknowledges aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people as the original inhabitants and recognizes their culture and heritage.

With these two statements, they are demonstrating that they are serious about diversity and including all children in their country regardless their origin.  Also, respecting and recognizing everyone’s cultural background.