When I Think of Research...

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

After taking this course, I have gained a basic understanding of what research and research design is. I learn that research is a tool that we can use to get to know the new understandings, insights and knowledge of issues in the early childhood field; I learn that though conducting a research is a complex process, it will make a positive difference in children, families and the early childhood field; I learn that high-quality/ethical research should be "ethical, purposeful, well designed, transparent, contextualized, credible, careful, imaginative and equitable" (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010, pp.10); I learn that we should adopt design approaches accordingly, whether quantitative design, qualitative design or mixed-method design, to best meet the needs of the research, the researcher and most importantly the participants; I learn that in early childhood research, any means, methods, or designs should do no harm to participants/children; I learn that some considerations, including power relations, deficit models of research, homogeneity and reflexivity, should be taken to ensure equity in research design; etc..

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

I would consider issues in early childhood field not only from the perspective of being an early childhood teacher but also from that of being a researcher.

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

I have learned some lessons about planning, designing and conducting research in early childhood. About planning, there are some steps to follow to ensure the research is " informative, ethical, meaningful, persuasive and significant ", including selecting a topic, searching and reviewing the literature, formulating a specific research question, designing the research, collecting data, analyzing data; drawing conclusions and writing research reports. While planning, some ethical issues should be considered, such as informed consent from participants and children, maintaining confidentiality about children and their families, the risk/benefit equation, cultural issues. About designing, I learn that we should narrow down our topic into a researchable questions; we need to consider "what is to be researched, how, when and where the research is to take place, who will participate, what data will be collected and how these will be analyzed" (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010, pp.110); I learn some important terms regarding research design, such as experimental designs, quasi-experimental designs, non-experimental designs, independent variables, dependent variables, extraneous variables, etc.; I learn about quantitative design, including the four common assumptions--objectivity, reliability and validity, reductionism and generality; I learn about qualitative design and the way to collect data, through observations, interviews and so on; I learn about what equity means in research. About conducting research, though I learn about the research process and the research design issues, there is more for me to learn about in action.

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

The challenges that I encountered during this course are as follows. It is quite difficult for me who is non-native English speaker to understand some complicated concepts, terms and contents in this textbook; It is also quite challenging to put what I have learned into practice-- making a research simulation. As for these challenges, I read over and over again our textbook and searched on the internet to find out ways to understand our textbook better and try to internalize and output the knowledge.

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

Thanks to this course, I start to treat myself as an emerging researcher, who would try to make a positive difference in children, families and the early children through viewing children from the perspectives of being a research as well as an early childhood professional.

Last but not the least, I would like to say "THANK YOU" to my instructor and my colleagues. Thank you, Dr. Todd, for giving us detailed comments on our posts and assignments, for offering your valuable insights and advice to better improve my understanding of this course and for your understanding of my personal situations and giving me extension. Thank you, my colleagues! Throughout this course, your discussion posts and responses deepened my understanding some issues that are challenging for me; you helped clear my vague understandings and offered some insights that I did not consider before. Thank you for having you in this course and good luck to everyone in the following courses.

Reference:

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Research Around the World

The website I chose to learn about is Early Childhood Australia (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/). In this website, I clicked on the tap "Research in Practice Series" and found some current issues from 2010 to 2014. I would like to post those issues on this blog so that anyone who reads my blog can gain some information that he or she need and then has access to this website.

2014 Issues

• Ways of thinking, acting and relating about sustainability
• Pedagogy: Programs and relationships in practice
• Professional partnerships in children’s services: Working together for children

2013 Issues

• Learning positive behaviour through educator-child relationship
• Play and quality in early childhood: Educating superheroes and fairy princesses
• Critical reflection as a tool for change: Stories about quality improvement
• Secure transitions: Supporting children to feel secure, confident and included

2012 Issues

• Reflection as a tool for quality: Working in the National Quality Standard
• ‘Stories from the Heart’ Connecting children and families with our Earth
• The Early Years Learning Framework: Essential reading for the National Quality Standard
• Partnerships: Working together in early childhood settings

2011 Issues

• Seeing assessment as a stepping stone: Thinking in the context of the EYLF
• The more you know, the more you see: Babies’ and toddlers’ learning and the EYLF
• Planning in the context of the EYLF: Powerful, practical and pedagogically sound
• Respecting diversity: Articulating early childhood practice

2010 Issues

• Children’s resilience: Working with the Early Years Learning Framework
• Learning and teaching through play: Supporting the Early Years Learning Framework
• Stars are made of glass: Children as capable and creative communicators
• The Early Years Learning Framework: Building confident learners

Among these issues, I found that play in early childhood field is a popular current topic around the world. There is a book authored by Anne Kennedy and Lennie Barblett in 2010, helping educators understand how to use play-based approaches, how to set up learning environments, how to plan intentional teaching activities, and so on to support children's learning and development. I only got a basic introduction to this book but not the content of it unless I purchase this book. I am considering to buy this book for further information.

There is one more section in Early Childhood Australia that I found interesting and noteworthy, the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC), which includes the most scholarly journals from Australia and the longest-running major worldwide journals, and intends to share and exchange new knowledge and ideas among personnel related to early childhood field. However, there are very few free texts available; to gain more information, it's better to subscribe to AJEC.

                         

Reference:

Early Childhood Australia. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families

This week I would like to share a positive example of the effects of research in early childhood field. This example comes from a research article that I find interesting and related to my research topic-- play, and my subtopic--benefits of different types of play. The research article, written by Tarsha Estelle Bluiett, is Sociodramatic play and the potentials of early language development of preschool children. 

In this research article, the author states the aims of this study is to explore the interactions of preschool children with literacy-related materials, peers, and adults when they are in socio-dramatic play; and to identify if there are any effects of socio-dramatic play on oral language acquisition and literacy behaviors. 

This study is guided by three questions:

(1) How does socio-dramatic play with literacy-related materials create opportunities for language acquisition at the preschool level?

(2) How does social interaction through socio-dramatic play experience among preschool children foster language acquisition as they are interacting with their peers? (3) How do adults influence the language expression of preschool children during socio-dramatic play? (Bluiett, 2009, pp.7)

This qualitative research use a case study approach in a preschool setting. Through observations, the research finds out that with literacy-related materials, peers and adults, children's interactions offer themselves a chance to use language within the context of socio-dramatic play while writing and speaking; In order to encourage literacy and language development, it is necessary and vital to provide children with needed support and expose children to different materials; The role of adults in this play is a scaffold, a facilitator, a mediator. (Bluiett, 2009)

Through this research, we can see how beneficial socio-dramatic play is to children's development, and what we as early childhood educators can do to support children in this kind of play.

Reference:

Bluiett, T. E. (2009). Sociodramatic play and the potentials of early language development of preschool children. Retrieved from http://acumen.lib.ua.edu/content/u0015/0000001/0000137/u0015_0000001_0000137.pdf

My personal research journey

Hi my colleagues of this course! Welcome to my blog!

My chosen topic for the simulation is How a Play-based Curriculum Affects Children's Learning and Development, according to which I developed three subtopics: 1. the benefits of different types of play to child development; 2. the outcomes of focusing on children's academic achievements; 3. how early childhood teachers implement a play-based curriculum in preschools.

The reason why chose this topic and subtopics is related to my early childhood experience and my concerns about the development of preschools in China. I still remember when I was in kindergarten, I was made sit down with hands on the laps, look at Pinyins on the blackboard, listen to how the teacher pronounced and repeat after the teacher. I still remember how disappointed I felt when teachers said it was clean-up time but I was just about to play. My early childhood experience is quite common in kindergartens or higher level of schools in China though some of schools have realized the significance of play and allowed some time for children to play. However, the concept of play is still not prevalent in China. I would like to try to convince the people around me of the benefits of play, and start with my sister who has a four-year-old daughter in a Chinese kindergarten where academics is placed more emphasis on. I hope through this research I can have a better understanding of a play-based curriculum and how it can be better combined together with academic learning for the good of the overall development of young children. In this way, I can advocate for play in Chinese preschools.

From reading the content of the text for this week, l learn some basic knowledge of how to construct a significant research. The research process is as follows: select a topic; search and review the literature; formulate a specific research issue; design the research; collect data; analyze data; draw conclusions; and write research reports. ((Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010) I can sense each step demands of lots of effort and patience and it may not be full of fun, but I am sure once we get started, we may find some surprises and find it worthy in the journey of research, just like travelling, tiring but surprising and satisfying.

My colleagues, after reading my research topic for this course, if you have any suggestion about my topic, or any reliable research resources, could you please share your valuable opinion with me? I will really appreciate it. Thank you!

Reference:                         

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Chapter 2, "The Research Process"