Research Around the World

Some of the current research taking place internationally is the study simulation and interaction of low income single mother’s families.  Also, ways to involve fathers in early childhood care and development and curriculum development using community resources to just name a few research topics going on in Africa.  There are many

 

I was surprised about a lot of things that I seen and read on this website.  One of them being the many different areas they are currently researching and trying to improve in the early childhood classroom.  This whole website is aimed at bettering the lives of children and families and they are doing that through ample amounts of research based materials.  Another noteworthy section of this website would be the section titles “A Generative Curriculum Approach.”  This section outlines the many different approaches this program takes to learning about early childhood and then teaching it the young children of Africa.

 

References

 

Early Childhood Development: Virtual University. (n.d.)  Retrieved from http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php

Research that benefits children and families-uplifting stories

Imagine that you possess the means and the knowledge to conduct research studies about any topic in the early childhood field. Imagine further that you are not restricted by the reality of the present. Imagine that your study will make a major positive contribution to the well-being of children and/or their families. What topic would you choose? What can you imagine the positive contribution(s) would be?

 

If I could pick a topic to study without any restrictions, I would chose to study smaller class sizes at the early childhood level and the effects that it makes on a child’s learning.  I am sure this has been studied before but maybe not to the extent of actually making it happen.  I think this would bring about a huge positive contribution to the education field, not only for the children but for the teachers as well.  The teachers could focus more in on the needs of each individual student and then really dive deep to help them be more successful in the classroom.  The children would have their needs met better as well.  It seems today more than ever that classroom sizes are growing and growing and that has a negative impact on a child’s learning.  Teachers are put in classrooms with 25 plus kids and expected to make sure each child is as successful as the other when it comes to the end of the year.  That is not logical in this world because it is evident that some students need a little more help than others.  With a smaller class size, I feel that most if not all of the students could be very successful.

My personal research journey

The topic that I have chosen for my simulation research is how to effectively use technology in the early childhood classroom.  I have found that finding information on this is quite difficult.  There seem to be many different articles out there but not many of them pertain to just the early childhood classroom.  This was an easy topic for me to chose because it something that really perks my interest.  I love watching children learn through technology and I am eager to find some more research on the effective use of it in the classroom.

 

I have gained some new knowledge about research so far from this course and feel a little more confident in myself in relation to this class.  I still am worried about the time that it requires to conduct the actual research and report it.  Through the readings thus far, they seem to really break it down for us and help us find ways to maintain this task that is sometimes daunting.

 

If any of you have any advice on my topic or research in general please feel free to share and good luck to you all! J