When I Think of Research…  

Over the last eight weeks, I’ve learned the importance of having the right tools and expertise when it comes to conducting research.  I’ve learned that every research process begins as a search for answers to fascinating questions asked by inquiring people and that research is the professional tool that helps to answer those questions. I’ve learned to identify research subtopic and review related research literature; I’ve learned to apply specific research designs to a hypothetical research hypothesis; I’ve learned how to apply qualitative design to a hypothetical research scenario and evaluate the implications. I also learned how to apply mixed-method principles to research in early childhood field, which has helped me to become a more informed and analytical consumer. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for the invaluable source of information they have shared over the course of this class and I look forward to collaborating with each of you in future courses in Early Childhood Education.

 

Research Around the World

I elected to study the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA)
website – http://www.eecera.org.  In doing so I learned that poverty in European countries has increased over the last 10 years, which places young children at higher risk of living in poverty; poverty in early childhood as in many other countries including the United States has been noted to have irreversible negative consequences for cognitive, social and emotional development, academic achievement and behavioral adjustment. 

Insights that I gained from exploring this international early childhood website is poverty in early childhood education, lack of funding for high quality early childhood education, the need for ECEC standards and curriculums to be adapted to meet the needs and cultural perspective of communities living in poverty and need for policies to enhance the inclusiveness of ECEC as well as the need to combine family support and support for bilingual development appears to be a collective issues that all counties share especially here in the United States.

The dynamics of Early Childhood Research that can be found on this site is remarkable.  The European Early Childhood Research Journal covers subjects in Early Childhood, Early years, Education as well as Primary and Elementary Education.