Research helps in broadening the knowledge base of man. Research involves searching for and establishing truth for the purpose of benefiting the society. Research plays an important role in education and offers great benefits to practitioners, learners, and the society. In the field of early childhood education, the dynamic nature of the field makes research paramount and highly important to any professional in the field. As succinctly said by Buysse, V. & Wesley, P.W.(2006) research gives early childhood practitioners and policymakers essential knowledge to use in making decisions on behalf of young children and families. The goal is to integrate the best available research evidence with the wisdom and values of professionals and families.
This course has helped me to come to terms with necessity of research to the field of early childhood education and the need for a practitioner in that field not only to embrace research but to also be a researcher. The fact remains that our teaching and learning would be standing on faulty and shaking foundations if they are not based on research. Research helps teachers to understand what works best in the classroom, and why, what the short and long-term implications are, provide a justification and rationale for decisions and actions, help them have a repertoire of resources to help them deal with the unexpected, identify problems, inform improvement and so forth.
I have learned the importance of high quality research, how to conduct high quality study that provides answers to some important questions in the field of early childhood education. It is through this course that I realized that no single research method or type is best in all situations and that what is effective is to use research methods that are well-suited to the specific study being conducted.
The major challenge I faced in this course was at the beginning of the course and it has to do with my believe that research is a hard job and to be a successful researcher one must be an “expert” in Mathematics. Discussions with colleagues who gladly shared their experiences and professional comments and suggestion from our able course coordinators helped me surmount this challenge.
It has been a worthwhile and highly benefiting learning experience for me in this past eight weeks. I am therefore grateful to all of you-- our instructor and my wonderful colleagues. I sincerely hope I would meet with all of you again in my future courses at Walden University.
References:
Buysse, V & Wesley, P.W.(2006). Evidence-based Practice in the Early Childhood Field. Washington, DC: Zero to Three.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Early Childhood Research Around The World
For this week's blog assignment I choose the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan African (SSA) website to explore for research on early childhood. Based on works found at the site, some of the current international research topics are based on quality in early childhood education, development of professionals in the field of early childhood education, and collaboration between professionals in the field of early childhood education and families/parents.
Works such as “Parents' and other caregivers' perception of early childhood development needs and quality: A study of the PLAN assisted programs in Bawjiase, Ghana.” (Stella Etsa), “Improving the quality of childcare through parenting enrichment and training of trainers: The Eritrean model.” (Abeba Habtom), and “The development of an integrated early childhood development urban model training program for informal minders and community volunteers in Ghana.”(Felix Agorsah) researched quality in early childhood education. And works such as “Building community leadership for quality sustainability in Madrasa preschools: The case of Mandrasa preschools post graduation support.” (Asha Mohammed Ahmed), “The status of coordination and supervision of early childhood education in Ghana.” (Margaret Amponsah), and “Assessment of caring practices in two motherless babies homes in Abia state, Nigeria and the development and delivery of a nutrition training program to the staff of these homes to improve nutrition of children in their care.” (Olive Akomas) are based on training and the development of professional in the field of early childhood education. Works such as “Involving fathers in early childhood care and development.” (Rosemary Hua) and Improving multisectoral cooperation and coordination in support of early childhood development programs in Tanzania (George Kameka) are works on collaboration.
While reading one of the articles I came across a surprising fact that fathers rarely participate in most early childhood development programs being implemented in Nigeria and that men have little to do with young children. This situation is cultural as the responsibility of taking care of young children is seen in Nigeria and most African societies as that of women and not men. I found this surprising because here in Turkey where I live and work, men are not only involved in the education of the young children, they actually take the leading role. Attendance at any school activity in my school ( a preschool) always has men in attendance more than women and discussions with my students show that fathers mostly help them with their home-works and other school projects.
It is noteworthy that the ECDVU is committed to improving the quality of life of children and their families in African where poverty and bad governance has shut the door of quality early childhood care and education to children thereby denying them quality living.
Sources:
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php
Works such as “Parents' and other caregivers' perception of early childhood development needs and quality: A study of the PLAN assisted programs in Bawjiase, Ghana.” (Stella Etsa), “Improving the quality of childcare through parenting enrichment and training of trainers: The Eritrean model.” (Abeba Habtom), and “The development of an integrated early childhood development urban model training program for informal minders and community volunteers in Ghana.”(Felix Agorsah) researched quality in early childhood education. And works such as “Building community leadership for quality sustainability in Madrasa preschools: The case of Mandrasa preschools post graduation support.” (Asha Mohammed Ahmed), “The status of coordination and supervision of early childhood education in Ghana.” (Margaret Amponsah), and “Assessment of caring practices in two motherless babies homes in Abia state, Nigeria and the development and delivery of a nutrition training program to the staff of these homes to improve nutrition of children in their care.” (Olive Akomas) are based on training and the development of professional in the field of early childhood education. Works such as “Involving fathers in early childhood care and development.” (Rosemary Hua) and Improving multisectoral cooperation and coordination in support of early childhood development programs in Tanzania (George Kameka) are works on collaboration.
While reading one of the articles I came across a surprising fact that fathers rarely participate in most early childhood development programs being implemented in Nigeria and that men have little to do with young children. This situation is cultural as the responsibility of taking care of young children is seen in Nigeria and most African societies as that of women and not men. I found this surprising because here in Turkey where I live and work, men are not only involved in the education of the young children, they actually take the leading role. Attendance at any school activity in my school ( a preschool) always has men in attendance more than women and discussions with my students show that fathers mostly help them with their home-works and other school projects.
It is noteworthy that the ECDVU is committed to improving the quality of life of children and their families in African where poverty and bad governance has shut the door of quality early childhood care and education to children thereby denying them quality living.
Sources:
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php
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