Research Around the World

I chose for this assignment to research the Early Childhood Australia website which can be found at: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Current international research topics
     This website is full of information about early childhood in Australia and provides several links to resources that are filled with even more information.  Some of the current international research topics I found were in a link on the website for Voice which is the Early Childhood Australia's newsletter.  In the most recent newsletter I found that they are researching the relationship between their Early Years Learning Framework(which is the framework that was created for early education programs and care settings) and the Australian curriculum for schools.  Educators wanted to know how the framework for early learning is connected to the learning curriculum for older children and so an information paper called "Foundations for Learning" was created to answer this question.  In this information paper they establish the fact that the early learning that is created in the Early Years Learning Framework creates strong foundations for success with the Australian curriculum(Early Childhood Australia, 2012).  The research is about how the Australian curriculum builds on their early learning system. 
     Another research topic that I found in the newsletter was that of professional standards for teaching and how having professional standards in teaching will create higher quality teachers and in turn increase student achievement.  The program that they are using to show that standards are important for teachers to follow is called the Annotations project.  It requires that professional consultants go into early childhood settings and make record of what standards are being followed and the quality of that program because of the standards.  The consultants will observe each teacher in their daily work and determine what strategies they are using that make a positive impact on children's learning(Early Childhood Australia, 2012). 

Facts/Insights/New Ideas
     I was interested to read the Code of Ethics of the Early Childhood Australia organization and I really liked the way they have their code organized.  They have 8 different categories of ethics that professionals agree to follow.  Those categories are each started by the phrase "In relation to..."  The eight categories are children, families, colleagues, communities, students, my employer, myself as a professional, and to the conduct of research (Early Childhood Australia, 2012).  I found it very interesting that they have a code of conduct listed within their code of ethics for research.  Within this code of ethics for research they discuss how the importance of safety and privacy for children is very important and how the research must meet ethical procedures such as consent and confidentiality (Early Childhood Australia, 2012).
     Another interesting insight I gained about Australia was about refugee children.  Refugee children are children of asylum seekers which I had never heard of before.  Asylum seekers are people who enter Australia looking for protection from the Australian government and want to seek refugee status (Early Childhood Australia, 2012).  Early Childhood Australia takes extreme measures to make sure that the children of these asylum seekers (or refugee children) are treated in the same way as all other children in Australia.  Many times these people and their children are held in detention centers and this organization does all that it can to make sure that they do not have to be in a detention center for very long.  They only believe that children should be put in detention centers as a last resort and not for an extended period of time.  Reading about refugee children and asylum seekers was a new topic for me but I was glad to see that many steps are being taken to ensure that these children and their families are treated with respect and caring.

Noteworthy Information
     One very noteworthy link that I found on this website was the link: mychild.gov.au which is Australia's online childcare page.  On this website, people in Australia can find information on the different types of child care that are available.  They can locate services and find ways to get assistance in paying for the costs of different programs.  There is a database where they can search for centers in their local area which I thought was very useful.  This web page also provides links to other useful websites about children's health and well being.  Another interesting fact I found on this page was that it gave details on the Australian government's early childhood agenda.  In this it provided information on governmental policies that are being implemented to improve early childhood education. 

I found this website to be very informative with a great deal of information and many links to resources.  If you get a chance, check it out!

Resources:

Early Childhood Australia. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families

Option 2:

                If I had the means and the knowledge to conduct research studies about any topic in the early childhood field it would be the importance of play in the early childhood classroom.   This would be a two part study and would consist of both structured play and free play opportunities.  I would use children in the preschool and kindergarten setting (ages 3-6).  The goal of the research study would be to show that children can learn important concepts just as well with play involved as they do from structured classroom experiences.  The first study conducted would be of a classroom where there is little to minimum opportunities for play (most kindergarten classrooms today).  The second study would be of the same classroom but where there are optimal opportunities for play.  I would complete the research study over the course of a school year.  I would spend half of the school year on one part of the study and the second half on the other.  I would then compare the results of the research to see if children were able to learn a topic when allowed time for play (free and structured) as well as they would learn it from direct instruction.  I would involve parents in this research event by having them sign a consent form for it and I would make the children aware of it as well.  I would use anecdotal records, video recordings, and the help of classroom aides to gather data.  I would do pre-research testing on a topic to see what the children know and post-research testing to see what they learned with play and without. 

                                                                    

              

         

   I feel that the positive contributions to do a research assignment on the benefits of play would be great.  It would first of all show administration and policy makers that play is an important part of learning and should not be removed from the classroom.  It would show parents that it is ok to let children be children and that just because they are in school, they are not there to just be filled full of knowledge.   It would give teachers the joy of teaching back and they would no longer feel as if they are just there to “teach to the test”.  They would once again be able to see children learning in experimental and fun ways that promote cognitive, social, and physical skills.   It would demonstrate to all professionals in the field that play is not a waste of time but an actual means to learning.  Most of all, it would show children in the early stages of learning that learning can be fun.  This will give them an internal motivation to want to learn at a time when they are very influential.  They would then carry this attitude with them throughout their school career.      

My Personal Research Journey

Chosen Topic
The topic I ended up selecting for the research simulation is the effect of stress on brain development in early childhood.  I chose this topic first of all because I find brain development to be a very interesting and fascinating topic.  I also believe that if we learn about the development of the brain and the areas in life that affect it, then we will be able to create strategies and interventions that could allow us to better help children.  I personally believe that the stress and trauma that children undergo in early childhood has a direct link to their developing brain and my hope is to find out the ways that the brain is affected by stress and if there are any strategies or interventions already in place to help manage these effects.  Understanding the brain and its development helps us to understand children which will help educators become more effective in their jobs (at least I hope it allows me to become more effective).

Personal Experience with the Process
So far my experience with the simulation process has been really informative.  I am learning about different areas of brain development and how these areas affect the brain.  I think the hardest part of the process so far was to narrow my subject down into three subtopics and then to have to pick one out of those three.  I believe that all of the subtopics are of importance so it was difficult to pick one.  In the end I just picked the one that I had the most interest in and the one that I thought played a direct role in the development of the brain.  I have found it helpful to study the Practical Guide to Reading Research Articles because up to this point I have dreaded reading research articles.  I am always ok at the beginning and the end but in those middle sections where they list all of the charts and numbers, I tend to get lost.  The Guide has been really helpful in telling me where to look to find the information that I need.  The literature review section was also helpful because we were given examples to look at and study and examples help me learn.  I can definitely say that my experience up to this point has been enlightening and educational.

Insights Gained
The insight that I have gained from constructing the research chart is that there are always terms in research that we might not understand and it is important to figure out the meaning and then see how that meaning relates to the research that is being done.  I enjoy learning, so studying these new words is interesting to me.  I think the greatest insight I have gained so far in this course though is in evaluating web pages.  I am not a very technologically advanced person and so I just assumed what I read online was fact based.  I am so glad that this course has taught me other wise.  I have learned a great deal from the criteria we were given to find validity in research articles and especially credibility of web pages.  I am keeping this paper right beside my computer so that I can now use it whenever I go online to search anything.

Advice to Give or Any to Share?
If any of you would have advice or insight to share that could help with this process of research, I am open to any that you have.  I have completed research before but with the advancement of technology I am finding that there are new seas I have yet to charter.  I am working my way through it but if any of you are technology whizzes I would appreciate any resources you can offer.  I think the best resource that I can offer so far in this journey for research is Google Scholar.  I found this website very helpful in finding articles that I could use.  I also think that in making references or citing references, Son of Citation Machine is very useful because it gives you the recent APA format.  You can find this at: http://citationmachine.net/index2.php

Good luck everyone in your continuation with this process and if I can be of any help please don't hesitate to ask!