When I Think of Research ...

I went into a class on building research competencies, thinking it was going to be complicated and really not understanding the value research can have in the field of early childhood.  Instead, I learned that it really wasn't all that complicated and that the results could have great benefits and really make an impact in the way we work with children.

I have always thought of research being boring and long drawn out, but as I was able to come up with my own project and propose questions for research that were important to me in the field of early childhood, I became so excited that I wanted to fulfill the research project itself.  I wished my class would extend for a longer period of time so I can actually conduct the project.  I can see how valuable the results could be and I am trying to find a way to conduct the project on my own.  This is a very different view than I had from the beginning.

I have learned that there is a specific process that one must go through just to set up a specific research project.  Steps and rules must be well thought out and followed.  I had to learn different methods of collecting data, different research methods and types of experiments, lines of measurement and analyzing of the data, how to choose study participants and requirements, how to prove validity, and many other things.
I realized in the planning process that there were things I needed to further define before I could conduct the study, and even now I do not have enough information to actually conduct my study.

One challenge I have encountered in designing a simulated research study is the need to define general terms.  My research study intends to answer the question "Do children with large emotional vocabularies demonstrate higher levels of self-regulation and prosocial skills? To successfully answer this question, I needed to be able to define specific levels of emotional vocabulary, how many words should children know at age 4 & 5 and how many words is considered low, medium, and high.  Next I had to define what self-regulation and prosocial skills look like.  To do this I needed to find specific assessments that could be used to determine children's skill level in these areas.  This challenge took time to research myself and find something that matched what I was already thinking, or time to develop something myself that could be understood by others and easily duplicated.

While I realized research is not necessarily complicated in my mind, it is time consuming just putting the research project together before the research can actually be conducted.  There is lots of prep work and thinking.  In the end, I believe the outcomes and results greatly help to increase professionals knowledge and practice in working with children.  If I could use this study to provide ways to increase a child's skill to better control themselves and to react appropriately to others emotions, I could really help advance the field of early childhood and provide a much needed support for teachers of all ages.

Early Childhood Research Around the World

The field of early childhood is ever growing, but all around the world, professionals in the field have similar questions, similar concerns and issues, and conduct similar research.  I have been studying about schools in Europe, specifically Finland, England, and Portugal for my own search to find quality in early childhood education.  I decided to study the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERJ) to learn about topics being studied there. (http://www.eecera.org/journal/)

At first I was surprised at the topics in the most recent published journal in April, 2014.  They included: literacy development, science instruction, professionalism, barriers to learning, education models, nature and outdoor classrooms, afterschool programming, stress and sensitivity of caregivers, and temperament.  Of these ten items, I am currently studying, training, and researching five of them in my current profession and an additional two of them personally.  It should not be surprising that these are concerns and issues in other parts of the world as well, but helped me to feel that I was not alone in my search to find answers to make early childhood a more meaningful experience for all.

This compelled me to go back one more issue, to the February, 2014 issue.  The article topics in this issue included: brain development and academic rigor in early childhood, influence of parents playing with children, social-emotional prevention programs, kindergarten mathematics, science for birth to age four, the Deluge, programs for children with autism, character development in children 3-6, early education and professional choice, and parental concepts on quality. A few of these are similar to the April journal, but they all are very different.  Again, I found that these are areas that I am studying both professionally and personally (although can one really say they are studying something personally when it is in their professional field and helps them ultimately grow as a professional?  It may be more correct to say I am studying them on my own, but not because I see a current need in the organization I work for, although even then it wouldn’t be entirely true).

It is comforting to know that all around the world people are learning about young children and how we can best meet their needs and help them to grow and develop in the best ways possible. There are many professionals in the field who truly are doing all they can to highlight the importance of early childhood and to help other professionals in the field in their journey to help children become all they can become.  There is a vast amount of research and knowledge that has been shared all over the world, I am grateful to have found this research journal to add more interesting facts and information to the areas of the world that I have already been studying.

The last thing on this website that caught my attention was the early childhood conference.  I love to attend the early childhood conferences in my local area as well as the NAEYC conference held every year.  I have known that conferences happen all over the world, but I take pride in seeing and understanding that the topics they will discuss are similar to the ones we discuss here as well.  I would love to one day be able to travel through Europe and observe and learn about the field of early childhood all over the world.