Blog Assignment: Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories 

Week 3 Blog Assignment

 

This quote by Uri Bronfenbrenner:  

“…the only safe way to avoid violating principles of professional ethics is to refrain from doing social research altogether.”

http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/302/302bron.PDF 

http://www2.yk.psu.edu/~mer7/theorists.htm 

Assignment 1:Share a positive example of the effects of research on children and/or families: Perhaps you can provide real-life examples of research benefits to children and/or families; maybe you are familiar with stories of people who have been positively affected by research; or you came across a published research article concerning children or families which you find exciting and would like to share with your colleagues.

 I have a personal story to share.  I began my early childhood academic journey 10 years ago.  I gave birth to my daughter 4 years ago, she is my example of research for the benefit of the field and my professional and personal growth.  She has been in my preschool classroom for the past two years.  I have used her as an experiment while I was navigating my undergraduate studies and now throughout my graduate studies.  I have tried numerous activities out on her, observed, assessed and evaluated her to sharpen my own EC educator skills, I have reflected on my own personal and professional ethics because she is in my class and daily care, and I have grown and changed as a professional and mother because of this research involving her.  There many risks involving this type of growth and research.  Our relationship has been affected (I am her teacher and mother), there have been concerns of favoritism within the classroom, the children in the class react to her differently because she is my daughter, and so forth.  None of these risks were harmful, but I/my colleagues have learned so much throughout the process.   I truly feel that I am a stronger professional for having taken on the challenge of involving my own child in my research and academic growth.  

Blog Assignment: Your Personal Research Journey

I have already taken significant first steps in my research simulation: I have reflected on general topics in early childhood, narrowed my focus and identified several subtopics, and decided which subtopic will be the focus of my simulations in the coming weeks...

This weeks blog assignment is to to tell your colleagues about your chosen topic for the simulation and why you chose it. 

• The topic in within the early childhood profession n that I am passionate about is social and emotional development in the early years of life. When I think about this topic, I am intrigued on three subtopics under the social and emotional development umbrella. These subtopics include the effects of the child’s natural environment on behavior, the influence of teacher and child relationships on preschool children’s social-emotional development, and the effects of stress on young children in regards to emotional and social development. As early childhood educators and professionals, we are facilitating the development of competent and productive human beings in our society. I feel it is our responsibility to focus on than the social and emotional side of development and the impact of ecological psychology on children. Studies have shown that positive social and emotional in children leads to better academic success and lifelong growth and development.   
  

Share any insights you have gained so far from constructing the research chart, and from any other element of this course. 

• I am excited to continue my research on social and emotional development and the chart has been beneficial to this process.  I have also benefited from investigating the credibility of electronic resources.

 A fantastic resource for educators on social and emotional development and behavior is from 

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL).  This site is focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. CSEFEL is a national resource center funded by the Office of Head Start and Child Care Bureau for disseminating research and evidence-based practices to early childhood programs across the country.

http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/

 

EDUC 6163 -7 Buliding Research Competencies

Blog Assignment: Reactivating Your Blog

Every course of the MS ECS program has included Blog Assignments. You can continue to use the early childhood studies blog that you first created in the Foundations course to complete your Blog Assignments in this course. Your Assignment this week is to post the URL for your blog on the Blog Links Board by Saturday of this week. Also, subscribe to the feeds of your colleagues using your RSS feed aggregator account. Note: Your Instructor will also subscribe to your blog and receive updates.

Note: Remember, blog entries can be less formal and more conversational than your other assignments. There is no required limit to the length of your entry. Unless specified, you may choose to submit answers in writing and/or to upload images, videos, audio clips, or animations relevant to the topic. If you choose to post visuals, you need to explain in what way(s) the visual reflects your answer to the Blog Assignment topic. Keep in mind that the purpose of interacting through blogs is so that you and your colleagues can enrich each others’ ideas, resources, and personal experiences in relation to this course and the program at large.