I want to thank my classmates for the input that you have given me during the course of this class. I appreciate the help that you have given and the insights that you have shared with me. I have learned a great deal from each of you. I look forward to learning more over the course of future classes.
The insights that I have gained about research have been a great many. I not only learned that research can be simple as well as more complex I also learned about the different kinds of research. I knew about doing research because of different classes and I just figured that it was the only type of research that I would have to use. I also thought that doing research was something that happened with scientists in a laboratory when they are trying to find out what the side effects are on a new drug that is coming out.
When it comes to doing research my ideas have changed quite a bit. I know now that research can be very rewarding as well as very simple. It can be trying to discover something that can have a major impact on many children. It can also be as simple as looking on the internet in order to find out the most effective way to teach a lesson on a particular subject so that every student in the classroom can learn.
The lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood that I learned was that it is important to find a topic that can be narrowed down easily. This was a valuable lesson because it helps you when it comes time to figure out what the research question is going to be and whether or not you need to have a hypothesis or not. It is also really important when it comes to looking up information related to your particular topic. I also think that by choosing the right topic early on it makes you want to stick with it instead of wanting to change your research topic all together to something completely different.
Some of the challenges that I encountered was trying to refine my research question. It took me pretty much the entire class in order to get the topic narrowed down enough to the point that I could continue. Each and every assignment had its share of complication. I would get confused about what it was asking me to do at first blush but then after rereading what was expected of me and then taking each phase of the assignment one step at a time, I was able to get a better understanding of what was expected.
My perceptions of an early childhood professional is that of passion. There is definitely more that goes into it other than just passion but it has to start with passion. An early childhood professional has to have a passion for what they do. They also have to have a passion for wanting to make a difference. This passion can also go hand in hand with a willingness to do research in order to find the best solution to help them when it comes to helping children. It has been modified in the fact that sometimes with that passion and willingness, there is going to be moments of frustration because you want to do something to make a difference but that goal seems so out of reach and you have to persevere.
fallongirl 