Research Around the World EDUC 6163

This week I chose to take a look at the following website: http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

This website has the links to major reports and thesis of students of the “School of Child and Youth Care University of Victoria”. There were many different topics; integrated early childhood development, the status of coordination and supervision in Ghana, improving the quality of child care, using community resources in curriculum development, and so much more.

            As I read the paper titled “The Status of Coordination and Supervision of Early Childhood Education in Ghana” The study found that policy’s work better when there is a team collaborating and making decisions (Amponsa, 2003). It was found specifically in Ghana there is a gap of the absence of policy statements for coordinators and supervisors (Amponsa, 2003). It was concluded there must be more training and support offered to these coordinators and supervisors in order to decrease the gap and provide quality child care (Amponsa, 2003).

            Taking a look at these reports and thesis of students at the University of Victoria helped me to see how countries can support one another with the research they conduct for their early childhood programs. The research which is conducted is specifically focused towards that one country, but the results can be taken into consideration for early childhood programs around the world. I was surprised by the number of topics that were reviewed that I have read studies on here in the U.S.

            It was very beneficial for me to look at this website this week to see that countries can help one another through research to provide high-quality early childhood programming.

References

Amponsa, M. (2003). The Status of Coordination and Supervision of Early Childhood Education in Ghana . University of Victoria.

EDUC 6163 Week 3 Option 2

If I could choose any topic in the early childhood field to conduct research on I would have to choose to research health in early childhood education. My experience in the early childhood field has led me to believe that there needs to be a greater partnership between public health officials and early childhood providers. I believe that research should be conducted to see what more can be done to prevent health concerns such as childhood obesity, the effect smoking has on children etc. If one were to conduct research on this topic one would be comparing results of programs that partner with public health officials and the effects it has on the children and families of that program compared to one that has not partnered with public health officials.

EDUC 6163 Week 2

I put a lot of thought into my research topic for this course. I wanted it to be meaningful for the early childhood field, but even more so I wanted it to be meaningful for the Head Start program. I work for. As I prepared for the topic I spoke to the executive director of my program who is my supervisor as well about my thoughts and we discussed what direction would be best to take this research in. I chose to research the topic of cultural experiences in the classroom and best practices for keeping continuity between home and school.

As I become more familiar with the research of this topic I would like to answer three questions.

1.      What are some way’s to keep a family’s culture alive in the classroom?

2.      What can we do to respect a family’s discipline techniques while ensuring developmentally appropriate practice both at home and school?

3.      Are there cultural differences amongst people of the same ethnic background who live in the same community?

Question number three I am not completely satisfied with. I want to find a way to reformat this question to have deeper meaning for the research I will be conducting. As I worked on the “Understanding Research” chart this week I began to reflect upon the type of data I would collect with this. I believe I would be researching quantitative approaches.

One of the resources I used in part two of our first assignment this week talks about this topic very well. You can find it in the Walden Library. It had some great insights on this topic.

References

Cheatham, G. A., & Ostrosky, M. M. (2013). Goal setting during early childhood parent-teacher conferences: A comparison of three groups of parents. Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education 27(2), 166-189.