My Family Culture

If my family and I were sent to a refugee camp in another country and I was only allowed to take three items, I would take my Bible, my child's favorite toy, and my computer. I would take my Bible because I am a very religious person and our faith is an important part of my families culture. I would take my child's favorite toy because that is something that is important to get and I need to make sure that she is comfortable. I would take my computer because now a days Internet is so easy to access, so with my computer I could keep up the happenings of the world as well as family and friends that were not able to come with us.

Once I arrived and they told me that I would only be able to keep one item I would choose my computer. I would not feel any kind of way after hearing that we can only bring one item. The most important thing to me on this list is my Bible, it has gotten me through hard times and good times. But the reason that I choose my computer is because I have a digital copy of my bible on my computer. With the computer I can do so much more. I can download games for my baby, download books, and so much more.

After doing this assignment I realized that the most important thing to me on this refugee camp will be having my family with me. I am a very famil oriented person and my family means the world to me.

When I Think Research

The last seven weeks has been a great learning experience. I have learned about different methods of research and the ethical rules of research. Before taking this course I knew that research takes time, but I was not aware of all of the different things that you have to take in consideration when doing research ( age, gender, culture, etc.). I learned that you always have to have the parents and the child’s consent before doing a research. Sometimes we over look children like they do not have their own mind. One of the challenges that I encounter was telling the difference between quantitative approach and qualitative approach. After reading the chapter several times and doing my own research on the topics, I better understood each approach. One way that my perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course is that I have more respect for researchers. There is a lot of work that goes into their job, and it could take year just to result for one research.

Research Around the World

The website that I chose to explore is Early Childhood Australia. While researching this site, I learned that they have their own journal series entitled "The Research in Practice Series". "The Research in Practice Series is a practical, easy-to-read resource, offering effective new approaches for those challenging issues which arise in the care and education of young children" (www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org). Some titles in the journal series are: Documenting children's learning, Connecting with toddlers, Supporting literacy in the early years, and Inclusive pedagogy from a child's perspective.

The website had tons of information for educators as well as families. I found it interesting that  Early Childhood Australia has a journal for everything Early Childhood. One thing that I found noteworthy from this site is the Early Years Connect.  "Early Years Connect is a professional development package which has been designed to support early childhood education and care (ECEC) educators working with children with complex additional needs. This includes children with a disability, significant development delay and complex social, emotional and behavioral needs"(www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org).

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

The topic that I would choose is cancer in children. “Childhood cancers make up less than 1% of all cancers diagnosed each year. About 10,380 children in the United States under the age of 15 will be diagnosed with cancer in 2016. Childhood cancer rates have been rising slightly for the past few decades.

Because of major treatment advances in recent decades, more than 80% of children with cancer now survive 5 years or more. Overall, this is a huge increase since the mid-1970s, when the 5-year survival rate was about 58%. Still, survival rates vary depending on the type of cancer and other factors. Survival rates for different cancer types are listed in the section “Surviving childhood cancer.”

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in children (after accidents). About 1,250 children younger than 15 years old are expected to die from cancer in 2016”(cancer.org).

If I was to do a research on curing cancer I would not only save the lives of children, but adults. Millions of lives would be saved and people would be much more happier because of the death rates would drop tremendously.

 http://www.cancer.org

Your Personal Research Journey

For this course I chose to focus on the effects of ones environment on the brain. I chose this topic because I am interested in finding out how does the environment you live in really effect a person. Most of the subjects or topics that I choose in this field is based off of me wanting to have more understanding about my own child. Through this weeks discussion I have learned how to determine quality resources and what to look for when doing research. 

Internation Goal

The last seven weeks I have learned so much new insight about the early childhood field internationally. My colleagues have shared their experience with their international connection. Some consequences of learning about the international early childhood field is that you can learn new ideas to do in the classroom, you get new resources, and you learn so much about how other countries go about their daily routine in the field. One of my goals is to visit another country(possibility Australia) and work in one of their centers for a couple of months, so that I can get a feel of how they run their programs and learn about the importance of education to them. I would also like to learn how they interact with families and how they keep the families involved.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

This week I explored the UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage. while exploring this web page I read three different articles that I found were very interesting. One article that I read was
"Young women must be fully supported to take part in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education". In this article it discussed how there can be a be ways in supporting girls to stay in school and continue on to higher education. I learned that there are many Countries that girls have a high drop out rate. Another thing that I found to be interesting on this site that "8-million project aims at enhancing the capacity of the key local Teacher Training Institutions through information and communications technology (ICT) in 8 African countries" (www.unesco.org). The third thing that I found interesting from this site is that statement "There are no universally agreed criteria for quantifying ECCE quality but useful factors to consider include pedagogy materials, personnel training, service setting and parental education and involvement. Learning materials should be quantitatively, culturally and developmentally adequate and focus on child-centred interaction"(www.unesco.org).

www.unesco.org