EDUC 6163-Research Around the World

I explored the Early Childhood Australia website. I was really impressed by the research about the flexibility of child care services. This research was done to see how flexible child care services such as length of hours offered and location of services, and also the ability of families to change hours on short notice. This is really important as many parents do not work a typical 9-5 job and may have to drive out of their way to reach a quality child care center. This can make it difficult for families to work and cost more in gas. However, it is also hard for child care centers to offer these longer hours because it means needing staff, who may not want to work earlier or later, and also needing to provide an extra meal such as supper which requires a cook. This is definitely a great topic for research to find the best ways for child care centers to meet the needs of their families. 

I was also intrigued by their Digital Business Kit. The website mentioned the kit offers videos and PDFs that provide tips and information for early childcare centers about technology. This would be great to have access to learn about current and new technology for the classrooms and also to help run the center.   

Resources

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

EDUC 6163-Research that benefits children and families

If I had unlimited funds I would do numerous studies on the impact of technology on today's kids and family. Technology is a wonderful tool, but I also see so many negatives to children learning and on today's families. I want to research the effect technology has on children's creativity, problem-solving, work ethic, and ability to focus. In the classroom I saw many children who did not seem to have imagination or ability to pick up toys and create something whether it was with blocks, play-doh, or in a pretend kitchen. We recently got custody of my husband's niece. For the first twelve years of her life, she spent the majority of her time in front of some sort of technology either watching t.v., playing the computer or being on her ipod. She moved in with us and had no clue how to play with anything or how to entertain herself without technology. She also told me she doesn't need to learn to spell because there is spell check. I was amazed when she had a sleepover and the tv was on, yet all four girls were either on their own cell phones or on the computer. Kids are forgetting how to play together and interact. Technology can be a wonderful tool, yet I see it having many negatives as well. I would love to be able to research all the ways technology impacts the minds of children and how parents and educators need to expose, yet also limit, children's access to the multitude of technology available.

For families I also see technology decreasing the amount spent in quality time together. No matter where you go you see people on their phones rather than interacting with each other. In restaurants, playgrounds, at the store I see parents on their phones or kids playing with the phones or electronic device. They are missing out on so many teachable moments and quality time talking to each other. I would love to research to see if this has an impact on children's social and emotional skills down the road.

There are so many studies about technology and how it affects children and families that it would take years and years to complete. However, I do feel that as our society changes more research does need to be done to hopefully help children and families receive the positive benefits of technology rather than negatives.   

I can share one positive story from research. My mom was diagnosed with brain cancer and given 13 months to live. They removed her tumor and she had radiation. A year later the tumor came back, but at that point a new treatment had just completed the research phase and was now available. That treatment helped hold off the growth of a new tumor and gave us an extra year with my mom. With continued research hopefully another person can be cured completely.

EDUC 6163 My Personal Research Journey

My research simulation is asking the question if requiring more education reduces staff in turnover in early childcare settings. I chose this topic because in the centers I have worked at which included two different Head Start agencies and a private daycare, I saw frequent staff turnover. This created stress in the center as staff members had to pick up the extra responsibilities, move between classrooms to maintain ratios at all times, and have to help train new employees. It was negative for the children to have different caretakers. It also was bad for the center because it takes time to get new employees trained in the proper procedures and learn how the center worked. Many of the people who did not stay very long were those who had none or very little education in early childhood. I believe that by requiring more education, centers will be hiring staff members who are more committed to the early childhood field and less likely to leave for other positions. 

I learned a lot of information in the readings this week, though reading the book did intimidate me a little as I tried to understand the research process. I really struggled with understanding how you process and analyze the data. Did anyone else struggle with this area? Was there anything you have read that helps to better explain this process? 

The discussion this week gave me a lot of new insight into how to review a source. I was amazed at the number of websites that I would have thought would be good, did not meet the criteria. 

Does anyone have any insights into staff turnover that they have experienced in their centers and things that would be good to keep in mind as I continue through with the research simulation?