Saturday, May 18, 2013

My Personal Research Journey



EDUC 6163: Building Research Competencies
My Personal Research Journey

The specific topic that I have chosen for my research simulation for this course is: An examination of the impact of poverty and literacy on the social and emotional development of children at the early childhood level.”
I am particularly drawn to this topic based on the experiences that I have had in previous courses that I have studied. I also believe that as an early childhood advocate, it is incumbent on me to continue to raise the awareness level of the powerful impact that poverty can have on the social and emotional development of young children and their families. It is my hope and desire that as I continue this research simulation I will be able to expand on how to build an impartial high class early childhood education system  that will be reactive to the social and emotional needs of the marginalized and undeserved children in the early childhood student population.
As I continue to immerse in this research process, I am excited about the knowledge that I am gaining from the different resources. However, I know that I can feel overwhelmed at times, especially at this time when I realize that balancing work and reading has been chaotic for the past month. Despite these challenges though, I am learning to be extremely meticulous about reading for important facts while eliminating those details that may not be relevant to the research topic. An important fact from the textbook that I wish to include here that has helped to drive my interest so far is: “Every part of the research process may offer surprises” (Mac Naughton, Rolfe & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010 p.9). In other words, our experience with the research tool will indeed be an interesting one.
An important insight that I have gained so far from the construction of the research chart is that of ensuring that every section is covered by APA format. This is something that must never be forgotten seeing that it is documented facts done by someone else.
One thing that I will request of my classmates at this point in time is for additional resources/ websites that will expand our knowledge not only on poverty but our understanding on any other aspect in the early childhood field such as ways to facilitate the physical, social and emotional well being of young children and their families living in poverty via literacy.
I am looking forward to share any resource or insight that I have with my fellow colleagues on their topic too.
The following websites are very important to me as I research on poverty and I do hope that my colleagues will find them helpful too.
Children’s Defense Fund. (2010). Ending childhood poverty. Retrieved from
National Center for Children in Poverty. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). (2004). Publications. Retrieved from

Reference
Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International
perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

1 comment:

  1. Colleague Sharon,
    It is indeed a worthwhile endeavor to examine the impact of poverty on literacy and the social and emotional development of young children. Poverty is such a multi-faceted experience affecting all areas of children’s development. I wish you success in your research.

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