When I Think of Research...

At the beginning of my "Building Research Competencies" course, my knowledge about research was very limited. But now at the end of the course, I consider it to be something feasible because I gained  the knowledge that quality research requires skills and experience, with the ability to use it as a tool which can answer the questions one has set out to address (Mac Naughton, Rolfe & Siraj-Blatchford pp. 108. 2010).
My ideas about the nature of doing research have changed because I learned about the steps to undertake in conducting a research, as of changing a research question into a hypothesis, designing the research which consists of making decisions about how the study will be executed, the sampling, deciding which method will be used as of quantitative or qualitative research. Quantitative research approach is interested in the understanding of non- numeric data rather than the logical side of it. Qualitative research approach, is done with numeric data step by step with the drive to control every detail (Mac Naughton, Rolfe & Siraj-Blatchford pp. 13. 2010). 
Now I know that quantitative research will produce facts and figures, qualitative research will produce meanings and understandings and that it is possible to mix methods for a full outcome.
What I consider to be of a great value for me, is the ethical side of the research because it is based on the informed consent- after many cases of harm with children- which is the ethical view that all humans have the right to autonomy, the right to determine what is in their own interests, to monitor children during the study and most importantly, the right to withdraw when it is necessary (Mac Naughton, Rolfe & Siraj-Blatchford pp. 74-75. 2010).

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.

Research Around The World

Dear Classmates,

I would like to share with you this research that I found exceptional, which is supposed to study and understand the intentionality for both the educator and the child, and therefore the intentionality of a program. This is how it is stated:

"Historical notions of the role of the educator, with direct links from intentional teaching through developmentally appropriate practice to more postmodern conceptualizations, have created tensions in curriculum tied to pre - determined outcomes. Curriculum developed by educators has the potential to inhibit powerful contributions children can make towards their own education. 

Contemporary theorising of the educator now acknowledges the child’s right for active participation. What needs to be understood is that while an intentional teacher looks for opportunities to teach, an intentional learner looks for opportunities to learn throughout the day. The goal of an intentional teacher is to seek strategies that develop intentional learning skills within children. This view on the role of the educator changes from the provider of knowledge to one that promotes the innate drives for independent learning.

An intentional curriculum involves co-participation where both the teacher and child are valued as equal partners within the teacher–learning nexus. Identifying the child as an intentional learner provides agency for children in setting their own goals with educators. Equitable outcomes for learning pathways can only be truly achieved when intentionality represents this relationship. This work argues that recognition of the child as an intentional learner may go some way to resolving misunderstandings about intentionality".

I found it a very interesting approach that will help change old school teachers in progressivist teachers  with values of progressivism which comprise questioning, challenging, openness and seeking alternate possibilities (Kohn. 2008).

References

Early Childhood Australia. http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/australasian-journal-early-childhood/index-abstracts/ajec-vol-38-4-2013/1850-2/

Kohn, A. (2008). Progressive education: Why it's hard to beat, but also hard to find. Retrieved from http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/progressive.htm