Sunday, December 6, 2009

RJA #15b: Reflection on What You Learned

I think the most important thing I learned in this class this semester is time management. When writing paper I would just sit down and write until the entire paper was finished. This semester I wrote my paper over a period of weeks. I found that was less stressful and my ideas came out in a more clear and easy to read way. This will help me in my career because I will not rush to get lesson plans done, I will take my time so they come out nice and clear. Also it will help me with future classes because I now know if you start early and work at a steady pase the workload is lighter and your assignment will come out better. I also learned useful researching tips, especially from all the youtube videos. I am now better able to conduct research and find useful information. This will help with the rest of my life because I will never be done researching!

RJA #14: Annotated Bibliography, Part 2

Dodge, David. "Human Capital, Early Childhood Development." Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. Eds. Richard E. Tremblay Ray D. Peters, Michel Boivin, and Ronald G. Barr. Ottawa, Canada: n.p., 2004. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

The author of this article has a PhD. and is from Ottawa, Canada. In his article he is discussing the importance of early childhood development. He discusses that only recently has the topic made it into economic literature for schooling, on the job training, and so on. He then goes into a discussion about what makes for successful early childhood development. Ending with a statement that human capital should be invested in the young. After reading this article I found it surprising that only recently early development has come to the attention from many. I also learned some important aspects that make early childhood development important and successful.


"Early Childhood Education in China." pbs.org PBS & Precious Children, 1993. Web. 30

Nov. 2009.


The author of this article is an early childhood teacher that was able to travel to China. In China she not only taught early childhood learners but she also did a lot of research regarding the early childhood education system in China. In the article she explains many aspects of the Chinese early childhood programs and also compares certain aspects to the American early childhood education system. She breaks her findings into sections such as curriculum, types, schedule, teaching methods, etc. Her point being other countries value early childhood education and early childhood education can be taught in different ways while teaching us about China. After reading the article I am better able to see a different point of view on early childhood education. Also I can see that other countries value early childhood education as I do and as America does.


Braden-Clarke, Carol. "Early Childhood Education is Vital." Evansville Courier & Press
22 Apr. 2007 [Evansville, IN]. www.courierpress.com. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

The author of the article is the president of United Way of Southwestern Indiana and wrote the article for the Early Childhood Development Coalition. In this particular article is writing about the importance of early childhood education. She also states that every child deserves a great start and success. The best way to do so is offer early childhood education. She then shares some research about early childhood education. After the facts and research she begins to write about her community and what role early childhood education plays there. She ends by stating that children are the future and to ensure a nice future for ourselves we must invest in the children. After reading the article I learned some research facts that have been reiterated. I learned that communities around the country need to invest more in the children.



Lara-Cinisomo, Sandraluz; Fuligni, Allison Sidle; Daugherty, Lindsay; Howes, Carollee;

Karoly, Lynn. "A qualitative study of early childhood educators' beliefs about key

preschool classroom experiences" The Free Library 22 March 2009. Web. 30

November 2009.

The authors of this article conducted a study using early childhood educators. They were gathering data about their beliefs on preschool experiences. The article is sharing the study they conducted and the results/information from the study. In the introduction they give a brief detail of early childhood education, the importance of early childhood education, and a brief discussion about varying teaching styles and/or beliefs. After reading this article I am better able to understand the importance of early childhood education because there are so many different beliefs and opinions. I can also use information from the article to better myself as a teacher by being aware of the different teaching styles and it proves there are different learning styles as well.


"Education." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

The authors of the website dictionary.com offer a free online dictionary. They try to give the most accurate definitions and offer more than one for pretty much any word you search for. There are many different references that can be accessed through dictionary.com as well. After reading the definitions offered for “education” I have a better understanding of what the literal meaning of education is instead of the “teacher version.”


Lunenburg, Fred C. Early Childhood Education Programs Can Make a Difference in

Academic, Economic, and Social Arenas. N.p.: n.p., 2000. 519. Sam Houston

State University. EBSCO. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.


The author of this article is part of the Center for Research and Doctoral Studies in Educational Leadership at Sam Houston State University. In the article he is writing about the preschool experience and how to make it meaningful and high quality. He also talks about different styles/types of preschool, the family experiences, and ending with prenatal care. The overall message is how to get children prepared and ready for the K-12 schools system and that early childhood or preschool plays an important role in doing so. After reading this article I am more aware of some of the different types of preschools. I also am better able to argue the importance early childhood education/preschool plays on school readiness for children.


Rivera, Miquela. "Importance of Quality Early Childhood Education." The Hispanic

Outlook in Higher Education (2008): 1-4. FindArticles.com. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

Vaughan, JoAn.

The author of this article has a PhD. and is a clinical psychologist. She has eight years experience in early childhood policy and program development and consultations. In this article she is writing about Latino students in the early childhood education system. I believe that a lot of what she is saying relates to all children and not just specifically Latinos. Some of her points are critical to all students but she stresses the importance for Latino students. She discusses higher education and to succeed in higher education early childhood education is extremely important. After reading this article I am more aware of the challenges that students have and overcome regarding their ethnicity. As I said, early childhood education is important for all students but reading the stress factors on Latino children I am more aware of extra challenges.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

RJA #13b: Annotated Bibliography, Part 1

Copple, Carol, and Sue Bredekamp. Basics of Developmentally Appropriate Practice: An

Introduction for Teachers of Children 3 to 6. Washington D.C.: NAEYC, 2006. 15. Print.

As employees in early childhood education the authors of this book main goal is to teach teachers how to teach appropriate materials according to ages and stages of children. The authors Copple and Bredekamp explain what developmentally appropriate practice is, how to make your classroom appropriate and how developmentally appropriate practice makes a difference in the lives of the children. They spilt the book into three main parts; what is DAP?, the developmentally appropriate practitioner, ad FAQs. The first section explains DAP and decisions that teachers make are important. The second section gives suggestions and teaches aspects of good teaching and how to incorporate DAP into the classroom. The last section answers common questions about DAP. After reading this book teachers will be better able to incorporate developmentally appropriate practice into the classroom and become better teachers because they will be more aware.


Jalongo, Mary R., and Joan P. Isenberg. Exploring You Role: An Introduction to Early

Childhood Education. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008. 119-93.

Print.

As professors in education the authors have written this book to offer their own expertise and the standards of the NAEYC organization. This book is an introductory book into the field of early childhood education. It offers an interactive CD where students can practice and put into effect what they are learning as they read. This book had a wide variety of chapters so that it truly touches on all aspects of teaching in early childhood education. The textbook is in its third edition so it keeps growing and getting better each time. Reading and interacting has made early childhood educators more aware and better teachers with the information and practice given by the textbook.



Zhang, Hong, and Nola Kortner. Oral Language Development across the

Curriculum, K-12. ERIC Digest. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse, 1995. 3-

4. Print.

As writers for the Education Resource Information Center the authors bring to attention issues that effect children in their educational careers. In this particular article they discuss oral language. They make points on how oral language is important in order to learn and that oral language today is lacking in the school system. This article is geared toward teachers and whoever is in the field of education. There are main sections such as, Teacher Role, Oral Language as Foundation, Research on Cognitive Development, and Teacher as Facilitator. Overall the main goal of the article is oral language skills are lacking in the schools and how the teachers create this and how they can solve the problem.




Heckman, James J. "Invest in the Very Young." Encyclopedia on Early Childhood

Development. Eds. Richard E. Tremblay Ray D. Peters, Michel Boivin, and

Ronald G. Barr. Montreal, Quebec: n.p., 2004. Web. 29 Nov. 2009


The author of this article has a PhD. and is a professor of economics. In his article he tries to tell the importance of early childhood development. This article discusses what “things” are missed and overlooked. The author also talks about studies that show the importance of early learning and how current policies are based on misconceptions. The article is short and full of information. After reading it I understand what current policies say and how they affect the children. Also some important aspects of early childhood education that are otherwise forgotten are discussed.

Monday, November 23, 2009

RJA #13a: Field Research Report

For my field research I observed different preschools. I chose to visit four different preschools with different philosophies and cirriculums. The four cirriculums/philosophies were; montessori (learn through play), high-scope (mixture of play and teacher instruction), mixed aged (creative cirriculum), and tools of the mind (think smart not hard). I strictly observed the classrooms, only speaking when I first arrived so the children knew who I was and what I was doing in the classroom. From my observations I pulled information that was simililar between all the schools. To show differences (if need be) in my paper I will share both or all sides of what was going on at each school.

Monday, November 16, 2009

RJA #12c: Introduction Check

Tiffany's paragraphs were well written and the only thing was the thesis was unclear...she is working on that! I copied the wron URL...sorry.

http://drtyffknee.blogspot.com/2009/11/rja-11a-introduction.html#comments

Walter's intro. was well written. It sounds very professional, I was a little confused what his argument was.

http://wallybug171.blogspot.com/2009/11/rja-11-introduction.html#comment-form

RJA #12b: Presentation Plan

For my presentation I plan to cover a little background information explaining that early childhood education is not simply daycare. Then I will go into what skills children develop during their time in an ECE program. I will talk about educational skills, social skills and I may touch on ECE in China...since that will be incorporated in my paper. I may also expand on oral language development since we all use speech as a form of communication, its pretty its pretty important and developed mostly during the early years of life. I will probably show pictures of "things" that happen in an ECE classroom, and any other figures and graphs that will show the importance or "philosophy" of early childhood education. Hopefully that will cover the whole seven minutes.

RJA #12a: Progress Report

Completed:
  • Outline
  • Most Research
  • Observations for field research

Need to Do:

  • Go into resources to find quotes and evidence to support my ideas and argument.
  • Start writing and putting together a paper.

Schedule

Wednesday: Go into the resources and find quotes and facts to support my argument

Friday: Continue (if needed) gathering quotes and start writing the paper

Saturday: Work on writing the paper

Sunday: Work on writing the paper...hopefully finish!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

RJA #11a: Introduction

Early Childhood Education is usually put on the back burner of the education world. Dictionary.com defines education as “preparing oneself or others intellectually for a mature life.” What most people do not understand is that education begins at an early age. Early Childhood Education is simply preparing the young child to lead a successful, educated life. Providing Early Childhood Education centers is a way in preparing the children for a school environment and providing a high quality education, not simply day-care. Early Childhood Education is important because the children receive long term benefits, better educational and social skills and are prepared for the K-12 school system.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

RJA #11b: Visual Aids

1. pictures of children in ECE settings
2. pictures of children's work in ECE
3. differences in children's brains ECE vs NO ECE
4. Children's brain growth from ECE to Regular Education vs no ECE to Reg. Edu.
5. graphs/stats. according to growth of children who attend ECE centers (academic or developmetally).

RJA #11c: Thesis Statement Check

http://drtyffknee.blogspot.com/2009/11/rja-10a-thesis-statement.html#comment-form

http://kebenglish.blogspot.com/2009/11/research-journal-asignment-10.html#comment-form

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

RJA #10b: Argument

Research Question: Why is early childhood education important for children and what are the benefits?

Answer/thesis/claim: Early Childhood Education is important because the children receive long term benefits, better educational and social skills and are prepared for the k-12 school system.

Logos: To appeal to my audience based on logos, I will have to work on persuading them with hard evidence. Hard evidence will have to come from credible sources, people who are experts in the field and possibly some field research. When talking about education you have to really set the record straight by proving your point with facts.

Reason 1: Children learn educational skills that will set them up to achieve later in their school careers and life.
Warrant: Children should always be set up for success and not failure.

Reason 2: Children are provided with social skills that will help in their school careers and in life.
Warrant: Children should always be provided with social skills that can help them in their lives.

Reason 3: Children are being prepared for k-12 schooling.
Warrant: Children should not be blindsided when it comes to school, it can be hard for some.

Reason 4: There are some other long term benefits that children are rewarded with.
Warrant: The more benefits children can receive the better off they are in this world.
(specific benefits are not yet chosen, but will be listed separately.)

Monday, November 2, 2009

RJA #10a: Thesis Statement

Research Question: Why is early childhood education important for children and what are the benefits?

Precise Claim: Early Childhood Education is important and there are many benefits.

Reasons/Blueprint:
  • Children are being prepared for Kindergarten/First Grade
  • Better educational future
  • Better social skills/interactions
  • Learn in many different ways
  • Long term benefits

Complete Thesis Statement: Early Childhood Education is important because the children recieve long term benefits, better educational and social skills and are prepared for the k-12 school system.

Monday, October 26, 2009

RJA #9: Evaluation of Sources

Periodicals:

"The Importance of Quality Ealry Childhood Education"

I looked mostly at the author of this article. I wanted to look at the credibility of the actual person writing the piece. I found that the author is quite credible and seems to know a lot. She has a Ph.D in clinical psychology and has done some extraordinary things for the ECE world in New Mexico. One important thing that shows me she is credible is that she provides training and technical assistance to Head Start early child development programs in New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle. Head Start is the "head honcho" of the ECE world and it takes a credible and know what you are talking about person to do training for them.
Rivera, Miquela "Importance of Quality Early Childhood Education". Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, The. FindArticles.com. 29 Oct, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3184/is_200803/ai_n32195045/

"The Economics of Early Childhood Education"

After looking at the article again I came to the conclusion that this was not a very good resource. The whole article is a paragraph long with information that I can find inside the body of another source. I was also looking for an author of the paragraph, there was not one. The only thing that I could find was the periodical itself which was market wire. I did not go into research detail about this periodical because I will probably not end up using it. If I do decide to use it then I will research market wire to find out how credible it is.
"The Economics of Early Childhood Education". Market Wire. FindArticles.com. 29 Oct, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pwwi/is_200510/ai_n15748846/

Books:

"Theories of Childhood"

Well I pretty much asummed this was a great source because it was a "textbook" that I needed for one of my classes. I also looked at the same old publisher (Pearson Education Inc.), written 2000 and published 2006. The index is fairly long and it seems that there are some topics in there that can be useful in my research. After each chapter there are suggestions for further reading, some of these can be good sources to look into. I also read about the author. She has a masters in early childhood, cild care services manager for head start (mecca for ECE), and faculty member at the college of Lifelong Learning.
Mooney, Carol Garhart. Theories of Childhood: An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget and Vygotsky. Pearson Education Inc., 2006.

"Exploring Your Role"

Again, a textbook needed for a class and a very good one I might add. The authors both have a lot of experience writing in the field and both work in Universities in the Education department. This particular book provides resources for teachers to look online about different "things" about children and their learning, these can become very helpful. It has tons of pages of resources that too can be helpful if and when I find the correct one. There are two different indexes one is a name index and the other is a subject index. These seem to be very helpful when looking for a specific "thing." This was also published by Pearson Education Inc. and this is the third edition.
Jalongo, Mary Renck, and Joan Packer Isenberg. Exploring Your Role: An Introduction to Early Childhood Education. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2008.

Websites:

"The Importance of Early Childhood Education" edubook.com

This website makes me a little nervous, I am not sure how credible it really is, kind of seem likes a blog site for educational topics. It is copyrighted 2008 so it is fairly new. The author of the article seems to be some what credible but the about the author page that she wrote does not sound very professional to me. She is the director of a non-profit organization Project Eureka. I am not too sure about this so I will probably use something else before I use this and before I use this I will research the non-profit organization to see if it involves early childhood education.
http://www.edubook.com/the-importance-of-early-childhood-education/6837/

National Association for the Education of Young Children

This is a professional site, many early childhood schools follow the guildlines of NAEYC and recieve accrediation from them as well. There are different ways to contact NAEYC, through the website, phone and address. There are two diffrent toolbars at the top of the page that are very clear in what will be provided there. There is also a search bar so you can type exactly what you want to know and they will find it for you.
http://www.naeyc.org/

Monday, October 19, 2009

Website Review

Blinkxhttp://www.blinkx.com/


Blinkx is the world's largest video search engine. They claim to have over 35 million hours of video. The have more than 530 media partnerships that include, national broadcasters, commercial media giants and private video libraries. Blinkx allows users to search for videos, create playlists and build a video wall for myspcae or facebook.

Positives:
20 or more Video Categories to choose from
Link buttons to informational and entertaining videos-"inform me" and "entertain me"
Search is not case sensitive
Searches contextually as well with standard keyword search
Advance search includes adding words like AND ,OR, NOT
Safe Search is an adult content filter- if cookies are disabled the filter will not work.
Pico- world's smallest search engine-as you work it pulls relevant info. for you from the web, TV, news and your desktop
Personal Playlists-add videos and will keep until you delete it
Bookmark using delicious, digg, reddit, facebook and stumble upon
E-mail videos
Toolbar at the bottom of hte page that leads to more information-user questions/answers by clicking "about"
Sorts search outcomes by relevance or date

Negatives:
Advanced search option-says there is one but cannot seem to find how to use it besides adding AND, OR & NOT
You have to play around with the site for a while to be able to figure out how to create a playlist-there does not seem to be a link on the homepage which could be helpful to the user

For a video only search engine this is the best. Using over 530 partners there is a lot of video on here, including videos from the popular youtube. I would give this site an "A" becuase a lack of user knowledge is what will hurt you on this site, once you gain that knowledge it is very helpful.

RJA #8c: Multimedia

1.) blinkx.com
importance of early childhood education
keyword search
10/19/09
25,000 hits
relevance: 3.5

2.) blinkx.com
importance of early childhood education, students, teachers
10/19/09
6 hits
relevance: 1 maybe 2

RJA #8b: Social Media

1.) oneriot.com

importance of early childhood education

keyword search

10/19/09

3 hits

relevance: 0



2.) oneriot.com

importance of early childhood education, students, teacher

search engine math

10/19/09

10 hits

relevance: 1.5 or 2



3.) icerocket.com

importance of early childhood education

keyword search

10/19/09

1,375 hits

relevance: 2 or 2.5



4.) icerocket.com

importance of early childhood education, student, teacher

search engine math

10/19/09

201 hits

relevance: 2.5



Social media is more abpout the opinions of people who blog or what not and I think I want to go with more factual information, although it is good to hear what the mommies have to say!

RJA #8a: Websites

1.) bing.com
Importance of Early Childhood Education
Keyword search
10/19/09
5,110,000 Hits
Relevance: 5

2.) carrot2.org
Importance of Early Childhood Education
Keyword search
10/19/09
8,120,000
Relevance: 4

3.) academicinfo.net
Importance of Early Childhood Education
Keyword Search
10/19/09
8 hits
Relevance: 0

4.) incywincy.com
Importance of Early Childhood Education
Keyword Search
10/19/09
47,200 hits
Relevance: 2.5

Monday, October 12, 2009

RJA #7c: Field Research Plan

I am not yet set on a specific field research idea. I am in between observations and interviews. I see cons with both. With observations they are what I observe directly accompanied by my analysis of what is going on. This can and is very bias, not sure if that is something that I would want to include in the paper. Also with observations the children will sometimes act up and then my observation will be altered to what happened on that day and what the children's reactions were with having a stranger in the classroom. Observations though are extremely important when talking about early childhood education and sometimes not understood without the observation. With interviews I will be interviewing someone who is in the profession of early childhood education. With that I cannot decide if I will choose an ECE teacher in a day care or if I will choose my professor whom is very knowledgable about ECE. I think whatever answers I get form either will be extremely bias because that is the field in which their passion lays. I also cannot think of good questions to ask that will give me the information that I want. Part of this too can be that I am not sure what information I want. Can't decide, maybe I will do both...help!

RJA #7b: Internet Research Tool Test

1.) blinkx.com
importance of early childhood education
no search strategy
Oct. 12, 2009
25,000 hits
Relevance 3 or 4

2.) blinkx.com
benefits, early, childhood, education, teacher
search engine math
+benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher
Oct. 12, 2009
22 hits
Relevance 3 or 4

3.) blinkx.com
importance of early childhood education, teacher education
"importance of early childhood education" NOT teacher education
Boolean
Oct. 12, 2009
3,540,000
Relevance 3-too many

4.) blinkx.com
importance, benefits, early, childhood, education, teacher, student
+importance +benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher +student
Oct. 12, 2009
0 hits
No relevance

RJA #7a: Internet Research Tools

I fall into the category of the dreaded "google" researcher. I find a lot of useful information for what I want to know right then and there. Honestly, whenever I have a disagreement with for example, my father I google the subject so that I can prove him wrong. I do not even care if the information is accurate; I just want to prove him wrong at that point. What I like the most about google is that it gives you answers quick and sometimes you do not have to click on any hit. I do feel that sometimes the hits that I recieve on google are not accurate though. Sometimes during my mindless research I find a lot of contradicting hits. This gives me the impression that google may not be the most accurate place to recieve information. I also like and dislike that it is well known. I like that it is well known because many different people have recieved valuable and helpful information. I dislike it because so many people use that it seems to take the credibility out of it. http://www.google.com/

I also fall into the category of the "ask" researcher. I feel that ask is a lot like google, which makes me a comfortable user. I use ask whenever I do not like what I get from google. I mostly use ask when I am researching something for school, less often when I am doing personal research. I started using this when it was introduced to me at school, back then it was askjeeves.com. I think when I first started using it I liked it better and felt that it may have been more credible. It makes me feel better when I get some of the same hits on ask that I did on google because it makes the hits more credible to me for some reason. As with google I like that you can research things like "news," "images," etc. There really isn't anything that I do not like about ask. http://www.ask.com/?o=0&l=dir

Monday, October 5, 2009

RJA #6c: Protopage

http://protopage.com/michelle21

RJA #6b: Search Strings

I did not recieve any comments on my search strings so I checked them using the reminder link. As far as I could tell they are fine....here they are again.

Search Engine Math
+importance +early +childhood +education
+benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher
+importance +benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher
+importance +benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher +student
Boolean
(child* AND early education) AND (important* AND Benefits) OR "Importance of Early Childhood Education"
+early +childhood +education AND importance OR benefits
"Importance of Early Childhood Education" NOT Teacher Education
"Importance of Early Childhood Education" AND Students NOT teacher education

RJA #6a: Periodical Articles

Better Luck with the Periodicals!! Researched Oct. 5 2009-Searched: Early Childhood Education
1.) freelibrary.com
"A Qualitative Study of Early Childhood Educators' Beliefs about Key Preschool Classroom Experiences."
Written March 22, 2009
Copyrighted by Clearing House on Early Education and Parenting

2.)findarticles.com
"Importance of Quality of Early Childhood Education"
Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education
March 10, 2005

"The Economics of Early Childhood Education"
Market Wire
October 2005

Friday, October 2, 2009

RJA #5c: Search String Check

This first guy has got the search string down....he must have done this before!
http://boa76.blogspot.com/2009/09/ethics-and-engineering-ethics-and.html#comment-form

This lady knows what she is doing when it comes to search strings, plus she has a great topic!
http://drtyffknee.blogspot.com/2009/09/rja-4b-search-strings.html#comment-form

RJA #5b: Books

I have some books already that can be helpful in my research and they are (1&2):
1.) Theories of Childhood: An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget and Vygotsky
By Carol Garhart Mooney
Merrill Education/Redleaf Press College Textbook Series
Published by Merrill/Prentice Hall
Copyright 2000
2.) Exploring Your Role: An Introduction to Early Childhood Education
By Mary Renck Jalongo nad Joan Packer Isenberg
3rd Edtion
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publicaton Data
Publisher Kevin M. Davis
Copyright 2008, 2004, 2000 by Pearson Education, Inc.
3.) Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: Postmodern Perspectives
By Gunilla Dahlberg, Peter Press and Alan Pence
First Published 1999 by Falmer Press Reprinted 2000,2001,2002(3 times) by RoutledgeFalmer
Copyright 1999
online book through books.google.com then search importance of early childhood education
*There are other books that I have that can become useful but I have not chosen to use them as of now.

RJA #5a: Reference Articles

I am having the worst luck with the resource article stuff. I cannot find anything that is relevant to my research. I have tried so many of the reference works listed on the assignment (I went down the list for days) and nothing will come up. I tried different search strings on each site and either it says no results or it will give me things for my education, like associate/bachelor degree programs. I even tried to access some things off the library website and I am not having any luck. I used the search strings of RJ 4 listed: +importance +early +childhood +education+benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher+importance +benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher+importance +benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher +student. If anyone has any good ideas please share them!!

Monday, September 21, 2009

RJA #4c: Research Question Check

http://ehageem.blogspot.com/2009/09/rja-3c-developing-research-question.html#comments

http://sarah-whiting.blogspot.com/2009/09/rja-3c.html#comment-form

RJA# 4b: Search Strings

Search Engine Math
+importance +early +childhood +education
+benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher
+importance +benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher
+importance +benefits +early +childhood +education -teacher +student

Boolean

(child* AND early education) AND (important* AND Benefits) OR "Importance of Early Childhood Education"

+early +childhood +education AND importance OR benefits

"Importance of Early Childhood Education" NOT Teacher Education

"Importance of Early Childhood Education" AND Students NOT teacher education

RJA #4a: Keywords

What is the importance or benefits of (Early Childhood Education)?
importance: important, need, gains, significance
benefits: benefit, asset(s)
ece: education, child, children, teacher education, learning


Education > Early Childhood Education > Organizations

Education > Early Childhood Education > Schools

Education > Early Childhood Education > Kindergarten Readiness

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

RJA #3c: Developing Research Question

1.) Who: should decide what is important for the children?
What: should society do to make Early Childhood Education important?
When: should we enroll children in ECE programs and are they always the best way?
Where: is the most valuable ECE learning, at home or at a school?
How: can society make ECE more valuable and spread the word of the importance?
Why: is ECE important for children and what are the benefits?
Should: we push the idea of ECE for all children and make ECE public schools?
Would: everyone have the same feelings about ECE and think that it is important for thier children?

3.) I am writing to people that are interested in Early Childhood Education. Thier interestes should be children and what is the "right" or "important" thing to do for their well being. My purpose in writing is to inform and argue that ECE is important for children. Also that ECE can set up success for their futures.

5.) I can start with defining Early Childhood Education which will help in the long wrong proving the importance of it. What is meant by important? In my mind it is everything from social importance to academic importance. The question can be changed into one question if need be to - what are the important benefits to Early Childhood Education?

RJA #3b: Narrowing Research Topic

At this point I think that my topic is broad enough to conduct research. I think I will decide whether or not to narrow it once I see specifically what kind of information is out there. I have different ideas about what I may be looking for but that does not mean that is what I will find. If I were going to narrow my topic I would have to analyze and organize the information. Then figure out what is useful and what I can do more research so that I have a lot of information to back up my argument. I can wait until I have all the information compiled and organized, write a thesis/topic sentence and see what other information I can add on to or find. Extending on information may be an easier more productive way other than finding all new information. If I find my topic is too narrow (which could happen) I can figure out specific points that I want to point out and discuss. I can also expand specific points into sub-topics to answer other possibles wonders. It can be a simple process to expand or narrow a topic you just have to play with what you have.

Monday, September 14, 2009

RJA #3a: Exploring Research Topic

After doing a very broad search on "the importance of early childhood education" it does seem that there will be enough sources for a in depth research assignment. I started with regular google and countless items were found that can be used. A lot of these sources are PDF files but there were some websites that may be able to help. Under google scholar they listed a ton of books that can possibly be used, that is if I am able to view them online. Go to my Delicious account to view some of the sources that I have found on my topic, tagged importnaceofECE. I also looked at you tube and found some videos that could work but I did not post them to my Delicious account. These videos were of argumentative hearings held by different state officials and there were also ones that show specific early education programs- these might be able to help in telling why children benefit from it.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

RJA #2c: Delicious Account

http://delicious.com/micheller21

RJA #2b: Research Topic

The topic I chose is about Early Childhood Education and basically whether or not it is beneficial for the children. It will go into explaining the affects it has on the children academically, socially and personally. I chose this topic first and foremost I love children. I want to know how I can make their lives better and to do that is to know them and how they think and develop. Another reason why I chose to write about Early Childhood Education is because I am working on my Associate of Arts in Early Childhood Education. I think that researching and writing about ECE will help me learn more about the field. Overall I chose to write about children because they are extremely important for our futures and the more I know about them the better I can make their futures.

I know a little bit about my topic. I have taken some classes in Early Childhood Education but I have not yet learned about why ECE is important to children and why and how ECE can benefit children. I know more about how to give appropriate portions and keeping children healthy then I do about why parents should choose ECE. I also know what is generally taught in ECE and that there are many different styles of teaching ECE. From the things that I have learned I can come to a personal conclusion about Early Childhood Eduction.

Though I do know a lot about children I have yet to get into the factual and scientific affects on children that have experienced Early Childhood Education in a center or learning facility. Like I said before I can easily come up with personal evaluations and opinions but I want to see scientific evaluations and results. With that I would like to learn about children's brains and how they work and develop. I would like to see comparisons from non ECE children to ECE children. The differences in children that attend ECE programs and the ones that don't is my ultimate goal. I want to see everything from brain sizes to emotional and personality needs/issues. I basically would like to learn anything that can help me in my research paper and also in my career goals.

RJA #2a: Possible Topics

  • The importance of early childhood education
  • The effects of early childhood education on children
  • How ECE develops good schooling habits in children
  • Health/Nutrition of children and how that affects their learning abilities
  • What "things" in children's lives effect who they will become. As in personal and schooling experiences
  • The differences in a child's brain compared an adults brain-how they change and what happens to the brains if they do face traumas.

I chose to kind of incorporate all these topic points. I am going to write about the importance of Early Childhood Education, the affects it has on children. The overall objective I guess would be is it better to keep kids at home or put them in Early Childhood Learning Centers/Environments.

Monday, August 31, 2009

RJA #1: Areas of Academic Interest

  • The importance of early childhood education
  • The effects of early childhood education on children
  • How ECE develops good schooling habits in children
  • Health/Nutrition of children and how that affects their learning abilities
  • What "things" in children's lives effect who they will become. As in personal and schooling experiences
  • The differences in a child's brain compared an adults brain-how they change and what happens to the brains if they do face traumas.